Ed Fund Helps Bay Area Hip Hop Archives Preserve Local History—and Provide Inspiration, Learning in the Future
When Torman Jahi and the team behind the newly-created Bay Area Hip Hop Archives (BAHHA) looked for a fiscal sponsor for their project, the Oakland Public Education Fund was a perfect fit.
We chose the Oakland Ed Fund because they are champions of supporting the educational community here in Oakland,
Jahi said.
BAHHA is a collaborative legacy project between Oakland-based Hip Hop artist Jahi, his company Microphone Mechanics, and the Bay Area Hip Hop community.
BAHHA’s mission is to establish a repository for Bay Area Hip Hop artists, activists, educators, and culture keepers who have made significant contributions to Hip Hop culture in the Bay Area by building special collections that will live for perpetuity inside the California library system.
It’s important to understand that Hip Hop goes beyond music, he explained. This rich culture has grown since DJ Kool Herc founded the movement 50 years ago in New York City.
Hip Hop is about empowerment—and about peace, love, unity, introspection, self-expression, and activism,
he said.
Jahi’s hope is that the Archives will inspire people to celebrate and embrace the contributions of Bay Area Hip Hop culture—and perhaps create their own legacies in the future.
We want people to get out of the idea of Hip Hop being ‘exhibited,’
he said. We hope they will sit, slow down, and take a deeper look at who we are and what our contributions are.
The first 55 inductees to the Archives include fashion and graphic designers, entrepreneurs, dancers, and musicians, of course.
We want to chronicle who they are and what their influences are,
Jahi said.
Inductees will provide their own narratives about their contributions to Hip Hop culture in the Bay Area. They will donate objects that represent their life’s work, experiences, and history that will be archived for the future. Telling their own stories ensures an accurate portrayal of who they are, where they came from, and what they accomplished throughout their lives.
Determining who to include is a challenge because there are so many great folks in our Hip Hop community who deserve to be recognized,
he said.
Inductees are people who call the Bay Area home, or who credit the Bay Area with whatever they’re doing, even if they live elsewhere. And they need to have at least 20 years of experience in Hip Hop culture.
We decided that the 20-year mark speaks to a large body of work,
he said.
The Archives is important for the Bay Area community today and in the future because our contribution matters. In a world where erasure is real, our efforts counteract that and lift up not only (the more famous) people you may know but the undervalued and underseen as well.
It was folks in the community that helped birth this culture,
he said. Collectively, we’re coming together and unifying around the idea of preservation. It’s a community thing—it’s always been and always will be.
We want to invite people to get inspired to become the future.
Images courtesy of Ankh Marketing and the Bay Area Hip Hop Archives.
-Christine Lupella