Professor Griff, of Public Enemy—among those addressing Hip Hop culture and showcasing Black History 101 Mobile Museum at Scottsdale Community College

Jesse Milioto

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Brenda Kochevar

Professor Griff addressing the 101 mobile museum for Black History Month

Ashu Yadav, Reporter

Black History 101 Mobile Museum is an innovative and award-winning tabletop exhibit depicting black memorabilia spanning from slavery to Hip Hop.

The exhibit featured over 150 original artifacts documenting the last four decades of history in Hip-Hop Culture that include “Hip Hop Top 10’ historical and cultural material.

It used artifacts from the Jim Crow, Trans- Atlantic Slave Trade Civil Rights Movement, Black Power Movement and the Black Arts Movement to show how hip hop has been an inspiration from history and that it created a distinct cultural contribution that has had a global impact on popular culture.

Over the past 29 years Dr. Khalid El-Hakim, also known as “Schomburg of the Hip- Hop generation”, founder of the 101 Mobile Museum, personally collected all the artifacts.

Another section featured Richard Griffin, popularly known as Professor Griff of the Hip Hop group Public enemy who gave a lecture on “The 5th Element: The Transformative Power of Knowledge in Hip Hop Culture.

Griff explained the importance of spreading the knowledge of history especially to college students since time for them is limited because of school.

“Mobile Museum is really important because a lot of students in certain age demographics are not going to the museums, so what we decided to do is to bring the museum to them and meet them at the place where they are, in an environment where they feel safe,” Griffin said.

Griffin also told the Northeast Valley News about how he got involved in 101 Mobile Museum.

“I was doing a lecture called 9/11 on Terrorism and Dr. Khalid el- Hakim was in the audience and he invited me to come and see what he’s doing. I went to see what he’s doing and I fell in love with what he’s doing, so I said I want to help and now we are travelling together from past 15 years.”

“Leave people and places better than you found them,” Griffin said.