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Indepth Arts News:
"Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes, and Rage"
2000-09-22 until 2000-12-31
Brooklyn Museum of Art
Brooklyn, NY,
USA
Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes, and Rage will present the explosion of
hip-hop--the most influential American cultural phenomenon of the past
twenty-five years. On view at the Brooklyn Museum of Art from September
22 through December 31, 2000, this multimedia exhibition will feature
over 400 items from the 1970s to the present, among them hip-hop
fashions, videos, and artifacts.
Hip-Hop Nation will showcase clothing and accessories worn by artists
such as Afrika Bambaataa, Run-DMC, The Beastie Boys, Salt N' Pepa, Tupac
Shakur, Puff Daddy, Eminem, and Missy Elliot. Other items include
manuscripts of lyrics by artists Public Enemy, Ice-T, and Arrested
Development; a letter from the F.B.I. to Priority Records, expressing
concern over the group N.W.A.; and audio components used by Grandmaster
Flash.
The exhibition will also include artifacts of Brooklyn-bred hip-hop
artists, such as The Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z, as well as interactive
D.J. stations, notable photographs and magazine covers, and music-video
displays detailing hip-hop's history and its four elements - DJing, MCing,
graffiti writing, and breakdancing. Video installations created by
YO-TV (Youth Organizers Television) will provide current teenage and
young-adult perspectives on hip-hop.
Hip-Hop Nation will be organized into five sections examining the
development of hip-hop. The first, The Block Party, introduces the
different components of hip-hop. It also includes live demonstrations
and computerized interactive terminals.
The second section, The Roots, is a look at the beginnings of hip-hop
and features vintage clothing, audio equipment from the 1970s and early
1980s, a video installation, and entire array of original party and club
handbills. It also includes costumes and other items related to such
hip-hop pioneers as Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, and
Kurtis Blow.
The Golden Era, section three of the exhibition covers the
mid-eighties through 1990, hip-hop's most creative and influential
period. The era produced the remarkable rhyme skills of Rakim and Slick
Rick, the feminist flavor of Salt N' Pepa, MC Lyte, Monie Love, and
Queen Latifah, the agitprop poetry of Public Enemy, and the gangsta
soundtrack of N.W.A. Highlights include classic photos and original
album cover art; clothing from P.E's Chuck D, Salt N' Pepa, Run-DMC,
Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, and others, as well as original notes for De
La Soul's landmark record 3 Feet High and Rising. A video installation
accompanies this section.
Section four is Controversy: Outrage and the Rise of Gangsta Rap. It
documents the period when the subculture of gangsta rap came to dominate
radio airwaves and garnered the bulk of the media's attention. Such
events as 2 Live Crew's infamous obscenity trial and the intense
criticism of Ice-T's Cop Killer record (which was actually a rock song
performed by his band, Body Count) marked hip-hop's arrival in
mainstream America. By the mid-1990s, hip-hop would lose two of its
major icons to tragedy: first Tupac Shakur, then The Notorious B.I.G.
were the victims of still-unsolved drive-by shootings. This section
also features numerous court documents and newspaper articles, as well
as artifacts from the collections of Snoop Dogg, Ice-T, N.W.A., and the
Geto Boys. Finally, an X-rated room highlights some of hip-hop's
controversial lyrics. The last section, Pop Goes the Culture,
acknowledges that hip-hop has become the dominant American young
culture. Since MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice in the early 1990s, hip-hop
has reigned over the pop charts, along the way influencing R&B
performers (TLC, R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige), rock acts (Rage Against the
Machine, Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock), and pop acts (Backstreet Boyz, Britney
Spears, Christina Aguilera). Hip-hop's mainstream invasion has also
transformed fashion, language, and the way that Madison Avenue markets
to youth in America and the young world. Pop Goes the Culture includes
costumes worn by such artists as Puff Daddy, Missy Elliott, Eminem, Will
Smith, The Beastie Boys, Jay-Z, and others. It also contains personal
items from the estates of The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur.
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