Fat Freddy’s Drop exhibition invites visitors to step into the album
By Ian Wards, Kaipupuri Matua Taonga | Senior Curator (Taonga).
Wellington Museum’s Fat Freddy’s Drop Based On A True Story, the 20th Anniversary Exhibition is a dream come true for senior curator Ian Wards, who explains it was a genuine partnership with the genre-defying band.
Whether we are sharing the stories of globe-trotting musicians or people closer to home, I see my curatorial role as a facilitator, connecting communities and my colleagues; one cog in a complex machine of exhibition delivery.
Fat Freddy’s Drop are much more than just this, but Based On A True Story has really become an essential album for generations of New Zealanders and for music lovers around the world. With 18-time platinum album sales, Based On A True Story can be heard pumping out of courier vans, airport speakers, cafes and bars to this day.
I approached Fat Freddy’s management team in January 2024, meeting with manager Nicole Duckworth and their content manager Sarah Hunter, to pitch the idea. Nicole gave us the thumbs up, and Sarah and I soon developed a concept for the exhibition. The band are impressive archivists, so we had many taonga and rich stories to choose from.
Wellington Museum’s exhibition and creative manager David Waller developed a series of 3D designs based on the storylines, objects and images Sarah and I were putting together. The design work was incredibly helpful for communicating our ideas to the wider band and my colleagues in the museum.
Sarah has a deep personal knowledge of Freddy’s history, having filmed and photographed Wellington’s roots, dub/jazz/fusion and hip-hop scene since the mid-1990s. We could not have made the exhibition without her knowledge, contacts and creativity. Through hundreds of emails, phone conversations and in-person meetings, Sarah and I developed the storylines, and started gathering taonga from the band, their whānau and friends.
From our first discussions we agreed that the centrepiece of the exhibition would be DJ MU’s MPC, or MIDI Production Center 2000. It was this piece of musical technology that allowed MU to create long, nuanced rhythm tracks for the band’s other musicians to jam over. Vinyl albums were the other key objects; particularly the original 12“ pressing of Midnight Marauders. This single was picked up by European DJs and tastemakers, giving the band a foothold into the European music scene.
It’s this kind of relationship-building that led to us setting up the band’s collection of music awards, not just in a display case, but on shelves above a kitchen sink, just like they were in Freddy’s former BAYS studio in Kilbirnie.
Part way through the development process we heard of the unexpected passing of Fat Freddy’s band leader and music producer, DJ MU. The outpouring of love for MU and his family really underscored how special he and the Freddys are for the people of Pōneke, Aotearoa and their global audience.
We gave the Freddys space, and left it in their hands to decide whether to continue with the exhibition. When Sarah rang me to say we were still on, it was amazing and unexpected. I’ll forever be humbled by the grace of the band in continuing with the project and putting their trust in us to deliver this special exhibition for the people of Wellington.
We hope visitors will go in and experience the playful genius of the Freddys and come out feeling uplifted as we move into a new year, and the band work towards a new chapter.
– Based On A True Story: The 20th Anniversary Exhibition is on at Wellington Museum until March 8, 2026.