Andre O’Neal Harrell
September 26, 1960 – May 7, 2020
"My goal is to bring real Black America — just as it is, not watered down — to people everywhere through music, through films, through everything we do."
— Andre Harrell Los Angeles Times, 1992
With this archive we pay homage and tremendous gratitude to the life and work of Andre Harrell.
This is a living digital archive to commemorate the life and work of Andre Harrell. Andre Harrell, know as the executive who bridged hip-hop and r&b, was a king. He cannot be denied the significance and magnitude of the contributions he’s made to the culture. He founded the influential label Uptown Records and gave breaks to some of the artists that have provided the soundtracks to the most important moments in our lives including the likes of Sean Combs, Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Al B sure and many more.
He is one of the original hip - hop moguls.
Why an archive?
We believe that archiving is a statement of value. Taking the time to gather, contextualize, catalog, and articulate the life’s work of an individual, a culture, or a subculture is critical to its legacy persisting into the future. We believe in thoughtful, carefully constructed legacies that are presented and shared in a way that honors its subjects. This is what we’ve attempted to do here.
New York Times, 1992
“Archiving is a statement of value. Our mission is to articulate the value of hip hop history by preserving it so we may continue to tell our stories.”
The Gates Preserve Archive is committed to the pursuit of archiving as a statement of value. The Gates Preserve Archive (TGPA), the non profit arm of The Gates Preserve is committed to commemorating hip hop culture by thoughtfully acquiring collections and curating the background stories of moments in time that continue to shape hip hop history. The archive will associate and articulate the value of impactful moments in the history of hip hop and more broadly contextualize them in the context and preservation of Black culture more broadly while making its artifacts accessible and discoverable to the everyday consumer. TGPA will develop, care for physical and digital collections, and make them accessible in physical form as well as widely distributed digitally.