Artifacts from hip-hop history on display in Houston

Houston’s role in hip-hop history dates back more than forty years, to the day in 1981 when a student named Lester “Sir” Pace challenged Texas Southern University’s KTSU bosses during a stint on campus suitable for teenagers. Kidz Jam broadcast by playing hip-hop records in a program previously known for pop and R&B. From there, the links between the city and culture only developed: creation of Rap-A-Lot Records in 1986; the pioneer of slowed-down “chopped and screwed” mixes by DJ Screw, in the early 1990s; and the Geto Boys selling a million copies of the record with “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” in 1992, were the first milestones in the city becoming a pillar of the hip-hop world. Today, in 2024, the idea that there was a time when Houston was not one of the most important venues in hip-hop culture seems almost far-fetched.

A new exhibit at the Hiram Clarke Multi-Service Center, inside the Vinson Neighborhood Library right next to Screwed Up Records & Tapes, explores how Texas’ largest city became inextricably linked to hip-hop culture. “Straight Flexin’, No Plexin’” is a collaboration between the Houston Public Library, the arts and education organization CCM Foundation, and two Rice University organizations, the Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning (CERCL) and Fondren Library.

Below, CERCL’s Co Garrett introduces us to the exhibition, which is on at the library until the end of June.

The Pimp C display

Chad “Pimp C” Butler and Bernard “Bun B” Freeman formed UGK in 1987, and the duo quickly became a major part of introducing Houston’s hip-hop sound to the rest of the world. Pimp C died of an accidental overdose in 2007, and his widow, Chinara Butler, loaned a number of works to the exhibition.

“The three lyric sheets on display were all written during Pimp C’s incarceration (for aggravated assault) around 2002,” says Garrett. “These songs weren’t recorded yet. They were definitely in the room, waiting to be shot at any moment. Chinara Butler was kind enough to allow us to display these three lyric sheets, along with the obituary you see next to the Alesis HR-16 drum machine and equalizer that were part of her studio equipment. If you were ever able to watch an interview with (rapper and producer) David Banner talking about Pimp C, David Banner explains how he was able to help Pimp C learn how to use the drum machine while he was incarcerated, by sending him real photos of sequencing and how he did that. He was able to take photos and send them to Pimp C to stay on top of his game while incarcerated.

“Floppy disks are on display with this equipment, as floppy disks were used to store music in the 90s. The nice thing is that one of the floppy disks on display actually contains the sequencing of the song title. Dirty money album. These are displayed with some DAT bands. And the sunglasses he wore in the “International Players Anthem” video are also displayed.

The Swishahouse exhibition

Early on, the center of gravity of Houston hip-hop had shifted to the Swishahouse label, which had massive hits from artists such as Chamillionaire, Mike Jones, Slim Thug and Paul Wall. The fourth cabinet in the main exhibition contains artifacts from the collective’s archives.

“The piece of wood is actually a skateboard. Swishahouse has collaborated with Alias ​​skateboards to release a limited edition skateboard. Of course, the twelve-inch vinyl record “Still Tippin” (by Mike Jones, Slim Thug and Paul Wall) is also on display.

“The photos are from a one-night only exhibition we did in October 2022 in Houston of never-before-seen photos Mike Frost took of the label while he was doing photography and graphic design for Swishahouse. During this exhibition we were able to get everyone from Swishahouse in attendance to sign the skateboard, so that’s pretty awesome. There’s also one of the actual Swishahouse mixtapes that were made in the ’90s that’s on display – and one of the cool things about this is that a CD that’s on display, it’s one of the Swishahouse mix CDs they released at the time, and the artwork was actually hand-drawn by Chamillionaire. They were able to take these drawings and reproduce them, but this is one of the originals.

Pimp C art competition

“On the glass, all images were submitted to the Smoke Something art competition which took place in 2014. During this period, Pimp C’s widow performed the first of three Pimp C tribute shows. There was a call took submissions on its social media to inform artists that there would be a competition, and artists submitted their Pimp C-inspired works. These are some of the artworks in the current competition.

“Next, hanging from the ceiling of this same display case is a figurine created for a clothing collaboration between UGK and Algierz Clothing. They created a line of T-shirts featuring many hip-hop artists, many from Texas, and he (owner Dan Levy) of course created a line of UGK T-shirts. They did separate lines for Bun B and Pimp C. The silhouette hanging from the ceiling is the silhouette he created for Pimp C and is on the T-shirts, hats and everything.

Pimp C’s famous “Money” jacket

“That brown jacket with the dollar print on it, it’s actually one of Pimp C’s jackets. And he did a photo shoot there, and there are several photos with Pimp C in it. There are also pants that accompany the jacket with the same print. Since he has so many photos in the jacket, we thought it would be cool to display the jacket with one of the photos he took during this photo shoot.

The HaviKoro crew

Rap music is one of the fundamental elements of hip-hop, but it’s not the only one that made its way to Houston during the culture’s formative years (original elements include breakdancing, animation , DJing and creating graffiti). The music has a recorded legacy accessible to anyone with a Spotify account, but the other elements of hip-hop that helped create the Houston scene are also on display in the exhibit.

“We have elements of the group HaviKoro, which was formed by two breakdancing groups here in Houston. They joined forces in the 90s to form this collective, and they have been performing since their inception. They were part of the first breakdancing mini-conference at Rice, where they screened their documentary. The documentary’s poster is on display, along with custom-made, hand-painted sneakers and the “Brotherhood” chain that each member has to signify they are part of the crew.