Supreme and hip-hop are deeply intertwined. The streetwear brand has consistently been cosigned by the New York hip hop scene and often returns the favor through numerous collaborations and honorary t-shirts. Earlier this season, Supreme dropped a t-shirt that featured a sublimated print of the late New York hip hop legend, The Notorious B.I.G. In years past, Supreme has released several photo tees featuring prominent rappers including Nas, Gucci Mane, Raekwon, Dipset, and Three 6 Mafia. Supreme has also collaborated on full collections with artists like Dead Prez, Public Enemy, Rap-A-Lot Records. For their Spring/Summer Week 7 drop, Supreme is taking that relationship to a new frontier with their branded Akai MPC Live II sampler and sequencer. The Akai MPC Live II is a gadget used to create beats meaning that this accessory will likely make its deepest in-roads within the music production community.
The Supreme Akai MPC Live II release makes a lot of sense when you take a look at the history of Akai and the roster of significant rappers, producers, and DJs who’ve used the product. Akai’s MPC 60, the MPC Live II’s ancestor from 1988, quickly became the premier sampler and drum machine of the 1990’s. Major hip hop artists and producers from DJ Premier to J Dilla have used the MPC 60 throughout the 90’s and into the early 2000’s. J Dilla and Dr. Dre swore by Akai’s next generation sampler, the MPC 3000, and Kanye West was known to have used the MPC 2000 in the early days of his career. With a rich history of use by some of hip-hop’s greatest producing minds, it’s no wonder that Supreme would use the Akai MPC Live II to take their handshake with hip hop to the next level. The Supreme-ified version of this Akai MPC Live II features a red body with a printed logo covering the majority of the sampler and drum machine.
The Akai MPC II is highly praised all throughout the internet thanks to its on-the-go capabilities, the inclusion of a quality speaker, and its functionality with headphones. This sampler can be used 100% independent of a computer and is small enough that it can fit in a backpack, creating a truly portable music creation experience. The Supreme Akai MPC II features 16 velocity sensitive drum pads and a 7” multi-touch display. For those who truly intend on taking the MPC on the go, it’s got a rechargeable battery that should last six hours when full and has an internal storage capacity of 16GB. Some reviews point out that the Akai MPC Live II’s software workflow interface and its complexity, which may create issues for beginners. Non-Supreme models of the Akai MPC Live II can be purchased for a retail price of around $1,300 USD, meaning you’d pay about a 30% premium for the Supreme version, which retailed at nearly $1,700 USD.
Buy & Sell the Supreme Akai MPC Live II and other hip-hop related t-shirts and hoodies on StockX below.
