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A new documentary series hosted by LL Cool J and Ice T follows them on the hunt for the most sought-after items in Hip-Hop culture.
The two rap icons and television stars are the hosts of Hip Hop Treasures, a new documentary series that will air on A&E. The premise of the series will follow the pair along with museum curators and field experts as they track down memorabilia from the glory days of the culture such as the jersey The Notorious B.I.G. wore in the “Juicy” video to DMX’s Aaliyah car to the clocks that Flavor Flav of Public Enemy wore. Items procured during the episodes will be sent to the Universal Hip Hop Museum, which boasts the largest collection of Hip-Hop memorabilia in the world.
Major stars of the culture will be present in each episode, which include DMC, CeeLo Green, Fat Joe, Master P, Soulja Boy, Naughty by Nature’s Treach as well as Coolio in his final on-screen appearance before his death last year. Hip Hop Treasures will also feature tributes to Biz Markie, DMX, and The Notorious B.I.G. The field experts assisting the two will be Cipha Sounds and veteran MC and actress Yo-Yo, and Paradise Gray and Pete Nice will be representing the Universal Hip Hop Museum which is currently being constructed and will open next year. Hip Hop Treasures is slated to premiere on Saturday, August 12th at 10 P.M. ET, coinciding with the weekend celebrating the official 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop.
Hip Hop Treasures is produced by Pulse Films and Rock The Bells, with Erica Hanson, Tracey Baker-Simmons, Andrena Hale, Mira King, Elaine Frontain Bryant, Shelly Tatro, and Jonathan Partridge on board as executive producers for Pulse Films and A&E Networks. Paradise Gray and Pete Nice are also executive producers of the series.
Check out the trailer for Hip Hop Treasures below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-QFdx_UuNg
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In an exclusive interview, we got the chance to speak with Rocky Bucano, the director of the Universal Hip-Hop Museum about the institution’s plans this year for Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary.
This year, Hip-Hop has officially been in existence for 50 years, and there’s already been a few numerous events that are celebrating and amplifying the culture. At the center of these celebrations stands the Universal Hip Hop Museum, an institution that has been years in the making in the culture’s birthplace of the Bronx, New York. It has been a long journey that will culminate in the completion of the museum’s permanent home at Bronx Point, projected for the summer of 2024.
A respected music industry veteran with strong ties to Hip-Hop dating back to his founding of Strong City Records with DJ Jazzy Jay to working with LaFace Records before venturing into television and community initiatives, UHHM’s Executive Director Rocky Bucano has been hard at work collaborating with many individuals, artists, and companies to make the UHHM a reality. We recently had a chance to speak with him about the plans for the museum as Hip-Hop celebrates this landmark year and beyond.
Hip-Hop Wired: Hip-Hop is celebrating 50 years of existence, and many are paying rightful tribute and homage to the culture. For you, as someone who’s been such an integral part of this culture, how does it feel witnessing all of this taking place with the celebrations and the continued journey of UHHM, how does that make you feel?
Rocky Bucano: I’m deeply blessed and honored to be one of the few people who have seen Hip-Hop from before it was Hip-Hop to where Hip Hop is today. Being the executive director of the University Hip-Hop Museum, it becomes almost an obligation, because I’ve seen the entire journey of Hip-Hop, right? To make sure that we have one of the best museums in the world to celebrate and preserve the global history of the culture. I’m so excited and blessed to be in this position. And I look forward to the next 50 years, even after the museum is open. You know, Hip-Hop has done so much for so many people, including myself. So I’m just so excited to be in this position and to see this museum coming to the finish line.
HHW: With the current exhibition, The [R]Evolution of Hip Hop “Golden Era” 1986-1990 open now – which I feel everyone has to visit at least once – what further activations and events do you and UHHM have planned this year?
Bucano: So we are the official partner of Mayor Adams and his administration to produce and curate a variety of different programs and events to celebrate the 50th anniversary. We have a women’s empowerment program coming up later this month, which will be at the Billie Holiday Theater (in Brooklyn). We’re doing health and wellness programs, we’re doing social justice outreach programs, and small business workshops. But the big one we’re working on is a celebratory concert to celebrate 50 years of Hip-Hop. Right now, the plan is to do it in Central Park, but it might be Yankee Stadium, so stay tuned for that.
And then we will be opening up a traveling museum that will start here in New York City. Later this year, so hopefully around August 10 of this year, we’ll be putting that up and that will stay open until the actual museum opens up at the Bronx Point. The traveling museum will debut in Manhattan, so we’re working on a location now.
