The Universal Hip Hop Museum continued its journey toward an eagerly anticipated opening by hosting its first gala this week, at which the institution-in-the-works honored longtime New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, veteran record executive Sylvia Rhone and a host of others for their contributions to hip-hop culture.
“Universal Hip Hop Museum Presents 50 Years of Hip-Hop: NYC to the World Inaugural Benefit Gala” took place Thursday night at Cipriani in downtown Manhattan. Hip-hop luminaries like Kurtis Blow, Treach of Naughty By Nature and “Wild Style” director Charlie Ahearn all came out to support the UHHM as its 2025 grand opening approaches.
Hip-hop culture overflowed throughout the elegant venue during the four-hour festivities. Large model renderings of hip-hop landmarks 1520 Sedgwick Avenue and Disco Fever greeted guests as they entered. Encased artifacts from LL Cool J, DJ Kool Herc and Roxanne Shante were on display, with each table adorned with Bronx imagery and centerpieces of studio microphones, basketball hoops with chain nets and sneakers dangling from shoe laces.
Dr. Yolanda Whitaker, also known as the hitmaking rapper Yo-Yo, served as host for the event, performing her signature hit, “You Can’t Play with My Yo-Yo,” as attendees made their way to their tables. The program officially began with a few words from special guest speaker, author and professor Dr. Michael Eric Dyson.
Dyson, who has written several books on hip-hop culture, hyped up the crowd by reciting aspirational lyrics from Nas’ “N.Y. State of Mind” and Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy” while looking back at how much hip-hop culture has evolved despite receiving condemnation from society and in the face of overwhelming poverty and social strife of the 1970s and 1980s.
“Did you ever think with the downturn of the economy, with the post-industrial urban collapse, with the Bronx being bombed and Brooklyn got its way that New York would be the epicenter of another renaissance, a new Langston Hughes, a new set of poets?” Dyson asked his audience. “These young people were demonized by society because they didn’t possess a degree, but they had a profound degree of intelligence.”
Rocky Bucano, executive director of UHHM, spoke of the importance of the inaugural gala and the individuals being honored.
“Tonight, we come together not only as enthusiasts of music but as a united community celebrating a culture that transcends borders, languages and backgrounds,” Bucano said. “The Universal Hip Hop Museum’s inaugural gala is a platform to honor those who have shaped hip-hop’s journey and to forge connections that will carry its legacy into the future.”
Bucano’s sentiments were echoed by New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who sent a video message to the gala-goers.
“Hip-hop is the heartbeat of our city,” Adams shared. “It transcends generations, breaks down barriers and gives voice to the voiceless. We’re celebrating the power of creativity, the resilience of communities and historians that have defined a generation.”
Schumer, the longtime Democratic New York senator and majority leader of the U.S. Senate, received the Change Maker Award. Schumer secured the UHHM with $5 million in funding for its building and opening. While not in attendance Thursday, he too left a video message for the night.
“I love hip-hop,” Schumer told viewers. “I think I’m proud to say that I’m the most hip-hop majority leader in history.”
Rhone received the Sylvia Robinson Visionary Award, although she could not attend. Named after the founder of Sugar Hill Records and co-writer/producer of rap classics like Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s “The Message,” the Robinson prize was given to Rhone in recognition of her trailblazing work as a woman music executive at Elektra Entertainment and currently chair-CEO of Epic Records.
Other award recipients included Brad Smith, vice chairman and president of Microsoft, who received the Spirit Award, and Lisa Gomez, CEO and partner of L&M Development Partners, recipient of the Champion Award. Derrick “D-Nice” Jones, the DJ-rapper-photographer and architect behind Club Quarantine, was on hand to be honored with the Innovation Award, the final award of the evening.
De La Soul closed out the event with a 30-minute performance set. Posdnuos and DJ Maseo treated the Cipriani audience to classics like “Potholes in My Lawn,” “Me, Myself & I,” “A Rolling Skating Jam Named ‘Saturdays'” and “Buddy.” Fellow rapper Talib Kweli joined them briefly for a few songs, including “Stakes is High,” before performing his own classic, “Get By.”
While De La Soul were unannounced performers, the night’s biggest surprise came from Bucano at the very end. He announced the museum is officially changing its name from Universal Hip Hop Museum to The Hip-Hop Museum, with the new logo projected behind him.
The Hip-Hop Museum is slated to have a soft open in late 2024, with a grand opening in the spring of 2025. The 53,000-square-foot building, located at Bronx Point, will include unprecedented exhibitions and artifacts, two theaters, a restaurant and affordable housing, spearheaded by Gomez and L&M Developers.
Matthew Allen is an entertainment writer of music and culture for theGrio. He is an award-winning music journalist, TV producer and director based in Brooklyn, NY. He’s interviewed the likes of Quincy Jones, Jill Scott, Smokey Robinson and more for publications such as Ebony, Jet, The Root, Village Voice, Wax Poetics, Revive Music, Okayplayer, and Soulhead. His video work can be seen on PBS/All Arts, Brooklyn Free Speech TV and BRIC TV.
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