Roar

Legends’ rhymes hype Bronx Zoo happenings

THE BRONX ZOO has a brand new beat.

Hip-hop legends Grandmaster Melle Mel and Grandmaster Caz have created a new track, “Animals and Emcees,” for a series of springtime events starting later this month promoting the zoo — and Bronx culture.

“Like Noah’s Ark in the Park. New York, Boogie Down Borough. OG MC’s throwing a party. Part nature trail, part safari,” Melle Mel raps over elephant trumpets and the maracas-like sounds of the rattlesnake.

“You got Caz rocking with a silverback. You got Mother Nature for a soundtrack. Even got the Creator for a light man. Melle Mel got a lion for a hype man.”

The emcees recorded the track for Boogie Down at the Bronx Zoo, an event on weekends that kicks off April 21 and then continues May 5 through June 3.

Visitors can enjoy musical performances by Grandmaster Melle Mel, Scorpio and The Sugarhill Gang, as well as rhyming classes with Grandmaster Caz.

Artwork will also be on display by Bronx graffiti artists Crash, Tats Cru, Andre Trenier and others.

The street artists even collaborated with some of the zoo animals.

“They put paint on the snake and (it) slithered on the canvas and I, in turn, painted on the canvas,” Matos told the Daily News. “I’ve worked with a lot of animals — but never real animals. It was a fun project. It was really, really nice.”

The events will feature Cuban, Puerto Rican and Afro-Caribbean musical and dance performances, as well as doo-wop, salsa and mambo classes.

“We are part of an organization that is surrounded by many cultures and diversity, and I think this was a way for us to celebrate that and to celebrate all the cool things that came out of the Bronx — both past and present,” said Rachel Libretti, the director of event marketing and partnerships at the zoo.