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There’s a small and perfectly formed exhibition at Manchester’s Central Library at the moment that is an absolute delight, writes Michael Taylor.

Spotlighting the impact of the genre on the region’s community with a free exhibition of Hip Hop memorabilia and materials from the 1980s to present day, marking over 40 years of Hip Hop lifestyle and culture in the city.

It’s a celebration of Manchester’s Hip Hop music scene and covers the whole depth and range of a global youth culture with a distinctive local character.

And with a notable and significant mention in there is Tameside’s Lady Tame, Sarah Lillis.

She released a string of tracks through the early 1990s, notably Tame 1 Unleashed, a terrific bouncing rap track that stands the test of time as a banging potent totem for Northern hip hop.

I’ll play some of her stuff on the show this weekend to give you a flavour.

The exhibition is a rich mix of memorabilia and well explained commentary.

Another Tameside connection is the tracksuits of one of the breakdancing crews supported by JD Sports.

To many of us JD is a global retail name, and you’re probably thinking they’d be up for a bit of street cred. But back then it was a much smaller operation, but still rooted in the youth cults of the precincts and football terraces.

David Makin in particular was always on the look-out for trends from the street that he could stock in his stores.

The empire started in Mossley as a sports and model shop.

It’s a sign of what a good collection it is that little details like that get picked up.

Made up of clothing, photographs, cassettes, records, graffiti sketchbooks, posters, flyers and oral histories documenting the historical journey and growth of the youth movement, the exhibition digs into sub genres and time-lining the scene changes, weaving the tapestry of Manchester’s underground story, the project itself tells a story.

The unique collection is quickly growing to showcase Manchester’s position in the history of UK Hip Hop - from the early days of pioneer breakdance crew’s, Broken Glass and Street Machine, dancing to the sounds of electro funk and breaks from the boom boxes or import record store, ‘Spin Inn’ Top 10’

Rightly, there are plenty of artists who are given prominence, and, like Lady Tame, many were supported at every step of their career by Manchester-based DJ and producer Stu Allan, one of the galaxy of local stars in Piccadilly Radio.

He not only pioneered new forms of music on the radio, but was a massive success in national and international mixing and scratching championships and started 061 records with his pal Tim Grundy.

Like many big names in Manchester music he was drawn here, rather than born here, as he is originally from Anglesey.

As well as championing Hip Hop he was also one of the first British DJs to play Chicago house music in the UK in the late 1980s, on his late night radio show.

It’s fitting that Manchester’s home-grown talent gets a nod in this space, at a time when a new wave of shining stars from the local scene are big noises in UK Rap.

For me the stand-out is Children of Zeus, which their most recent single No Love Song is perfect for our show, Music Therapy.

Fair play to the Library for going out on a limb and telling this story. It’s a terrific exhibition which tells a great tale about Hip Hop culture and the impact on Manchester today.

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