No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn

Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes & Rage. Brooklyn Museum of Art, September 22 through December 31, 2000. Kevin Powell, Guest Curator; Kevin Stayton and Deborah Schwartz, BMA Curators.

Riding on the 2-train through Brooklyn on my way to the Brooklyn Museum of Art (BMA) exhibition Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes & Rage, I contemplated the many recordings by rap artists throughout the years that referred explicitly to the borough's neighborhoods of Bed-Stuy, Fort Green, Marcy Avenue, Franklin Avenue, recalling as well the joyful ranting of the Beastie Boys on their track "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" (Def Jam, 1987). I reflected on the past when trains, passing through the graffiti "writer's corner" at my Atlantic Avenue station (Castleman, 1982), were covered, sometimes from "end-to end" or in a "whole car" style, with colorful abstract logos and impressive graphic designs. Today, thanks to the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority's vigorous anti-graffiti campaigns, there is virtually no paint or ink to be seen inside the trains, nor often even within the subway stations. Rather, the train's graffiti consists mainly of "tags," individual names etched inelegantly in the plexiglass windows by young people with sharp keys, patience, and the desire to put their personae on public display. Upon exiting the subway at the Brooklyn Museum station, the swirling letters of spray paint or ink markers were again evident in the surrounding environment, as were stick-on promotional bills for new recordings by a diversity of rap artists. While I remain fond of the postmodern hieroglyphics of graffiti throughout my Brooklyn neighborhood and the music, style, and language of hip-hop have been essential facets of my cultural landscape for twenty years, I was not entirely prepared for the curious juxtaposition I encountered--the words "Hip-Hop" emblazoned on a massive banner strung between the museum's sturdy Doric columns (fig. 1).

Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes & Rage constituted an ambitious attempt to interpret the past and the present of a vibrant, living culture. With over four hundred artifacts on display, the exhibition sought to capitalize on a swelling public fascination with an area of artistic expression that has, at various stages, been dismissed as a passing fad, vilified as a social poison, and heralded as an innovative array of practices that stimulated the modern art world and revitalized a sagging music industry. Hip-hop culture was celebrated in the media throughout much of 1999-2000 in recognition of its twenty years of popularity, the origin of the genre having been the 1979 release of the first bona fide hip-hop hit recording, "Rapper's Delight," by the Sugarhill Gang. Lauryn Hill's 1999 nomination for ten Grammy Awards (she won five) on the strength of her album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (Ruffhouse Records, 1998), the massive success of The Source (which bills itself as "the magazine of hip-hop music, culture, and politics"), and the announcement that hip-hop has emerged as the top choice among teen music consumers offered sweet vindication for those who had persisted despite negative social and industry pressures.

Broadly defined in relation to both attitude and lifestyle, hip-hop is associated with a cultural movement organized around what are referred to as "the four primary elements": DJ-ing, MC-ing (or rapping), B-boying (or break dancing), and graffiti. The term hip-hop is often incorrectly applied only to the music, the most prominent and lucrative cultural facet.

Thus, capturing the vast range of hip-hop expression presents a complex curatorial task, rendered even more difficult by the fact that hip-hop is a living subculture, characteristically prone to transformation, suddenly shifting priorities, and radical reinvention. In recognition of hip-hop's current significance, the BMA also organized an ambitious series of educational and social events around the exhibition: a two-day educational symposium and a subsequent panel discussion with lectures, open microphone discussions, and film screenings; an "artist in dialogue" discussion between turntable pioneer DJ...