Mixtapes and memory-making: A hip hop remix of the traditional archive

Abstract

The preservation of hip hop cultures presents opportunities to examine archival methods, procedures and protocol anew. By focusing in on DJ cultures and mixtapes, these elements of hip hop culture offer us pathways to decolonial and anti-colonial interventions into institutional archives. This article asks: what is at stake when we envision creative practice and artists at the centre of practices of preservation of hip hop culture?