Everything J Dilla accomplished or owned is rare. The instrumentals and records he was a part of are now limited due to his passing in 2006.
Perhaps the holiest of his possessions were the instruments through which his music flowed and now, those artifacts are headed to the Smithsonian.
Maureen “Ma Dukes” Yancey, the mother of the late Hip Hop producer, has decided to donate the Detroit native’s custom-made Minimoog Voyager synthesizer and Akai MIDI Production Center 3000 Limited Edition to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. It will become part of the museum’s music and performing arts exhibit once it opens in 2016.
According to Stereogum and video created during the annual “DC Loves Dilla” tribute concert in Washington, D.C, the announcement came earlier this week and was later confirmed on the Smithsonian’s website.
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“I feel it’s necessary to raise the level of art appreciation in the Hip Hop sector and honor my son James Dewitt Yancey, one of the most influential individuals in the history of hip-hop,” Yancey said in a press release.
According to the Smithsonian, the exhibition J Dilla’s equipment will be featured in is slated to explore the roles in which popular music helped shape the nation’s historical, cultural, and political fabric. It will be one of 11 exhibitions attendees will be able to see once the museum opens.
Late last month, it was announced that Ma Dukes would be releasing a collector’s edition of Dilla beats called The King of Beats (Ma Dukes Yancey Collector’s Edition Box Set). The collection will have 40 tracks on it and is slated to drop this summer.
Watch the video announcement below:
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