The Philly hip hop archive.
Books, films, photographs, recordings, flyers, oral histories and artifacts documenting fifty years of Philadelphia hip hop, being catalogued and opened to everyone.
The CollectionDigital Archive
The shelf.
Hundreds of hip hop books and films, catalogued in the library's virtual stacks.
Memoirs, histories, lyric books, photography, kids' picture books and the documentaries that got it on film. Search the catalog, browse by collection, and see what's on the shelf.
Opens the catalog on Libib, our library system, in a new tab.
Hip Hop LibraryLibrary Card
Have a library card?
Sign in on the virtual library with Patron Login to see your checkouts and holds.
Member sign-in (opens in a new tab)Start somewhere.
Six eras, one city. Pick a decade and ride the timeline from there.
- 1970sFirst Words Cornbread, Lady B, Jocko, the park jams
- 1980sDJ City Schoolly D, Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, Cash Money
- 1990sThe Live Element The Roots, Bahamadia, Black Lily, Eve
- 2000sState Property Beanie Sigel, Freeway, Cassidy, Young Gunz
- 2010sDream Chasers Meek Mill, Lil Uzi Vert, Tierra Whack
- 2020sThe New Wave Philly club, 2Rare, Armani White
The card catalog.
Books and films are open now, and the music shelf is being stocked. The rest of the collection is being digitized drawer by drawer, and each one opens here as it's ready.
- BooksOpen (opens in a new tab)
- FilmsOpen (opens in a new tab)
- MusicAdding titles (opens in a new tab)
- PhotographsCataloguing
- RecordingsCataloguing
- Flyers & PostersCataloguing
- VideoCataloguing
- Oral HistoriesCataloguing
- ArtifactsCataloguing
- PressCataloguing
Got a piece of Philly history?
Family photos, flyers, mixtapes, gear, stories. The archive is built from the community's own collections. Tell us what you have and we'll be in touch about getting it into the archive. Every piece is reviewed, credited and preserved.