From a display of Jay-Z lyrics on the facade of the Brooklyn Library to a concert of rap pioneers at Yankee Stadium, New York is celebrating 50 years of hip-hop, a genre born in its ghettos and now dominant around the world.
Inside the library, a vast exhibition retraces the career of one of Brooklyn’s most famous sons, charting his rise from “a street-smart hustler to a global revered music mogul.”
The artist born Shawn Carter has written about dealing drugs in the Marcy Houses housing project where he grew up, before becoming a billionaire rapper whose marriage to Beyonce created one of the most glamorous couples in pop culture.
“I’ve never really been to a lot of exhibitions,” said 31-year-old warehouse worker Jamarly Thomas, joking that he goes by “Jay-T.”
“So to witness something like this from my favorite rapper is pretty mind-blowing. For a lot of African American kids coming up here, he can set an example for them that they can be bigger,” Thom-as added.
The free exhibition, which opened Friday and was conceived by Jay-Z’s entertainment empire Roc Nation, is entitled “The Book of HOV,” a reference to one of the 53-year-old’s nicknames.
Jay-Z’s string of hits include 1998’s “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)” and “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” from 2001.
Source : Africa News