The National Museum of African American History and Culture recently announced a block party in honor of hip hop and rap.
Scheduled to be held on Aug. 13, the free daylong event will feature performances as well as workshops. With radio personality Vic Jagger set to host them, the performances include sets by Alphabet Rockers, Mumu Fresh, the Halluci Nation and rapper D Smoke. A DMV Showcase led by DJ Heat is also scheduled while hip hop pioneer DJ Spinderella is set to close out the day with a dance party.
Along with the performances, the NMAAHC is also offering dance workshops with Culture Shock DC, a local nonprofit dance group, as well as book and discussion panels with hip-hop figures.
“The origins of hip-hop and rap rest in community where people gathered together in basements, on street corners, neighborhood dance parties and community shows to tell the stories of the people and places that brought it to life in a language all its own,” said the associate director for curatorial affairs at the museum, Dwandalyn Reece, in a statement. “Like a true block party, we invite all ages to come together to enjoy activities and performances in honor of the museum’s greatest homage to the music and culture of hip-hop.”
The celebration is in honor of the museum’s hip-hop and rap legacy series. Marking one year since its release, “the Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap” is an anthology that tracks the evolution of hip-hop and rap.
Created by the NMAAHC and Smithsonian Folkways, the CDs are meant to tell American history from the perspective of Black American figures. Featuring 129 tracks, the playlist accompanies 11 essays by music experts, authors and journalists on aspects of the genre such as women in hip-hop, the relationship between the music and graffiti and the business and marketing side of the genre.
Through photographs of the genre’s development throughout its 50-year history, the anthology tells the story of a genre that was originally looked down upon and has since grown to be one of the most popular genres in the U.S.
According to a recent report by MRC Data, hip-hop leads all other genres in global sales with a total volume number, which includes physical and digital sales, of 27.7%. Rock placed second with a significantly less number of 20%.
“We wanted the Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap to be reflective of the culture, of the music, of the people, of everything that is part of hip-hop,” said Reece, the producer of the anthology, in a statement. “It is only fitting that NMAAHC celebrates the one-year anniversary of the Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap with a block party in our front yard.”
