Smithsonian Meets Kickstarter Goal, Encourages Backers To Continue Giving To Preorder a Copy of Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap

Founding director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, Lonnie G. Bunch III, and Huib Schippers, director of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, have announced the success of the Hip-Hop Kickstarter campaign and are encouraging the public to continue donations to preorder a copy of the Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap. At 1 a.m. Nov. 8, the 1,928th Kickstarter backer pushed the campaign over its goal of $250,000. All money raised over the goal will go toward producing more copies of the anthology, making it more widely accessible.

“With the success of the Kickstarter to produce the Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap, we have shown how the world has fully embraced the importance of hip-hop to American culture,” Bunch said. “The impact that hip-hop has made across the globe over the past 40 years will be studied and revisited for generations to come, and I can’t wait to see the anthology inside Americans’ homes.”

“It’s exciting to see that by backing the Kickstarter campaign so generously, the hip-hop community has made it clear they really want to see this massive Smithsonian project happen,” Schippers said. “We’re getting around the table with our colleagues from the National Museum of African American History and Culture this week to look at the next steps to complete the 300-page book and nine-CD box set. There are still six days left to pre-order the set through Kickstarter at production cost.”

The last day of the campaign is Nov. 15; it can be accessed at http://kck.st/2gKPLSv.

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