Mayor Eric Adams hosts hip hop’s greatest names at City Hall on eve of rap’s 50th anniversary

Mayor Eric Adams kept it trill Monday, inviting some of the biggest names in hip-hop to City Hall to mark the genre’s upcoming 50th anniversary next year.

Hizzoner, wearing a Run-DMC-style tracksuit, stood shoulder to shoulder with Grandmaster Flash, Slick Rick, the Sugarhill Gang’s Master Gee, Run-DMC founding member Darryl McDaniels and others, part of a fundraising effort in partnership with the Universal Hip Hop Museum.

“When I was in the studio cutting ‘Rapper’s Delight,’ there was no way on the planet Earth that I thought that I’d be sitting here in City Hall with the mayor and all of this,” Master Gee told the audience.

“And so the fact that we are 50 years, the fact that we’re going to do this celebration, the fact that we are here with so many incredible individuals — this is just so profoundly, phenomenally wonderful,” he said.

Mayor Eric Adams joined by some of hip-hop's biggest names.
Mayor Eric Adams is teaming up with the Universal Hip Hop Museum to commemorate next year’s 50th anniversary of hip-hop.
Stefan Jeremiah for NY Post

The City Hall press conference launches a year-long series of events and fundraising efforts leading up to the official opening of the Bronx-based museum next year.

“When they first approached me and told me, ‘Listen, what we are going to do, 50 events, 50 days celebrating 50 years of hip-hop,’ I was like, ‘That’s a lot of 50s,’” rapper Roxanne Shante told the crowd.

“But I’m honored to be able to participate,” she said.

Adams, meanwhile, said listening to hip-hop energized him while he was rising through the ranks of the NYPD before entering politics.

“I remember running home, rushing to see ‘Video Music Box,’” Adams said. “[The show’s co-creater] Ralph [McDaniels] and I went to high school together. And he had that vision of allowing — when other stations did not want the artists to perform — Ralph McDaniels laid the platform and turned it into a conversation.

Joseph Saddler aka Grandmaster Flash outside City Hall
Joseph Saddler aka Grandmaster Flash outside City Hall in New York on Monday.
Stefan Jeremiah for NY Post
Rapper Slick Rick
Rapper Slick Rick was among the artists at a City Hall hip-hop announcement.
Stefan Jeremiah for NY Post
Mayor Eric Adams and hip-hop artists.
Adams announced a partnership with the Universal Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx.
Stefan Jeremiah for NY Post

“And so what we are saying is hip-hop is 50, is that hip-hop has grown up in a manner that they’re not going to be exploited,” Adams said.

McDaniels, a legendary hip-hop DJ and VJ, said education has to be part of the endeavor.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “We are super happy to have all these entertainers here, but I’m here to talk a little bit about some of the educational facilities that’ll be involved, from all the libraries in New York City to the museums.

“So just so you know, education is the fifth element of hip-hop, and that will be represented in this celebration as well,” he added.

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