Afrika Bambaataa's Hip Hop Collection Will Be Archived at Cornell University

Afrika Bambaataa is one of the original hip hop beat makers, which means he's got a vast collection of records to pull from when he produces a beat. Now that collection is about to find a home in an unlikely place…academia.

As FACT reports, Cornell University will house the producer and DJ's 40,000+ record collection as part of the official Cornell University Hip Hop Collection, an archive that was founded by Born in the Bronx: A Visual History of the Early Days of Hip Hop author Johan Kugelberg. According to its site, the collection features "hundreds of party and event flyers ca. 1977-1985; thousands of early vinyl recordings, cassettes and CDs; film and video; record label press packets and publicity; black books, photographs, magazines, books, clothing, and more."

Bambaataa has been a visiting scholar of hip hop at the University for the last three years and has already annotated and numbered many of the records in his collection which, once fully archived, will be searchable through an online database and open to the public.

Until then, enjoy the Boys Noize remix of Bambaataa's "Planet Rock" which will be available on vinyl (as part of a series of remixes of the classic track) for Record Store Day.