Hip-hop may belong to the world now, but there’s little question that the sound and culture that took over the world had its start in the New York City borough of the Bronx in the summer of 1973, where DJ Kool Herc and others held neighborhood block parties — mixing, scratching and rhyming over records.
In observance of that anniversary, Run D.M.C. some of the biggest names in hip-hop history will return to the Bronx tonight (Aug. 11), taking the borough’s biggest stage, Yankee Stadium — so close and yet so far from its birthplace. The lineup includes New York legends Run D.M.C. (in what they say is their last performance), Nas, Fat Joe, Ghostface, EPMD, Remy Ma, Melle Mel, Lil Kim and Kool Herc, along with Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, and more in a daylong festival of hits under the baton of Adam Blackstone, who’ll serve as its managing creative music director along with keyboardist Omar Edwards. The Yankee Stadium HH50 concert will also livestream, beginning at 6 p.m. ET, exclusively via Mass Appeal’s YouTube channel, presented by Google Pixel.
“Performing at Yankee Stadium, and in the Bronx, for hip-hop’s 50th anniversary is extremely special to me,” Fat Joe tells Variety. “I’ve watched hip-hop grow from being played at Bronx parties on the block to becoming the biggest genre in the world. Hip-hop changed my life and I’ll always be thankful for it.”
Blackstone is no stranger to big stages: He was musical director of the past two Super Bowl halftime shows (with such minor names as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, 50 Cent and Rihanna) and the 2022’s Academy Awards’ ceremony, as well as Jay Z’s recent Basquiat-influenced performance in Paris. The bassist, producer and musical director to the stars has seen it all, but even admits that creating a concert celebrating hip-hop’s 50th anniversary in the Bronx is a steep challenge.
“Trust me, I know how huge of a responsibility this Yankee Stadium show is,” he tells Variety, fresh from wrapping up mixes on his upcoming Christmas album and working with Alicia Keys on her forthcoming “Hell’s Kitchen” musical. “The biggest difference between the Yankee Stadium show and every other big event I have musical directed is that this one represents an entire culture,” he continues. “When I’m doing the Super Bowl or the Oscars, I’m dealing primarily with a few artists, or with the most recent Super Bowl, just Rihanna. Having hip-hop span 50 years means it has touched millions of people, artists and audiences. How can we do with all of the artists of the Yankee Stadium show means showing off our favorite moments — and that’s where I am a little bit in my head.”
Unlike most of his biggest live programs “where everything is already booked and laid out for me,” HH 50 at Yankee Stadium finds the Philadelphia-born Blackstone responsible for curating segments such as “Queens of Hip Hop,” “Bronx Bombers” and “Legendary DJ” and their artists’ running order.
“It’s a lot, man,” he laughs. “Hearing Biggie Smalls tell his stories through rhythm and rhyme – B.I.G.’s cadence meant everything, as did Puff’s partying and dancing – was crucial for me. I also came up with A Tribe Called Quest — me and my best friend pretending we were Q-Tip and Phife, going back-and-forth. That’s funny to say 41 years later, but it’s the truth. I wanted that feeling, and that’s why I’m working my ass off making sure everyone is satisfied, no matter what their question or need.”
At Yankee Stadium this Friday, it is crucial to Blackstone that Lil Wayne “sound like” Lil Wayne, Remy Ma “sound like” Remy Ma, and so forth. “The relationship that I have with so many of these personalities comes from me probably having played and produced with them in the past,” said Blackstone who also musically directed Rihanna’s 777 Tour of 2012, acted as the longtime bassist of Justin Timberlake’s touring ensemble, as well as Janet Jackson, Maroon 5 and others.
“I’ve been a part of so many of these artists careers through the live show element. They trust me. Where our struggle comes is making sure Slick Rick, Kool Herc, Sugarhill Gang, Kurtis Blow, EPMD – these pillars of hip hop who we may not have worked with directly – trust me. No disrespect to someone such as Nas, who is a god MC, or Snoop Dogg, also a god, but we’ve worked with them in the past, so it all seems easier, you know? Kool Herc knows my name, maybe, but is he sure I know how he started hip-hop on two turntables? So, maybe ‘struggle’ is the wrong word — maybe ‘hurdle’ is better – something we need to jump over before Friday in order to have these other artists’ trust, and that we have the music sounding as integral as possible based off of the lineage of the 50 years that we’re trying to convey. Everybody at HH 50 just wants to be great on their own, and are really coming together for this.”
Creating Hip Hop 50 at Yankee Stadium with Live Nation meant Blackstone working with Edwards, his partner in his Basic Black Entertainment partner, and their team of production technicians. “We won’t do any show of this magnitude without my front-of-house engineer Jaymz Hardy Martin III – he’s helping us to translate to 50,000 people all of the elements of the music that are so nostalgic. And Danny Cheung too, my ProTools operator and elevated music librarian. Having him on playback allows us to program and edit the live set in sequential order. If I need to insert two bars or somebody comes in late, he can start or stop the trigger based on what’s going on during the show. We run this together.”
Having spent time at last week’s Rock the Bells show in Queens, NY with Remy Ma, Big Daddy Kane and Run-DMC, Blackstone mentioned several of the discussions he had with those artists, marveling at how far they and the music have come.
“I don’t know if they believed that hip-hop would last this long,” he said. “They were doing this, at their start, based purely on a feeling. So, to commemorate this moment is big for everybody involved. Run DMC’s showcase will be a ‘Mr. October’-type home run, trust me. Daddy Kane, Sugarhill Gang and Melle Mel know their impact on hip-hop, are humbled, and will show that love and respect in their sets. To do so where it all started, on arguably the day that it started, means the world to them.”
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