Mayor Adams Unveils Iconic Hip Hop Imagery Installation in City Hall Rotunda

August 7, 2023

Installation Celebrates 50 Years of Hip Hop History

NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams today unveiled an imagery installation celebrating 50 years of hip hop culture in the City Hall Rotunda. The installation captures posters and flyers from the early days of hip hop, featuring legendary figures such as Run DMC, Clive Campbell aka DJ Kool Herc, Salt-N-Pepa, and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Donations were made possible thanks to the Universal Hip Hop Museum’s curators and historians, Pete Nice and Paradise Gray.

“This installation tells the visual narrative behind hip hop’s influence on New York City and the globe over the past 50 years,” said Mayor Adams. “Hip hop inspired me as young Black man growing up in New York City. The music was about turning pain into purpose, fighting the power, and telling people of color that you could go from rags to riches. By bringing hip hop into City Hall, we are celebrating that a block party in the Bronx 50 years ago is now a major force for change and deserves to have a seat at the table.”

“Hip hop reflects the rhythm and soul of our city's neighborhoods, people, and creative energy, and this amazing installation explores the legacy of this quintessentially New York art form," said New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Laurie Cumbo. “At City Hall, we see the posters highlighting the shows and performances where hip hop’s diverse artists and audiences were forged. This is an incredible way to think more deeply about the role of hip hop in our city and our culture as we celebrate its 50th anniversary, and I encourage everyone to check it out.”

“It’s great to be alive to see hip hop go from its humble beginnings in the streets of the Bronx to the upper echelon of New York City government,” said Paradise Gray, chief curator, Universal Hip Hop Museum. “For the 50th anniversary, we are beginning to see hip hop take its true place as a cultural treasure.”

“The opportunity to share the significance beyond these flyers in City Hall is historic for hip hop, especially to give recognition to the pioneers on the flyers and to the artists who created them like Phase 2 and Buddy Esquire,” said Pete Nice, co-curator, Universal Hip Hop Museum. “These are the foundational documents of hip hop’s earliest artifacts, and I want to give special thanks to the mayor for his support of the installation in City Hall.” 

The hip hop installation at City Hall is part of a larger initiative by the Adams administration to commemorate the 50th anniversary of hip hop. As the birthplace of the genre, New York City will celebrate and honor hip hop’s musical and cultural transformation over the past 50 years through a wide variety of citywide initiatives, including a series of block parties and events and a collaboration with LISA Project NYC to create 50 murals across all five boroughs. These initiatives will pay homage to hip hop’s rich history and community impact as well as provide powerful inspiration for the future of this influential art form.

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