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Cordless microphone used by Rakim to record The 18th Letter

African American Museum

This media is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Open Access page.
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Object Details

Manufactured by

Shure, founded 1925

Owned by

Rakim, American, born 1968

Description

A wireless microphone used by Rakim to record the album "The 18th Letter" (1997). The hand-held microphone has a circular silver mesh wire grill covering the foam interior of the microphone. The grill is attached to a black plastic cylindrical handle with text printed in silver type near the attachment reading "SHURE" and "BETA 58A" twice around. The handle is made from two pieces, with a small square digital display screen on the top half of the handle bordered by gray plastic, with "L3 638-698 MHz" printed in white type below it. White type reading "UR2" on two opposing sides is printed at the bottom of the lower half of the handle. A smaller round-edged cylindrical piece of black plastic protudes from the bottom of the handle. The bottom half of the handle (b) screws off to reveal a battery chamber that holds two (2) AA batteries. Opposite the battery chamber is a digital push-button menu with four buttons reading clockwise from top: up-facing arrow, "enter", down-facing arrow, "exit". The button menu is directly below the digital display screen on the exterior of the top half of the handle. Beneath the buttons is a manufacturer's label with serial and model numbers, and a key for the menu buttons.

Credit Line

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Rakim

Date

1997

Object number

2016.10.1

Restrictions & Rights

No Known Copyright Restrictions
Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

Type

microphones

Medium

metal, foam, plastic, and wire

Dimensions

H x W x D: 10 × 2 1/4 × 2 1/4 in. (25.4 × 5.7 × 5.7 cm)

See more items in

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

Classification

Tools and Equipment

Exhibition

Musical Crossroads

On View

NMAAHC (1400 Constitution Ave NW), National Mall Location, Culture/Fourth Floor, 4 053

Data Source

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Topic

African American
Hip-hop (Music)
Rappers (Musicians)

Metadata Usage

CC0

Link to Original Record

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd5aa960903-0ef7-45c0-a149-697ef225f8fe

Record ID

nmaahc_2016.10.1

Discover More

Grand Master Flash's turntable

Hip-Hop and Rap Across the Smithsonian

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collections

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