9th Wonder is working with Harvard University's Loeb Library to compile the top 200 Hip-Hop albums of all time. The superproducer is working to develop a canon for classic rap albums.
"It’s all about placing these particular pieces of art and work and standard in the canon,” 9th told HipHopDX about the approach. “This is based on so many different metrics like influence and critical acclaim. It’s not just what sold the most because some of these records that’s on this list didn’t even make Billboard. But what they meant to either the culture, or what they meant to the area and the world they came out of, is heavy. These are albums that’s on the list that I may or may not have been fans of.”
“We’re taking two pieces of vinyl of that particular album in the library and if the person is alive, then we have them sign it and put them in the library to give them a sort of prestige, and a sort of acclaim they’re supposed to have,” 9th revealed. “In 30 years from now, somebody can go pull Eric B. & Rakim's Paid In Full and know that’s our version of The Iliad or The Odyssey or War and Peace or whatever book that we are told to study or read when we were in grade school.”
*HEADER CREDIT: 9th Wonder attends The 7th Annual ICM x Cantu Official SXSW Showcase Presented by Bumble at The Belmont on March 15, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for ICM x Cantu)