HHW: That sounds amazing. And that ties into the final question that I have for you. In terms of further projects that have been completed, with the highly interactive components in the exhibits at your current space are we going to see further virtual collaborations like you’ve done in the past with Microsoft, like with Metaverse and Facebook under Meta as well?
Bucano: Great question. So you know, we have a Metaverse, a virtual museum that was accessed accessible through alt space. We were working with Microsoft, but they decided to sunset their alt-space division. So now we’re moving our Metaverse virtual museum over to Spatial, and we’re working with the team there on that. We’ll probably have some virtual projects and programs ready to go later this spring and early summer. Pretty excited about that. And we’re exploring how to use AI and all of the available tech experiences including ChatGPT. We’re right there trying to use the most advanced technology. We want to make sure that we’re curating and celebrating Hip-Hop history with new technology.
For more information on upcoming events at the Universal Hip-Hop Museum, visit their website.
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Source: Sylvester Zawadzki / Universal Hip-Hop Museum
Here’s a quick guide to some of the best exhibits and museums displaying fifty years of Hip-Hop culture that we feel you need to check out as soon as you can and more than once if possible.
Hip-Hop enters its fifth decade of existence this year, and celebrations far and wide are taking place. For those who are devotees of the culture, there will be multiple opportunities to honor and celebrate it thanks to exhibitions being held at various museums and other institutions. Here are a few that we feel are the greatest to see again and again.
Universal Hip-Hop Museum
The Universal Hip-Hop Museum was launched in 2015 to be a “permanent place to celebrate the music that has made the Bronx famous around the world”, located a short distance from its birthplace at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. The current public round of programming, the [R]Evolution of Hip Hop Experience, began in 2019 in its space at the Bronx Terminal Market. Visitors can partake in the sights and sounds of numerous artifacts from artists and those close to the culture spanning 50 years as the permanent home is currently being built at the Bronx Point development at 610 Exterior Street. Once completed, it will occupy 52,000 square feet as part of a residential complex. Recently, it received a grant of $5.5 million.
In an interview, UHHM Executive Director Rocky Bucano spoke about the exciting new developments the museum has in store. “We will be opening up a traveling museum that will start here in New York City. The traveling museum will debut in Manhattan, so we’re working on a location now,” he said.
The National Hip-Hop Museum
The National Hip-Hop Museum is located in Washington, D.C. in close proximity to Howard University. It launched from the Listen Video studios owned and operated by DJ BOOM, who has been a fixture of the culture there since the 1990s and was integral to helping launch the first satellite-broadcast radio station devoted to Hip-Hop, The Rhyme while serving as a Director of Production at XM Satellite Radio. The gallery space is located within the studio grounds and is home to one of the largest collections of Hip-Hop memorabilia and artifacts around. The museum holds periodic exhibits and sponsors major events featuring iconic and contemporary Hip-Hop artists.
HipHop: Conscious Unconscious
Fotografiska New York is the host of a sprawling exhibition featuring photography capturing Hip-Hop’s fifty years of existence. The exhibit, curated in part with Sacha Jenkins and Mass Appeal, features stunning photographs dating from the culture’s inception in the Bronx to now. It features photographs taken by renowned artists such as Jamel Shabazz, Campbell Addy, Ernie Paniccioli, and more detailing the strong role of women in the culture, and also contains never-before-seen artifacts.
The exhibit runs until May 21st.
The Culture: Hip-Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century
This exhibit is the fruit of a collaborative effort between the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Saint Louis Art Museum, with the aim of giving the public “an opportunity to celebrate the richness of creativity and innovation hip hop has catalyzed by exploring it through social, material, and art historical lenses,” according to the Baltimore museum’s Chief Education Officer Gamynne Guillotte. Covering Hip-Hop from the year 2000, it will feature artwork that shows how the culture has impacted society through changing and reforming narratives on race, sexuality and social justice among other subjects. It will run from April 5th until July 16th in Baltimore, then at the Saint Louis Art Museum from August 25th until January 1st, 2024.
Fresh, Fly, and Fabulous: 50 Years of Hip-Hop Style
As it is well-regarded how much of Hip-Hop culture has fashion embedded within it, this new exhibit which is at the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City is a welcome addition to the anniversary calendar. Featuring over 100 items ranging from the lauded Adidas tracksuits worn by RUN-DMC to vintage Karl Kani pieces sported by the late Tupac Shakur, the exhibit will also pay homage to urban brands launched by Hip-Hop artists that rose to fame such as Rocawear. The exhibit is currently running until April 23rd.
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To celebrate Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary, Rémy Martin is releasing the last of its mixtape-influenced bottle series with an ode to the DJ and an interactive street art exhibit.
Source: Remy Martin / Remy Martin
The storied cognac brand issued a press release announcing the VSOP Mixtape Volume 3 Limited Edition, the last collectible in a trilogy series. The bottle is designed with a flair, accompanied by a QR code that will allow patrons to find out about the composition of the lqiuor. It’s the precursor to a larger interactive augmented reality project being launched, known as the Rémy Martin Mixtape Street Art Museum.
The traveling exhibit will feature eight iconic masters of the turntables imagined through the artwork of illustrator Xia Gordon. The DJs being honored are Kool DJ Red Alert, DJ Spinderella, DJ Cocoa Chanelle, DJ Yella, DJ Marley Marl, DJ Shortcut, and DJ Jay Illa. In collaboration with the team at Fred & Farid New York, Gordon will create eight murals in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, and San Francisco. Each mural will depict the journey and career of each DJ.
Those who see the murals and scan the QR code embedded in them can win a chance to attend a Rémy Martin Mixtape listening event sponsored by iHeart Media in the respective city. The Universal Hip-Hop Museum is also a co-sponsor of the series which will take place through July 2023, further showcasing the cognac brand’s commitment to the museum’s mission of preserving Hip-Hop culture.
“Rémy Martin has been linked to music for decades. With the release of this third mixtape, we are curating a new kind of vintage celebration that puts the living legacy of music and cognac culture forever at the center,” said Rémy Martin Global Executive Director Amaury Vinclet in the press release.
“With such a historic year for hip-hop, we couldn’t be more excited to team up with celebrated icons in Mixtape culture to announce the launch of the VSOP Mixtape Vol. 3 Limited Edition. This year’s Mixtape release includes an interactive A.R. experience which highlights the vibrance of VSOP tied to a pinnacle moment in music history,” said Rémy Martin Americas Vice President Tina Reejsinghani.
The VSOP Mixtape Vol 3. Limited Edition is now available for purchase at stores in select markets. For more information, those interested can visit RemyMartin.com.
Source: Remy Martin / Remy Martin
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The Universal Hip Hop Museum will be able to advance their mission in the coming years. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has secured 3 million dollars in funding for the institution.
As reported by News One U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced she secured $3 million in funding in the year-end omnibus package to go toward construction of the Universal Hip Hop Museum, which broke ground in the South Bronx in May 2021 and is slated to open in 2024. The omnibus is expected to pass Congress and be signed into law this week.
The Universal Hip Hop Museum aims to become a tourist hub honoring the genre’s influence over art, music, fashion, film, marketing and entertainment, celebrating the pioneers who built the culture, such as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, DJ Kool Herc, Run DMC and Notorious B.I.G. The funds attained by Senator Gillibrand will go toward helping support the interior fit out of the facility, which is currently under construction at Bronx Point in the “Boogie Down” borough.
“The Bronx has historically been a creative incubator for so many wonderful genres of music, ranging from doo-wop to salsa, but few genres have left a greater mark on mainstream culture than hip hop music,” said U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in. a statement. “It is amazing to see that what started as a party in the basement of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue became a global phenomenon that spawned artistry and entrepreneurs like Jay-Z, Queen Latifah, and 50 Cent. With the 50th anniversary of hip hop right around the corner, I am proud to have secured funds to help the Universal Hip Hop Museum celebrate everything that is beautiful about hip hop culture.”
Located in the borough that give birth to the musical genre, the Universal Hip Hop Museum is the only state-chartered educational museum that is focused on preserving the genre’s deep musical history and celebrating the 5 elements of Hip- Hop’s culture: emceeing, DJing, breakdancing, graffiti art, and knowledge.
Transcending language, age, race, geographic, and socioeconomic barriers, Hip Hop has grown from “New York City” street music getting minimal radio play that gave a voice to the voiceless to topping the Billboard charts thanks to musical acts such as Drake, Nas, Kendrick Lamar and Lizzo, as well as influencing other genres ranging from pop music to R&B to heavy metal music.
You can find out more about the Universal Hip Hop Museum here.
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