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 in an
interview.
The museum, dreamed up by rappers Kurtis Blow, Afrika Bambaataa
and Grandmaster 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-producer-entrepreneurs have since become partners
in the project, including Nas, Ice-T and LL Cool J.
Hip hop was born in the south section of the New York City
borough of the Bronx in the United States in the late 1970s. The
dancing, rapping and deejaying elements of hip-hop grew out of
the depressed inner-city environment but it has since evolved
into a multi-billion dollar part of mainstream global 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 (5,570 square meter) space will feature
interactive and immersive exhibits, live shows, film screenings
and seminars.
One highlight will be a 'breakbeat narratives' interactive
console created with Microsoft and the MIT Center for Advanced
Virtuality. It takes visitors on a hip hop history based on
their responses to different characters in a game.
"It forms a custom narrative of hip hop history based on their
musical preferences," Bucano said.
Artifacts on display will include Kurtis Blow's original beat
box machine, and the first and second rap records ever released.
Construction is set to start in July, with the grand opening
planned to mark 50 years of hip hop in 2023.
(Reporting by Alicia Powell; Writing by Richard Chang; Editing
by Rosalba O'Brien)
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