The HHHOF is presently in the process of venue architectural, and cafe / exhibits design phase. Build out construction will then take 4-6 months to open post-Covid vaccine. (Photos provided by the Hip Hop Hall of Fame)
NNPA NEWSWIRE — Officials said it would create jobs and revitalize Harlem and New York City in association with the Hall of Fame’s decade-long partnership with the annual Harlem Week Celebration and Harlem Hip Hop Festival with the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownmedia
The Hip Hop Hall of Fame has announced that it will open its flagship Hip Hop Hall of Fame Café & Hip Hop Museum Gallery in Harlem, New York, in 2021 post-COVID-19 vaccine.
According to a news release, the official “Hip Hop Café” hopes to serve as an inspirational and valuable partner in the Restaurant, Retail, Arts, Entertainment, and Small Business economic
Officials said it would create jobs and revitalize Harlem and New York City in association with the Hall of Fame’s decade-long partnership with the annual Harlem Week Celebration and Harlem Hip Hop Festival with the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce.
Groundbreaking recently began on the more than 140,000-square-foot Hip Hop Hall of Fame and Museum.
When completed in 2023, the entire Bronx Point project will consist of affordable apartments, retail, other amenities, and the museum that will occupy 2.8 acres of public space.
“Today marks a historic milestone for Hip Hop, with the official financing of the Bronx Point being completed by L+M Development Partners and the City of New York,” Rocky Bucano, the executive director of the Board of Trustees at the Universal Hip Hop Museum, told the Black Press in December.
Bucano’s statement was in response to the approval of $349 million in funding, including $238 million in cash and bonds from New York City.
“Hip Hop no longer needs to seek placement, validation, or acceptance by other cultural institutions whose mission is not driven by the preservation of Hip Hop. Hip Hop now has its own place to celebrate our own – The Universal Hip Hop Museum – The Official Record of Hip Hop,” Bucano exclaimed.
Officials said the Hip Hop Café & Lounge would present quite the experience for visitors.
The co-branded themed Café’ is the Hard Rock Café and Madame Tussaud’s hip-hop version, officials proclaimed.
The venue includes the Café, Sports Bar, Concert Lounge featuring Live Events, Retail Gift Store, Museum Gallery, and Educational STEAM programs for youth cultivating, job-training and career preparation.
The menu will honor past and present hip hop legends and icons, and celebrities – celebrating their legacies with memorabilia and interactive exhibits.
The Gallery will open with a themed “Hip Hop Activism & Black Lives Matter” Visual Arts and Music Exhibition.
It will engage visitors with a series of impactful presentations on hip-hop music and culture artists, celebrities, athletes, and activists who have been at the forefront of the new civil rights and community socio-economic empowerment movement.
The Gallery will feature other Hip Hop History Interactive exhibits and collections.
The Hip Hop Education programs will feature “Culinary Chef, Hospitality, and TV/Film Production” training programs to accelerate the founders’ push for diversity and inclusion in the restaurant, retail, and multi-media entertainment industries in-conjunction with New York City schools’ arts and media programming using the museum’s “Thrive” collective partners.
The main Official Hip Hop Hall of Fame Museum & Hotel Mega-Entertainment Complex development project in Manhattan also is making steady progress and is on track to break ground with site demolition later this year.
The opening is set for 2023.
“The private stock offering IPO fund will provide a ‘co-ownership’ opportunity for private investors, fans, artists, celebrities, athletes, executives, and Wall Street firms to buy ‘equity stock’ in this historical real estate development project that will be ‘owned and operated’ by hip hop culture with our partners,” officials wrote in a news release.
“This historical project can become a galvanizing force of unity across all economic, educational, religious, and geographical barriers to unify our multi-generational audiences nationally and internationally to accelerate growth and opportunities in America growing with the protest stages to an actionable community ‘socio-economic empowerment and ownership’ stage leading by example by owning our development project,” they concluded.
Bucano noted that the Hip Hop Hall of Fame is a chartered nonprofit organization.
Founded by Sir JT Thompson, the creator of the Hip Hop Hall of Fame Awards TV Show that premiered on BET Network in the 1990s, the mission of the Hip Hop Hall of Fame Museum is to preserve, promote and showcase the past, present and future of hip hop music and cultural arts.
For more information, follow the Hip Hop Hall of Fame on Twitter @HipHopHoF, Facebook @HipHopHallofFame, Instagram @OfficialHipHopHoF, website at http://hiphophof.org.