Shortly before he died, in September 2022, the rapper Coolio made a donation: his bicycle. It’s not just anyone. It is reminiscent of the custom-made vespas that characterized the mods.
Today it hangs in the lobby of the temporary home of the Hip-hop Museum, located in the South Bronx, near 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, an address considered the cradle of a cultural movement that transcends the conception of musical genre or style. of dance.
“Hip-hop is the voice of the voiceless. It allows us to tell stories and share them to shed light on what is happening in our communitiesâ€, defines Rocky Bucano, director of the institution, who in his day acted as Kool DJ Rock and founded the Strong City record label.
The welcome committee to the venue also includes “the throne” of Slick Sick, because, being British, his thing is not a chair; the composition of the graffiti artist Mare 139 (Carlos RodrÃguez, born in Spanish Harlem) consecrated as the sculpture that is awarded at the BET Awards, and the photographic montage by James Sexer RodrÃguez in which the legends of hip-hop appear congregated.
Once you access the exhibition space dedicated to the so-called golden age (1982-1993) -it is recommended to see the video about the time beforehand, images of that Big Apple of subway cars as canvases-, you enter the blessed as ” the revolution†of the genre. It is a kind of bubble of rhythm and words, of various objects, many belonging to stars who propagated this way of reciting, of breaking (breakbeats), scratching (scratching) and mixing songs from which a different sound emerged.
“That was the era of the revolution because that’s when the gold records for album sales were achieved, the first movies were made, hip-hop was introduced to New York clubs and main stages, it began to sound in the radioâ€, explains Paradise Gray, chief curator, one of the founders of the group X Clan, dj and historian of this movement that emerged from the underground and is now global.
This summer officially marks the 50th anniversary of the rise of hip-hop. Specifically, it is commemorated on August 11, 1973. That day has been marked in red, since that day DJ Kool Herc called a party in which he manipulated two record players. This is accepted as the first moment in which there was awareness that something original was being done.
1520 Sedgwick Avenue is a later residential building. The name of Hip Hop Boulevard is recorded on the street, as a testament.
Although it is considered the cradle, it is neither the time nor the place of his birth, they say. “You can’t exactly specify a place,” Bucano accepts.
Except that the birth undoubtedly took place in the Bronx and that the young people wanted to hear something different from what was then playing on the airwaves.
“It’s an arbitrary date,” Paradise Gray interjects. “It is an important day because all the elements were combined, but its creation goes back a long time, it was done before it had a nameâ€, he insists.
“Hip-hop is a product of the Afro-indigenous community. It’s been done since the beginning of time,†says Paradise. “There is an old African proverb: if you can talk, you can sing; if you can walk, you can dance, â€she recalls. “Hip-hop rose on the back of rock and roll, rhythm and blues, gospel, it’s God’s music,†she theorizes.
But he is pleased to celebrate half a century, since this circumstance allows us to highlight the work done by many pioneers, DJs, rappers, dancers and graffiti artists who are totally unknown outside their environment.
The name actually came quite a bit after the thing, says Pete Nice, the museum’s deputy curator and former leader of the 3rd Bass group. He has published the book 50 Years of Hip, which shows that the first time the word hip-hop was used in print was in a pamphlet published in 1979.
Nice remarks that it was the announcement of a concert in Brooklyn, on July 6 of that year, announced as “a hot summer nightâ€. In the pamphlet it was specified: “Battle of MCs (or emcee , derived from master of ceremonies) of hip-hopâ€.
His baptism had a retroactive effect for what was done in 1973 and even before. However, for the commemoration of these five decades, the definitive headquarters of the Universal Hip Hop Museum will not arrive in time, still under construction, which is across the street from the temporary headquarters.
Although the building in the complex called Bronx Point is already built, the interior design has yet to be developed.
Its opening is scheduled for the end of 2024. In its almost 5,000 m2, it consists of two floors, with exhibition space, a couple of performance rooms. Its total budget reaches 65 million dollars. “We are going to be the largest museum built outside of Manhattan. The Bronx is the new mecca for the arts,†says Bucano.
“The museum is going to play a relevant role in the new narrative about this district and how it becomes a motor of economic vitalityâ€, he adds. He supports this affirmation in a fact experienced since the opening of the provisional house. “People from all over the world come to visit and many admit that they had never been to the Bronx before,†emphasizes the director.
It is shocking how the story evolves. The music, the verb, the dance, the costumes, the conduct that emerged as an anti-system demonstration, currently has the support of political institutions and large corporations, which contribute significant sums of money.
That time of the birth of hip-hop was the time of the famous phrase “the Bronx is burningâ€, when this district achieved the international distinction of being the worst in the world. The crash epidemic caused destruction and death. Nobody wanted to go to that territory of a city in a period of bankruptcy.
“When you flushed the toilet in New York, the shit came to the Bronxâ€, illustrates Paradise.
“At the beginning of hip-hop, this was a war zone,†Bucano clarifies. “The Bronx carries a stigma of misery, drugs and violenceâ€, reflects someone who was born, grew up and still lives in this district.
He says that the South Bronx is one of the communities with the least investment, not only in the Big Apple, but in the entire United States. “The poverty level exceeds that of most urban areas,†she insists.
As real estate ambition does not stop, luxury housing developments are springing up on the Harlem riverfront. An entire green area is being redesigned.
In an enclave that scared many citizens, now the problem of gentrification is emerging. Bucano is proud that the museum is located at the base of a 23-story building, “with 100% affordable floors.”
Hip-hop does not forget its origins in the projects, in the social housing blocks.