Re-Mixing the Old Dominion: 35 Years of Hip Hop Culture and History

In honor of Charter Day 2015, Swem Library recently celebrated its new exhibit chronicling more than three decades of Virginia hip hop culture and history.

Nearly 100 guests attended an opening reception for the exhibit, Re-Mixing the Old Dominion, on Wednesday, Feb. 4 in the library's Special Collections Research Center. The event featured music by DJ Wyze; a performance by SMILES Crew, W&M's bboy/bgirl dance group; and a gallery talk by Kevin Kosanovich, founder and assistant curator of the William & Mary Hip Hop Collection.

The exhibit explores Virginia's hip hop history through oral histories, curated playlists, artifacts, posters and other archival materials in the William & Mary Hip Hop Collection. The collection - the first of its kind to document Virginia hip hop history - establishes new ground in historical and cultural scholarship by showcasing one of the most important American cultural creations since the end of World War II.

The exhibit allows guests to see and hear the rich history of Virginia hip hop culture. It features a variety of items tracing the local, regional and international importance of Virginia hip hop. Additionally, the exhibit features audio stations providing portions of oral histories and groundbreaking music as curated by the Virginia hip hop community. A listing of those playlists featured in the exhibit can be found on the W&M Hip Hop Collection's companion website.

"Exhibits provide the context for a collection’s existence and serve as an important point of contact between archives and collections, and the public. Exhibits tell a story," said Kosanovich. "The difficulty, and fun, of curating an exhibit is the constant revision of items and words in the effort to create the most compelling and straightforward narrative possible."

The exhibit will on display until August 2015 and is open for viewing during Special Collections' operating hours.

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