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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now part three for this final for us, hour of our spring fundraising party with another edition of Things To Do Around Here this summer since summer kicks New York's culture scene into high gear with films, dance, theater, opera, all sorts of stuff to do and see and much of it free. To wrap up the series, let's look at the big city-wide party going on, a birthday party, if you will, for hip-hop.

We celebrated the Brooklyn Bridge's 140th birthday earlier in the show. That birthday is today. That genre of music and everything that flowed from it turns 50 this summer since it traces its roots back to a party in the Bronx in August of 1973, where DJ Kool Herc and his turntables made history. Everybody's getting in on the action, it seems. I'm sure we'll talk more about it on this show and elsewhere on the station. I know we will, as the summer goes on and the actual August anniversary date comes close.

To talk about some of the many concerts and activities around town this summer in honor of the anniversary, we're joined by Precious Fondren, culture and art reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. Hey, again, Precious. Welcome back to the show.

Precious Fondren: Hi, thank you for having me.

Brian Lehrer: Maybe we should start where hip-hop started in the Bronx. There's an exhibition at Bronx Terminal Market I see put on by the group behind the forthcoming Universal Hip Hop Museum, not performance, but a chance to see and learn about its history.

Precious Fondren: Yes. Hip-hop was birthed in the Bronx, so it makes sense that a museum dedicated to the genre and the history will be there. We'll be opening up sometime next year in 2024. We know that the museum broke ground in May 2021. A lot of iconic rappers showed up for that: Slick Rick, Chuck D, Nas, LL Cool J. In the meantime, while people wait for that museum to open up next year, they can still learn about the history through this temporary exhibit at the Bronx Terminal Market.

Right now, it's going to be covering the years 1986 through 1990. It's considered the golden era of hip-hop. The exhibit features cassette tapes, posters, plaques, all access passes. For somebody like me, I've never seen a cassette tape in person so it definitely piques my interest. Then if it piques yours, you have until about July to see that before they move on and start covering 1990 through 1994.

Brian Lehrer: SummerStage has a big hip-hop concert coming up on Juneteenth in Central Park. It's one of the ticketed ones where you have to pay for admission. I see all these big names: DJ Premier, Grandmaster Flash, Kid Capri, DJ SpinKing, Diamond Kuts, and DJ Nyla. I see that later, Grandmaster Flash is part of a free concert in Crotona Park in the Bronx. That'll be August 4th. He's one of the iconic DJs. I think Grandmaster Flash is the first rapper who a lot of white people in America heard because of the way the song Rapper's Delight broke out.

Precious Fondren: Oh, yes. Then outside of that, those are two big shows that are happening like you mentioned. The Juneteenth celebration of hip-hop started out in a park. That's going to be taking place at Central Park, that is a ticketed event, but then if you want something a little bit more free outside of Grandmaster Flash outings, there's going to be some celebrations at Coney Island on August 6th, and it's going to feature the lesser-known hip-hop acts.

It's going to be Special Ed, Rampage, Rah Digga, but it's still going to be a great time for people. Like I said, it's going to be in Coney Island, so it's going to be a good time if you come out with family and friends.

Brian Lehrer: We talked yesterday about some movies featuring hip-hop that are part of Lincoln Center's summer for the city when we talked about movies as a category yesterday, but there's music and dance going on too, right?

Precious Fondren: Yes. There's a lot of movies that people can see that's going to be covering like DJ Graffiti. Style Wars, Scratch, Juice, Friday, and Wildstyle are the movies. Apart from the films, there's also an opportunity for people to learn some of the dances of hip-hop. The Ladies of the Hip-Hop Dance Collective, they're an all-women's intergenerational group that creates dance works illuminating the strength, power, and diversity of women in hip-hop. They're going to be holding classes at Lincoln Center the week of August 7th. I believe the actual date is August 9th.

Then outside of that, if you don't really like to dance but you know that you can rap, you can show off your skills in a battle called The Art of the Cypher that's going to be taking place August 12th. Then if you're not really a performer and you just want to enjoy hip-hop and celebrate hip-hop, Lincoln Center is closing out. It's a week of events with Rakim and Rapsody and they're holding a concert at Lincoln Center.

Brian Lehrer: One of the things that you just said it's like anybody can participate rap battles.

Precious Fondren: Yes, yes. You don't have to sign up. You can just show up and show off your skills.

Brian Lehrer: That is awesome. When you were on last week, we went through some of the big arena concerts happening this summer. What are some of the big shows like that tied into the anniversary?

Precious Fondren: Yes. Hot 97, another radio station, they're having their Summer Jam festival. This is really spotlighting the New York of today or the hip-hop of today with a lot of current New York rappers, including Cardi B who's headlining Lola Brooke and Ice Spice. Then, of course, there's going to be something for people that are into old-school hip-hop. The Lox, they're planning a big celebration, and they're going to bring friends along. That's going to be happening June 4th at UBS Arena.

Outside of that, the big hip-hop concert that is going to be celebrating a lot of old-school hip-hop is Rock the Bells that comes to New York. It comes to Queens at Forest Hills Stadium on August 5th, and it's going to feature Method Man, Ludacris, De La Soul, Queen Latifah, Roxanne Shanté. The list goes on and on. Fabolous, Slick Rick. It's going to be a good time.

Brian Lehrer: That sounds like it would have to be like a 12-hour concert.

Precious Fondren: It might be. It might be. Then if that's a little bit too far off and people want to get their celebrations done and they want to start experiencing hip-hop now, next month LL Cool J is bringing something similar of Rock the Bells to New York City. It's called The F.O.R.C.E. Tour, and F.O.R.C.E. stands for Frequency of Real Collective Energy. That's going to be coming to the Barclays Center on June 27th. It's going to feature a lot of the same lineup that the Rock the Bells has, The Roots, De La Soul, Rick Ross, and a lot more.

Brian Lehrer: Sounds like a great anniversary summer with paid events, free events, indoor events, outdoor events, at least many of the boroughs represented, and New Jersey too, so hip-hop's 50th anniversary being celebrated all around town this summer. We have to leave it there. We thank Precious Fondren, culture and art reporter at WNYC and Gothamist, for taking us through some of the exciting ways we can celebrate that Bronx-born art form this summer.

To you and editor Steve Smith, who's come on in a number of the other segments in this Things To Do Around Here series this week, thank you very much for this whole series. The two of you really backed us up so great.

Precious Fondren: Thank you for having us. Yes, there's something for everyone. You're going to find something that piques your interest.

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