Bronx-born culture recognized by Smithsonian: Push for Bronx Hip Hop Museum begins

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Bronx-born culture recognized by Smithsonian:
Push for Bronx Hip Hop Museum begins

by Jon Minners

Dominating the Billboard charts, leaving all other music genres in the dust, it is amazing that was only over 30 years ago when Hip Hop was just starting to take shape, forming in the borough artists have affectionately labeled the Boogie Down Bronx. Now, a culture created in the borough is finally getting the attention it deserves in a new collection and exhibition from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, as a push begins to create a Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx .

Bronx legends Afrika Bambaataa, Kool Herc and Fab 5 Freddy were just some of the pioneers of Hip Hop on hand during the announcement of Hip-Hop Won’t Stop: The Beat, The Rhymes, The Life, a major collecting initiative by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History aimed at tracing the culture from its origins in the 1970’s as an expression of urban black and Latino youth culture to its status today.

Featuring memorabilia from the aforementioned artists, as well as from Russell Simmons, Grandmaster Flash, Ice T, Crazy Legs and MC Lyte, the museum is hoping to build an unprecedented permanent collection that will document the undeniable reach of Hip Hop and commemorate it as one of the most influential explosions in recent history.

“Hip Hop has reached well beyond its urban roots to diverse national dimensions and has been an integral part of American culture for almost 30 years,” said Brent Glass, director of the National Museum of American History. “The National Museum of American History is committed to telling the story of the American experience, and with the significant contributions from the Hip Hop community, we will be able to place Hip Hop in the continuum of American history and present a comprehensive exhibition.”

The project was made a reality due to funding from Universal Music and support from Russell Simmons, co-founder of Def Jam and the chairman of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network. The museum plans to collect objects from all aspects of Hip Hop arts and culture, including music, technology, sports, graffiti, fashion, break dancing and language. Some of the items up for display will be vinyl records, handwritten lyrics, boom boxes, clothing and costumes, videos and interviews, disc jockey equipment and microphones, personal and business correspondence and posters and photos.

“Born out of poverty and the need to draw attention to social conditions, Hip Hop is amazingly creative and embodies innovation and invention,” said Marvette Perez, curator at the National Museum of American History. “The genre is fluid and transforms itself continuously. This music speaks to people across the world as it is easily adapted to the music and language of other countries. However, the genre is sometimes misunderstood and misrepresented due to the content.”

The museum hopes to legitimize the culture to those who do not quite understand it and often negatively react to it. “I think it is great news for Hip Hop,” said DJ Cool Clyde, an original pioneer of Hip Hop, known as the first DJ to scratch on record. “We are talking about a credible museum that reaches out to a higher echelon of people from throughout America and beyond. Now, when visitors and tourists go to the museum, they will see Hip Hop right up there with the displays they have for Rock-N-Roll. They will learn more about the culture; honor it and respect it. If you see Hip Hop in a credible place like the Smithsonian, you have to look at the culture in a different light.”

DJ Cool Clyde, who now works for the MTA, has become a Hip Hop activist, forming the non-profit organization, United We Stand Entertainment, and has become a voice for Hip Hop relations in the Bronx, most notably taking part in a protest against Foot Locker last year for taking advantage of the Hip Hop community that helped make the popular sneaker store a household name. DJ Cool Clyde has most recently been fighting to bring the spotlight on the forgotten faces of Hip Hop and is also pushing for those whose works will be featured in the museum to be compensated, as a way of giving back to those who paved the way; drawing parallels between Motown artists of old and Hip Hop pioneers.

With a Hip Hop exhibit in place, DJ Cool Clyde has now turned his attention on publicizing Hip Hop on a grander scale, by pushing for the creation of a Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx. “The need is there,” said DJ Cool Clyde. “It’s great that the Smithsonian has shown an interest in Hip Hop, but the Bronx is the birthplace of Hip Hop and it only makes sense that a Hip Hop Museum be built here before anywhere else.”

The Bronx Museum of the Arts has had several Hip Hop exhibits and programs in the past, but DJ Cool Clyde hopes to see a permanent fixture in the borough, believing it to be a major tourist attraction. “Hip Hop is hot right now, but our youth only know the microwave stage of Hip Hop; fast money, cars, clothing,” he said. “They don’t understand the struggles that went behind it. They just think they don’t have to finish school; all they have to do is become a rapper and they will be rich. They don’t understand the other venues out there for them that require an education. It’s hard to make it as an artist, but those artists need lawyers and producers and so on. There is a world out there and when people learn about Hip Hop and what is behind that, it will open up their minds to the many avenues out there.”

DJ Cool Clyde is hopeful that the exhibit in Washington will be a success and that it will lead to his goal of a Bronx museum. “The Smithsonian can build an annex here,” he said, noting the educational opportunities that could result from its’ construction, including lessons on recording contracts and how low frequency radio stations were created, along with a growing culture that shows no end in sight.

“This was written off as a fad and it is now a full-blown culture with a history, language and clothing style of its own,” continued DJ Cool Clyde. “The South Bronx is booming today, because kids were drawing attention to the community. They had nothing to do amongst burned out buildings. They made their own fun and soon corporate America embraced it and made it what it is today. But in order to get to where it is going people need to know where Hip Hop came from. And that’s why a museum is needed. The Bronx is the only place it belongs.”

For more information about the museum, go to http://americanhistory.si.edu. For more information on DJ Cool Clyde, go to www.unitedwestandent.org.