RIAA Platinum Album award for Public Enemy's album It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back. The album was released on June 24, 1988 and was certified Platinum by the RIAA on Aug. 22, 1989 for one million copies sold.
Purportedly Public Enemy planned to make the hip hop social commentary equivalent of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On with this, their second studio album. The album made extensive use of sampling and scratching and produced well-known tracks "Night Of The Living Baseheads", "Don't Believe The Hype", "Prophets Of Rage" and others. Song title "Party for Your Right to Fight" was a rearrangement of the Beastie Boys' 1987 hit single "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)". The album rose to #42 on the US Billboard Top 200 Albums chart but remained on the chart for 47 weeks. It peaked at #8 on the UK Albums chart. The album has made many greatest hip hop albums of all time lists. See image above for all the RIAA sales certifications of this album.*
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Item Highlights:
- RIAA Platinum Album award with platinum album, cassette, CD and album miniature
- First presentation award made around 1990
- In VG condition
- Presentation to record industry executive
- All original award with original manufacturer sticker
- RIAA "R hologram" awards were made from 1990-97
- Award measures approx. 17" x 21"
- Great and hard to find collector's item for seminal Public Enemy album
- FREE insured shipping to continental U.S.
- International shipping available
Detailed Item Description: This is a first presentation RIAA Platinum award that would have been manufactured sometime around 1990 making it about 30 years old. This award is presented to Wes "Party" Johnson, who was Sr. VP of Marketing and Promotion at Def Jam and who also worked with other rap artists including Jay-Z, LL Cool J and many others.
It is in VG condition, with mars on the frame but internals are in excellent condition. This award is all original complete with Ill Eagle manufacturer's sticker on its back.
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Notes on the condition of all vintage RIAA awards like this one: Please do not buy this item if you want a brand new piece of memorabilia. These are historical artifacts from the year they were produced. As a result they may show signs of wear. Frankly, if you see a 20 to 50-year-old award purported to be in 100% perfect condition, it might be too good to be true. After all, an antique should have "good' wear. If not, you might want to question the piece.
As to where they came from, they could have been displayed in record label offices, recording studios, artist manager's offices, radio stations, private collector's homes and yes, of course, possibly the artist's or songwriter's home. Typically, we don't know all the places they may have been over the years other than what we've stated in the description.
Finally, a word on photos: Our photos are zoomable so you can get a very good look. Do let us know if you want photos of any other details on our pieces and we'll be happy to provide.
*RIAA sales data source: RIAA.com