Fab 5 Freddy's Personal Archives Will Soon Be On View to the Public
The ‘Yo! MTV Raps’ host’s personal collection has been acquired by Harlem’s Schomburg Center.
As the original host and producer of Yo! MTV Raps, Fred Brathwaite, better known as Fab 5 Freddy, has spent nearly a lifetime collecting hip-hop and rap memoribilia. Now the industry pioneer’s personal archives have been acquired by Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and will eventually be available for the public to view.
According to a New York Times report on the acquistion, Freddy’s archives consist of paper materials, VHS tapes, audio recordings, photos and more. The research center, which is located in Harlem and is part of the New York Public Library, has previously acquired the archives of the likes of James Baldwin and Sonny Rollins.
Much of the archive is also dedicated to Yo! MTV Raps memoribilia, such as vintage T-shirts and VHS recordings of the show that Freddy would send to his parents. The collection also includes a personal photograph of the Notorious B.I.G. and Diddy and photos from the set of Queen Latifah‘s “Ladies First” music video.
See more imagery from Fab 5 Freddy’s collection at the New York Times. For more music news, see Skepta’s newest music video.
