Every major musical movement has been driven by the magic of its iconography. From stylized album covers to re-imagined artistic interpretations to editorial photographs, every powerful musical movement has been buoyed by the mythos that surrounds the images of its greatest practitioners. The thought of musical iconography immediately brings time honored visuals to mind. The iconic images of stoic Jazz artists set in moody scenes replete with billowing smoke and Rock musicians alternating between hipster poses and performance induced mania are examples to name a few. But what are the prevailing visuals that will come to define the artists of the 20th century’s clean-up musical revolution? What will define Hip Hop for the eye? Perhaps no musical form has had such a powerfully propulsive visual component as Hip Hop. From Graffiti, Hip Hop’s own in-bred contribution to the world of Visual Art, to the genre-bending use of editing applied to its music videos, Hip Hop has always been a medium where the image has been as significant as the rhythm. But though artistic interpretations of Hip Hop iconography abound, the question still the remains, centuries from now what will be the visual remains of the Hip Hop star?

The National Portrait Gallery weighs in on this debate with Recognize! Hip Hop Contemporary Portraiture, a multi-dimensional exhibition curated by Frank A. Goodyear III, Brandon B. Fortune and Jobyl A. Boone. In their shared quest to answer the question posed, Goodyear, Fortune and Boone have called upon the talents of a diverse group of artists working across mediums. David Scheinbaum has been photographing hip hop artists since 2000, both in concert and offstage, including such celebrated groups as Public Enemy, Blackalicious, Phar Cyde, De La Soul and Jurassic-5. Kehinde Wiley, best known for his large, colorful paintings of anonymous young black men, has created portraits of hip hop artists such as LL Cool J and Ice T, each based on a famous European or American painting from the 17th through 19th centuries. Nikki Giovanni wrote a poem that will be transcribed onto walls in the exhibition, and also interpreted artistically by artist Shinique Smith. Two Washington, D.C–based graffiti artists created four portrait murals to be installed in a hallway that connects the galleries. And video artist Jefferson Pinder created three video self-portraits that will be included in the installation.

Recognize! Opens on Feb 8 th at NPG, the Smithsonian dedicated to portraiture and will close on the 26 th of October in Washington DC. If you can not see the show in person than check out the online exhibition at http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/recognize/, the good folks at the Smithsonian are so nice they made it easy for us. Selah.