Less than a month before hip-hop celebrates its 48th birthday, the United States Senate passed a resolution that recognized August 11 as National Hip Hop Celebration Day.
The resolution also made August “Hip Hop Recognition Month” and November “Hip Hop History Month.” The news was shared via a tweet on the official Senate Periodicals page, which also revealed that the vote was passed with “unanimous consent.” This also marks the first time that hip-hop has been recognized in any fashion by the Senate.
August 11 is a noted date in hip-hop’s history, as it serves as the day in 1973 that DJ Kool Herc and his sister Cindy Campbell held a back-to-school party at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in Bronx, New York. It’s this party that many have claimed as the birth of hip-hop’s music and culture.
The Senate Periodicals Twitter account wrote, “By unanimous consent, the Senate passed S.Res.331 (A resolution designating August 11, 2021, as “Hip Hop Celebration Day”, designating August 2021 as “Hip Hop Recognition Month”, and designating November 2021 as “Hip Hop History Month”).”
The news comes shortly after the Universal Hip Hop Museum broke ground at Bronx Point. Mayor Bill de Blasio, hip-hop legends Nas, LL Cool J, Fat Joe, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, City Council Member Diana Ayala, numerous city agencies, and hip hop luminaries took part in the official groundbreaking event for the first phase of Bronx Point. The event took place on Thursday, May 20, at the future home of Bronx Point at 50 East 150th Street in The Bronx.
The event also served as the official launch of the Universal Hip Hop Museum’s capital campaign. The UHHM will celebrate and preserve the history of local and global rap music and culture past, present, and future, and is slated to open in Bronx Point in 2024. At the groundbreaking, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. announced that he would contribute $4.2 million from his office’s capital budget to support the Universal Hip Hop Museum’s capital campaign, which is one of the largest single funding allocations of the borough president’s tenure.
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