9th Wonder Picks A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Lauryn Hill and Kendrick Lamar to Be Enshrined in Harvard Library
Producer 9th Wonder has been tapped to curate Harvard University’s We Are the Breaks project, which will archive 200 hip-hop albums that are a “standard of the culture” to their esteemed library.
The first four albums that 9th picked to be enshrined in the library are A Tribe Called Quest’s Low End Theory, Nas’ Illmatic, Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Each album will be archived with liner notes and the vinyl that was used in the original production.
9th Wonder went on his Instagram account to formally announce his four distinguished honorees to start with for the Harvard Library. He wrote:
In 2012, I was chosen to be a Harvard University Fellow at The Dubois Institute under the direction of @henrylouisgates and Dr. Marcy Morgan. I chose the research project "These Are The Breaks"....a collection of albums that are the standard of the culture.....200 in all in no particular order. These are the first four we chose to start with....to live for forever in the Harvard Library...and to be forever placed in the canon...complete with liner notes and the vinyl that was used in the production of the album...... To live forever....shouts @levelsoundz and @madtwiinz for the masterful design of the boxes and content. @HarvardUniversity @TheHipHopArchive 4 down.. 196 to go...."
Although it was not mentioned, according to reports, MC Lyte's 1988 debut album Lyte As a Rock will also be inducted into the Harvard Library.