Hip hop was born in the Bronx in summer 1973. Over 50 years later, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Nas sat down at Queensbridge Park, outside Nas’s childhood home at the Queensbridge Projects, to discuss the art form’s roots and its future in New York City.
“We can’t be content with New York City simply being the birthplace of hip hop. We want it to still be its home, and that means ensuring that the artists who create here are actually able to live here,” Mamdani said. He pointed to rising costs of living displacing communities that created the city’s cultural foundation. “If we allow New York to become such an expensive city that art becomes a luxury good, then we are depriving future generations from the magic of art.”
Nas emphasized hip hop’s role as a truth-telling medium. “Hip-hop unveils the truth. Hip-hop tells you exactly what your city looks like, sounds like, feels like,” he said. “It was an outcry from people who demanded things to change and to tell the world what we were going through.”
During a short film from the Mayor’s Office, Mamdani also celebrated the first day of school with students at the Bronx School of Hip Hop, a grades 9–12 school in District Nine’s Claremont section that uses hip-hop culture as a foundation for instruction. Students study emceeing, DJing, graffiti, breaking, and knowledge of self alongside audio production, digital media, financial literacy, and standard curriculum. Principal Jason Reyes said: “It means the world to know that our city is leading the way in a way that no one else has ever done it.”
Source: Rolling Stone Music
