Hip hop museum to open in the Bronx
New York: Hip hop - the music, dance, art and fashion phenomenon that went from rough streets into fancy suites in five decades - is getting its own museum in its birthplace in the Bronx, New York.
A small pop-up exhibit gives a preview of the Universal Hip Hop Museum’s permanent home, set to open in 2023 to celebrate the culture’s global history.
To date, “there isn’t a physical place that is dedicated to the preservation and celebration of hip hop history and culture,” the museum’s executive director Rocky Bucano said.
The museum, dreamed up by rappers Kurtis Blow, Africa Bamba, and Grand Master Melly Mel eight years ago, will seek to ensure that “the stories can be told accurately by the people who created the history themselves,” Bucano added.
Other rapper-producerentrepreneurs have since become partners in the project, including Nas, Ice-T and LL Cool J.
In 70s, hip hop was born in the south section of the New York City borough of the Bronx. The dancing, rapping and d-jaying elements of hip-hop grew out of the depressed inner-city environment but it has since evolved into a multi-billion dollar culture.
The initial exhibit tells the early origins of hip hop history, and will be replaced every six months with the next stage of the culture’s development. When the museum is complete, the 60,000-square-foot space will feature interactive and immersive exhibits, live shows, film screenings and seminars.