CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will play host to a star-studded opening for its Hip Hop at 50:”Holla If Ya Hear Me” exhibit starting Thursday, June 29, at the museum.
At 3 p.m., Rock Hall inductees Chuck D of Public Enemy and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run DMC will join a discussion about the PBS documentary series “Fight The Power: How Hip-Hop Changed the World” and the “Hall If Ya Hear Me” exhibition. The conversation will be hosted by Jason Hanley, the Rock Hall’s vice president of education and visitor engagement. The event is open to Rock Hall members. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at rockhall.com.
Related: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s newest exhibit ‘Holla If Ya Hear Me’ will celebrate 50 years of hip hop
From 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., there will be the Hip Hop at 50 “Holla If Ya Hear Me” Rock Hall Nights event that will be free for members and Cleveland residents and $25 for the non-Cleveland-based general public. Tickets are available at the Rock Hall.
The fun kicks off at 6:30 p.m. with a welcome on the PNC Stage featuring Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Flava Flav along with fellow ‘80s rap pioneers Salt-N-Pepa and Roxanne Shante.
Other activities include a behind-the-scenes look at artifacts from the Rock Hall’s vault and a chance to play with turntables, samplers and drum machines at the new BEAT LAB interactive stations. In addition, historic induction moments featuring archival footage of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, and more will be shown.
Finally, DJ NicNacc will spin classic hip-hop on the PNC stage throughout the evening.
The new Hip Hop at 50: Holla If Ya Hear Me” exhibit will highlight important moments in the hip-hop timeline and feature previously unseen artifacts from many of the genre’s progenitors and early pioneers.
Among the items slated to be on display: The handbill from the “All-Star Birthday Bash for DJ Kool Herc,” the rec-room party in the Bronx in 1973 that is widely acknowledged as the birthplace of hip hop. The exhibit will chronicle many of hip hop’s other important moments, including the signing of Kurtis Blow to a major record label in 1979 and The Funky 4 +1′s performance of “That’s The Joint” on “Saturday Night Live” on Valentine’s Day 1981, marking hip hop’s national television debut.
Other important moments include the 1982 release of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s “The Message,” hip hop’s first socially conscious hit song, and hip hop’s first on-record rivalry, UTFO’s “Roxanne, Roxanne,” vs. Roxanne Shante’s “Roxanne’s Revenge,” from 1984.
The exhibit will feature artifacts from other pioneers, including Salt-N-Pepa, who were the first women emcees to sell gold and platinum recordings. They will be represented by the colorful jackets worn in the classic “Push It” Video. There are also some behind-the-scenes items, too, including the 1977 Fender Precision bass used on “Rapper’s Delight” by musician and producer Chip Shearin and the Guild X-100 Blade Runner guitar Joe Perry used in the Aerosmith and Run DMC video for “Walk This Way,” a massive moment in hip hop’s mainstream crossover on radio and on MTV.
“Holla if Ya Hear Me” will also highlight both socially conscious icons artists such as Public Enemy, Queen Latifah, and Kendrick Lamar alongside hardcore, “gangsta,” and bling rap legends such as N.W.A., Wu-Tang Clan, DMX, and Notorious B.I.G.
A section of the exhibit will focus on the “Moguls” of hip-hop, with artifacts from the first hip-hop billionaire, Jay-Z, as well as pieces from Sean “Diddy” Combs, Russell Simons and more.