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New York City lit up with Hip Hop 50 events in celebration of August 11, the same date in 1973 when DJ Kool Herc and Cindy Campbell their their infamous Back to School Jam at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx. It’s a date many consider to be the birthdate of the culture so naturally, the Hip Hop pioneers and architects came out in droves. At Mill Pond Park on Friday (August 11), Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Melle Mel, Scorpio, Rahiem and many others convened for Van Silk’s RAPAMANIA showcase.

Co-sponsored by the Universal Hip-Hop Museum and Red Bull, the event represented all elements with DJs, graffiti legends like Lady Pink (who appeared in Style Wars), photography icons such as Glen E. Friedman, Martha Cooper and Ernie Paniccioli, Red Bull BC One b-boy cypher and, of course, a

The third annual Together Forever event is going down at Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn on Sunday (August 6) in honor of the late Beastie Boy, Adam "MCA" Yauch, and Run-DMC legend Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell, who was killed in 2002. 

Organizer Dave Sussman calls it simply, "a celebration of the life and accomplishments of Adam 'MCA' Yauch of the Beastie Boys and Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC." The event also includes special honors for iconic street photographer Ricky Powell—aka the 'Individualist'—and the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop.

The free event boasts music, live performances and surprise guests. Longtime Beastie Boys DJ Hurricane, Philly's DJ Too Tuff, Schoolly D, The Fat Boys' Kool Rock Ski and Lil Dee are among the confirmed guests. 

"Together Forever" s

ITSALL BLACK MUSIC PRESENTS has announced the Brooklyn, Queens and Bronx lineups for the 5x5 Block Party Series taking place in New York City on August 5-6 and August 11-13. With the help of the city and Mayor Eric Adams, the Hip Hop 50 celebration will reach all five boroughs with performances by Prince Paul, KRS-One, Chuck D, Kool G Rap, dead prez, Jungle Brothers and Dres from Black Sheep.

The free block parties are reminiscent of the 1970s and early '80s when hip-hop was first beginning to crawl. Park jams were springing up all over the Big Apple, especially in the Bronx. On August 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc and his sister, Cindy Campbell, threw a Back To School party at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. Since then, the modest Bronx apartment building has been widely considered the official

The Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame opened to the public on July 22 wiht. This year’s inductees include James Brown, who recorded some of his music at Cincinnati's King Records, The Deele, L.A. Reid, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and late Spinners singer Philippé Wynne and Louise Shropshire. 

"The historical part of this place is that African-American slaves lived in this flood plain and [the Hall of Fame] is across from Paycor Stadium, where the annual Cincinnati Music Festival takes place,” Hamilton County Commissioner Alicia Reece said. 

Reece's drive for the project was fueled by her mother's death. Her mother, Barbara Howard, was a national recording artist, and her father, Steven Reece Sr., was a local rep for Motown Records who helped to bring both th

The Roots' Black Thought has announced a new autobiography entitled The Upcycled Self. According to a press release, the book arrives on November 14 via One World. Throughout each chapter, Black Thought recounts moments of tragedy in his childhood, recollections of community and family in his youth and ultimately, finding love, triumph and truth.

The Upcycled Self offers an "unfiltered and unprecedented" account of seminal memories in Black Thought’s cinematic life. Black Thought wasn’t even a year old when his father was killed. In 2017 he told the New York Times he heard his father was a “kind, chivalrous and very respectful” man. At the age of six, he remembers accidentally lighting his Philadelphia apartment on fire as he played with his plas

Sly Stone will release his first autobiography, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), on October 17 via AUWA Books and MCD/FSG. It will be available on hardcover, e-book and audio. The release marks the inaugural title from AUWA Books, Questlove’s new publishing imprint.

"One of the few indisputable geniuses of pop music, Sly Stone is a trailblazer and a legend," the description reads. "He created a new kind of music, mixing Black and white, male and female, funk and rock. As a songwriter, he penned some of the most iconic anthems of the 1960s and ’70s, from 'Everyday People' to 'Family Affair.' As a performer, he electrified audiences with a persona and stage presence that set a lasting standard for pop-culture performance.

"Yet his lif