Happy Birthday, Hip-Hop!
Hip-hop turns 50, and these major exhibitions mark the occasion.
Missy Elliott, Photographed for Spin Magazine, New York City, 1998." Christian Witkin, 1998. Courtesy of Fotografiska New York and copyright of the Artist.
Longer, brighter days are on the horizon, and on the arts and culture circuit, a vibrant spring and summer await. One moment to note this August is the official birthday of hip-hop. Five decades after its birth in the Bronx in 1973, hip-hop's reach today extends from behind the mic and turntables to breakdancing, graffiti, fashion, film and contemporary art. Hip-hop's influence is enduring and undeniable, shaping generations of creatives.
Just as the tributes and think pieces accumulate in year-round celebrations, cultural institutions are set to unveil exhibitions and programming. At the AGO on March 29, you can catch an evening of music and storytelling with four Indigenous hip-hop artists: Eekwol, DJ Kookum, JB The First Lady and T-Rhyme – more information here. In the meantime, we're taking a closer look at two exhibitions coinciding with hip-hop’s anniversary at Fotografiska New York and the Baltimore Museum of Art.
First up and on view through May 2023, Hip-Hop: Conscious, Unconscious at Fotografiska New York traces the rise and proliferation of hip-hop through image making, gathering over 200 photographs and other ephemera dated 1972 to 2022. In an ambitious showcase, Hip-Hop: Conscious, Unconscious brings 50 years into focus from the very early days of the movement to its most recent, making a point to highlight its grassroots in New York’s Black, Latinx and Caribbean American communities. "It's easy to forget that there was a time before hip hop was an industry and before it made money," said Sacha Jenkins, exhibition co-curator and Chief Creative Officer of Mass Appeal, in a press statement. "It wasn't conscious of itself. It was just existing with young people living their lives, dressing as they did, trying to entertain themselves with limited resources and creating an aesthetic that registered amongst themselves. It wasn't for the world; it was for a very specific community." Arranged chronologically and geographically, the exhibition features several of hip-hop's most recognizable faces – some on the cusp of fame, others after reaching icon status. Among the interwoven themes represented, the exhibition also highlights women like Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige and Megan Thee Stallion, who have forged their own paths amid hip-hop's male-dominated environment.
Next, bridging the gap between contemporary art, fashion innovation and hip hop, The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century opens this April at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA). Co-organized by the BMA and the Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM), The Culture explores the conceptual, cultural and aesthetic attributes that have made this music a global phenomenon and established it as the artistic canon of our time. The exhibition narrows its focus to the past twenty years with more than 90 works of art, fashion and music ephemera. Featured are works by acclaimed contemporary artists like Julie Mehretu, Carrie Mae Weems, and Hank Willis Thomas, alongside artists with ties to Baltimore and St. Louis like Monica Ikegwu, Amani Lewis and Damon Davis. Their work is presented in dialogue with fashion and objects created and made famous by Lil’ Kim, Dapper Dan and Gucci, and Virgil Abloh for Louis Vuitton, along with iconic brands like Cross Colours and TELFAR. “Hip hop’s influence is so significant that it has become the new canon—an alternate set of ideals of artistic beauty and excellence centred around the Afro-Latinx identities and histories—and one that rivals the Western art historical canon around which many museums orient and develop exhibitions,” explains Asma Naeem, the BMA’s Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director, in a press statement. “Many of the most compelling visual artists working today are directly engaging with central tenets of this canon in their practices, in both imperceivable and manifest ways.”
Hip-Hop: Conscious, Unconscious is now on view through May 20 at Fotografiska New York. The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century opens April 5 and runs until July 16 at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA).