NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Some of New York City’s biggest names in rap attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the city’s new hip-hop museum in the Bronx on Thursday.
Nas, LL Cool J, Fat Joe, Grandmaster Flash and other rappers gathered at a massive construction site that will soon be the site of the Universal Hip-Hop Museum.
The project is part of a $349 million development project along the Harlem River. The area will also include an entertainment and housing complex with a parking garage and space for community events.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, at the press event, noted that the museum will be a staple piece of the borough once it is completed.
“If we are going to honor the Bronx, if we're going to remember what makes New York City’s history and personality and culture so special, we need this museum,” the mayor said.
He notes that he hopes that the museum will help the Bronx recover from the pandemic and transform the area into a cultural hub.
“This is a transformational historical moment,” de Blasio said. “We must have a more equal society. We must fight the disparities COVID displayed to all of us. Hip hop was a call for justice and is a call for justice today. We need to do the work of justice. I don't want the good old days because they weren't that good. I want a new New York City for everyone.
That's what we will build here today.”
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. notes that the museum was “long overdue.”
Meanwhile, rapper Nas said the the museum groundbreaking was a “dream come true.”
LL Cool J also said he was excited to see the foundations of the museum and took a moment to celebrate the creation of hip-hop as a genre.
"We took the scraps that were left behind and created a whole industry, culture and genre,” he said.
The museum was originally slotted to open in 2023 and coincide with the 50th anniversary of hip-hop’s birth, but construction was pushed back a year due to the pandemic.
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