This summer marks the golden anniversary of hip-hop and Yankee Stadium will be home to a star-studded hip-hop concert on the day that the genre took shape 50 years ago — Aug. 11.
The event features hip-hop legends Run-D.M.C Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube as headliners. The venue will also include performances by other hip-hop heavyweights such as Fat Joe, Slick Rick, Common, Lil Kim, Remy Ma and T.I.
The event will feature Run-D.M.C.’s ‘Bottom of the Ninth…The Walk-Off’ performance.
“I am honored to hit the stage in the Bronx, the birthplace of Hip Hop and celebrate all of my heroes,” said RUN of Run-D.M.C.
The event is being held to commemorate the 50th birthday of hip-hop as a love letter for the genre and all those who have made it popular. The concert also follows other recent events in the Bronx recognizing the upcoming anniversary and the borough’s role as its birthplace. Last month, Lehman Center for the Performing Arts celebrated the anniversary with a “Hip Hop Fever” concert and KRS-One announced, at a late April press conference, a public call for creatives to help design a logo to celibate the upcoming golden anniversary.
It was Clive Campbell aka DJ Kool Herc, on Aug. 11, 1973, who changed music and the Bronx’s association with hip-hop, forever.
It was at a “back to school event” at the now-iconic 1520 Sedgwick Ave. apartment building where, through the use of a sound system, Herc began to invent the technique of breaks, or breakbeats, which led to it being popularized by other artists like Afrika Bambaataa and Bronx crew Universal Zulu Nation and Grand Wizzard Theodore.
To pay homage, the Hip Hop 50 Live concert will include a Pillar of Hip Hop Set, featuring Kool Herc and Cindy Campbell, GrandMaster Caz, Kurtis Blow, Melle Mel, Roxanne Shante, Scorpio and the Sugarhill Gang.
Hip Hop 50 Live at Yankee Stadium is co-produced by Mass Appeal, Live Nation, and the New York Yankees. The ticket prices start as low as $5 and the presale for tickets will begin on Thursday June 8 and the general ticket sale will begin on Friday, June 9 at 10 a.m.
Additional acts will be announced in the coming weeks as the lineup expands. EMMY Award-winner and BASSic Black Entertainment CEO Adam Blackstone, who was the musical director for the dynamic, star-studded halftime show at Super Bowl LVI, where he also performed bass guitar on stage with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Eminem, is serving as managing creative music director, along with partner, producer/keyboardist Omar Edwards.
Hip Hop 50 is Mass Appeal’s love letter to hip-hop. A manifestation of the company’s commitment to celebrating the culture in the most authentic and globally impactful way possible. Hip Hop 50 is activating through unique storytelling that is realized in timeless content, original music, live experiences, strategic partnerships and custom products.
Mass Appeal is a notable co-producer of the event as the company is an entertainment company dedicated to telling stories about those who shaped and impacted pop culture and is using Yankee Stadium as the outlet for their hip-hop storytelling.
–Robbie Sequeira contributed to this report
For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
