Hip Hop 50 Live concert announced
A celebratory concert marking hip-hop’s 50th birthday has been announced for New York’s Yankee Stadium in The Bronx.
Scheduled for Friday 11 August, Hip Hop 50 Live at Yankee Stadium will feature Run DMC’s Bottom of the Ninth…The Walk-Off performance, plus legends including Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube, while a Queens of Hip Hop set will feature the likes of Eve, Lil Kim, Remy Ma and Trina.
“I am honoured to hit the stage in the Bronx, the birthplace of Hip Hop and celebrate all of my heroes,” says Run.
“Aug 11th is Hip Hop’s 50th birthday! So…’Up in the Bronx’ where it all started we will be celebrating this historic moment in history! I am honoured to pay tribute to the culture that allowed this little shy kid from Queens to grow up and become The Mighty King of Rock,” adds DMC.
The anniversary event is being co-produced by Nas’ entertainment company Mass Appeal, Live Nation and the New York Yankees
Other performers on the night will include: T.I., Fat Joe, Common, A$AP Ferg, EPMD, Ghostface Killah, Lupe Fiasco and Slick Rick. Additionally, a Pillars of Hip-Hop set will star Kool Herc & Cindy Campbell, Grandmaster Caz, Kurtis Blow, Melle Mel, Roxanne Shante, Scorpio and the Sugarhill Gang. A Legendary DJ set, meanwhile, will showcase Clark Kent, Marley Marl, Mannie Fresh and Battlecat.
Tickets start at US$50, with early bird access to the sale granted to Renaissance Youth Center, New Settlement, SCAN-Harbor, Madison Square Boys & Girls Club, Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, North East Bronx YMCA, Castle Hill YMCA, New York Urban League, Hispanic Federation, Bronx Chamber of Commerce, Bronx Community Foundation, and CORO New York Leadership Center.
The anniversary event is being co-produced by Nas’ entertainment company Mass Appeal, Live Nation and the New York Yankees. Additional acts will be announced in the coming weeks. Emmy Award-winning BASSic Black Entertainment CEO Adam Blackstone is serving as managing creative music director along with partner Omar Edwards, musical director for Jay-Z.
Hip Hop 50 Live at Yankee Stadium is the latest announcement surrounding Mass Appeal’s cross-platform Hip Hop 50 initiative.
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The show will go on for Rolling Loud 2017
Kendrick Lamar-headlined festival Rolling Loud has avoided cancellation after board members of the Bayfront Park Management Trust voted unanimously to allow it to go ahead as planned next month.
The major hip-hop event, promoted by Dope Entertainment, was facing the prospect of being called off following the revelation that its move to the 32-acre Miami park had only been signed off by one board member. Frank Carollo, the chairman of the trust which manages Bayfront Park, then called a special meeting “to vote on approval/denial of the use agreement for the Rolling Loud festival”, arguing that all uses of the park must be approved by the entire board.
Cue Rolling Loud’s lawyer, Jeffrey Bass, threatening the city with a lawsuit, warning that Dope had already sold close to 40,000 tickets and would suffer damages “well in excess of $30 million” if the event were cancelled.
“I feel like I got acquitted for a crime, and I know I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s crazy”
According to the Miami Herald, yesterday’s vote “went quickly, with little discussion save a few changes to the contract limiting when the festival can conduct sound checks and requiring that the festival increase its investment in off-duty police and firefighters to nearly $800,000”.
“I feel like I got acquitted for a crime, and I know I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s crazy,” said festival co-founder Tariq Cherif after the vote. “We should have never had to go through this.”
Rolling Loud – an “Ultra for hip hop” which took place at Soho Studios and Mana Wynwood in 2015 and 2016, respectively – will this year run from 5 to 7 May. Other performers include Lil Wayne, Young Thug, Future and A$AP Rocky.
Bayfront Park is also home to EDM event Ultra and an outdoor concert venue, Bayfront Park Amphitheater, booked by Live Nation.
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