NYS Senator Zellnor Y. Myrie of District 20 on April 11 handed over a copy of a Resolution passed in the Senate to commemorate the 50th birthday of Hip Hop, birthed on the same date in 1973 by Jamaican-born Clive Campbell (DJ Kool Herc) in his Bronx, New York home.
“I introduced a resolution commemorating the 50th birthday of Hip Hop and it was unanimously adopted by Democrats and Republicans alike. It says in part. Copies of this resolution suitably passed to be transmitted to various organizations throughout the state of New York, said Senator Myrie during BRIC Arts Media concert at the Lena Horne Bandshell in Prospect Park.
“The first hip-hop organization to receive a framed copy of this unanimously passed resolution is BRIC, give it up for the park, yourself and for hip-hop,” said the legislator, before handing over the document to Board Chair Michael Liburd.
Growing up a child of Caribbean immigrants, Senator Myrie remembers listening to Hip-Hop he said, his mother blasted in their Flatbush Brooklyn home. He added that the genre inspired a sneaker trend. As such, the Senator and colleagues officially declared October 9, 2023, sneaker day in the Senate. This sparked a discussion about the important of the footwear and how it intertwines with hip-hop.
The politician who was joined on stage by BRIC’s Board Chair, Michael Liburd, Resident Hip Hop Scholar Antoine Hardy, and curator Gabrielle Davenport, said there is no better place to celebrate 50 years of Hip Hop than in the heart of Brooklyn “in our district, he shouted to the crowd.
The gathering that was spread across the grounds of the park, and around the stage area, was later thrown into a celebratory spirit with the rhymes of popular young rap star Wiki, accompanied by Brooklyn DJ, Donwill who spun the tracks. The artist gave fans a taste of his new album Oofie, described as the embodiment of his New York.
Also paying tribute to the night’s commemoration, was the talented, energizing rapper and southerner, Kari Faux whose lyrics were laced with the F-bomb.
The crowd shouted for more as Kari, who burst onto the scene in 2014 with her mixtape Laugh Now, Die Later performed with engaging movements as she traversed the stage under the colorful lights of the bandshell.
It was almost 10:00pm when featured band Digable Planets, described as the unapologetic precursors of the Afro-Future aesthetic, took to the stage, and delivered a deeply moving blend of funk, Jazz, hip-hop and soul.
Known for their interplanetary Black Power jazz stylings, the band, featuring a group of skillfully groovy musicians, and lovable rappers, Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler, Mariana “Ladybug Mecca” Vieira, and Craig “Doodlebug” Irving, wowed the crowd, leaving behind beautiful memories of BRIC’s 50th Hip-Hop commemorative concert.
