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Cordless microphone used by Rakim to record The 18th Letter

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Object Details

Manufactured by
Shure, founded 1925
Owned by
Rakim, American, born 1968
Description
A wireless microphone used by Rakim to record the album "The 18th Letter" (1997). The hand-held microphone has a circular silver mesh wire grill covering the foam interior of the microphone. The grill is attached to a black plastic cylindrical handle with text printed in silver type near the attachment reading "SHURE" and "BETA 58A" twice around. The handle is made from two pieces, with a small square digital display screen on the top half of the handle bordered by gray plastic, with "L3 638-698 MHz" printed in white type below it. White type reading "UR2" on two opposing sides is printed at the bottom of the lower half of the handle. A smaller round-edged cylindrical piece of black plastic protudes from the bottom of the handle. The bottom half of the handle (b) screws off to reveal a battery chamber that holds two (2) AA batteries. Opposite the battery chamber is a digital push-button menu with four buttons reading clockwise from top: up-facing arrow, "enter", down-facing arrow, "exit". The button menu is directly below the digital display screen on the exterior of the top half of the handle. Beneath the buttons is a manufacturer's label with serial and model numbers, and a key for the menu buttons.
Credit Line
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Rakim
1997
Object number
2016.10.1
Restrictions & Rights
No Known Copyright Restrictions
Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
Type
microphones
Medium
metal, foam, plastic, and wire
Dimensions
H x W x D: 10 × 2 1/4 × 2 1/4 in. (25.4 × 5.7 × 5.7 cm)
See more items in
National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
Classification
Tools and Equipment
Exhibition
Musical Crossroads
On View
NMAAHC (1400 Constitution Ave NW), National Mall Location, Culture/Fourth Floor, 4 053
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Topic
African American
Hip-hop (Music)
Rappers (Musicians)
Record ID
nmaahc_2016.10.1
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd5aa960903-0ef7-45c0-a149-697ef225f8fe

Related Content

  • Hip-Hop and Rap

  • African American Music

    Smithsonian Music
This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Open Access page.
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
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