Rare hip-hop memorabilia from ’80s-’00s goes on sale in new auction

With Notorious B.I.G.’s crown, 2Pac’s high school love letters and more.

Hip-hop artifacts from the eighties through the present are being sold via a new Sotheby’s auction.

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Highlights include the signed crown worn by Notorious B.I.G. when he was photographed as the King of New York in 1998 – which is expected to sell for £155,500-£233,200 – and a collection of 22 love letters from 2pac to a high school sweetheart, currently estimated at £46,600-£62,200.

The lot also includes a sealed edition of Rammellzee vs. K-Rob Beat Bop 12” featuring Jean-Michel Basquiat’s artwork, a prototype Def Jam jacket, a 1983 Grandmaster Flash concert poster, a collection of 36 original pen and ink drawings from LP sleeves by Egyptian Lover, a Beastie Boys Licensed to Ill poster, Salt-N-Pepa’s ‘Push It’ Jackets.

It marks the first ever dedicated hip-hop auction at Sotheby’s, as the company aims to highlight the widespread impact of the genre across art and culture.

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