Certified and Sony Music Entertainment’s Hip-Hop and R&B repertoire division is welcoming fans to celebrate Black Music Month ’96. A 25th anniversary commemoration of 1996, a watershed moment in hip-hop history.
Throughout June 2021, the Black Music Month ’96 Again celebration will revisit the artists, albums, and tracks that defined that iconic era with an immersive campaign that will include newly-curated playlists, video content, contests, and rarities from 1996 that will be available for the first time on all DSPs.
Throughout Black Music Month ’96 Again, three essential hip-hop albums will be showcased in individual explanation films.
Each film is a two-minute mini-documentary on the album’s history.
The film, which will be released on June 10th, digs into Outkast’s second studio album, ATLiens, the American hip-hop duo’s outer space-inspired musical lens on modern Atlanta, from street hustlers to extra-terrestrials. The mini-documentary, which will be released on June 17, depicts the narrative of Ironman, American rapper/Wu-Tang Clan cofounder Ghostface Killah’s debut solo album.
On June 24, a new Certified short video will explore the history of It Was Written, Nas’ 1996 tour de force that catapulted him from the New York hip-hop underground into the American cultural mainstream with iconic tracks like “If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)” (featuring Lauryn Hill), propelling the album to the Billboard 200’s top spot.
Certified will find treasures from The ’96 Vault every Friday in June 2021, allowing fans inside to enjoy deep cuts and rare nuggets from their favorite musicians, albums, sessions, and events from the era.
The ’96 Vault, which is available on all platforms, has ultra-rare remixes, famous radio edits, instrumental jams, previously unheard and out-of-print recordings, and surprise material.
Certified is devoted to the history and impact of R&B and Hip-Hop music, which continues to alter popular culture. Certified provides access to rare and unreleased albums, singles, remixes, photos, and video footage from iconic SME labels such as Jive, Loud, Ruffhouse, J Records, Arista, LaFace, So So Def, Profile, RCA Records, Epic, and Columbia—all to help tell the stories of undisputed Hip-Hop and R&B classics.