In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop, the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat announced the release of 50 of the original 500 test pressings from 1983 of Beat Bop from the personal collection of the artist. Produced through Tartown Records Co., a label Basquiat established specifically for this pressing, Beat Bop was named one of the “100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time" by Rolling Stone. The release marks the first time the Estate has offered any pressings from the artist’s personal collection for sale.

From Friday, 10 November, to Friday, 17 November, bidding will be open to the public for number 1 in the edition, which will also include a private tour of King Pleasure© in LA with Basquiat’s sisters Lisane Basquiat and/or Jeanine Heriveaux*. 100% of the proceeds from this sale will benefit A Place Called Home, a non-profit organization that provides hundreds of youth in South Los Angeles with access to arts education and the space to nurture their passion for visual arts, music, dance, theater, and filmmaking.

Beat Bop is considered one of the most coveted, and most valuable hip-hop vinyl records, having sold for over $100,000 at auction in 2020.

*Transportation and lodging not included. Must be redeemed prior to King Pleasure's closing on 1 January 2024.

Beat Bop TT001 (1983)
Produced by Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1983, and originally intended to include the artist on vocals, Beat Bop, features a gritty, ten-minute rap battle between K-Rob and Rammellzee, a multi-disciplinary graffiti artist and musician whom Basquiat exhibited alongside in New York/New Wave in 1981 and later commemorated in his seminal work, Hollywood Africans, 1983 (Whitney Museum of American Art).

In his 2013 account of Beat Bop in Spin, Profile Records founder, Cory Robbins, recalled, “It didn’t follow any rules. It was long and it didn’t have a hook. It was so free-form. There’s no record like it.” Music was a central tenet in Basquiat’s life and art. Beyond DJing at the Mudd Club and performing with his band, Gray, Basquiat incorporated titans of the jazz era into his art, anointing them heroic status in his pantheon of imagery.

As a keen historian, Beat Bop, is a play on bebop, a type of jazz originating in the 1940s and associated with Charlie Parker, a musician that features in Basquiat’s paintings from this year. Basquiat brings the same complex layering that defined this genre to his cover art for Beat Bop which is replete with the hallmarks of his most famous iconography. Basquiat literally crowns the achievement of TEST PRESSING VERSION # ONE VOLUME # ONE and crosses out BEAT BOP twice, a device he often deployed to direct his viewer’s attention. The power of this project is conveyed in the thunderbolts and explosive BANG, cribbed from comic and cartoon vernacular.

A Place Called Home
A Place Called Home is a transformational youth and community center offering proven programs in the arts, education, and wellness. Founded in 1993 as an oasis for youth facing poverty and systemic adversity, our mission is to inspire, encourage, and support the young people in South Los Angeles to achieve social, emotional, and economic success. To learn more visit www.apch.org or follow @apch2830 on Instagram.