For nearly three decades, hip-hop relics such as vinyl records, turntables, microphones and boom boxes have collected dust in boxes and attics.

On Tuesday, owners of such items _ including pioneering hip-hop artists such as Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Fab 5 Freddy _ will blow that dust off and carry them to a Manhattan hotel to turn them over to National Museum of American History officials.

The museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., is announcing its plans to embark on a collecting initiative, "Hip-Hop Won't Stop: the Beat, the Rhymes, the Life."

The project, the beginnings of a permanent collections, will gather objects that trace hip-hop's origins in the Bronx in the 1970s to its current global reach. It is expected to cost as much as $2 million and take up to five years to complete.

Museum officials have yet to raise the money, which will come from private donors. They will use the funds to pay for artifacts, record oral histories, hold consultations with advisory groups and mount an exhibit telling hip-hop's story.