Questlove to Write ‘Hip-Hop Is History’ Book for Rap’s 50th Anniversary (EXCLUSIVE)

Todd Gilchrist editor In the 20 years since “Ghetto Pop Life,” the acclaimed debut album from producer-rapper team Danger Mouse & Jemini, much has happened — to them and to hip-hop, much less to the world. You wouldn’t know it listening to their overdue follow-up, “Born Again,” but that’s a good thing, especially against the backdrop of all of that change.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Following the release of her new album, “Hood Hottest Princess,” her “Pound” singles and dates supporting Drake and 21 Savage, Sexyy Red has announced dates for her first headlining tour, “Hood Hottest Princess Tour.” Produced by Live Nation, the 20-city tour kicks off on October 16th at The Paradise Rock Club in Boston making stops across the U.S. in Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles and more before wrapping up in San Francisco at The Fillmore on November 29.

Livestream shopping platform NTWRK is teaming up with Amazon Music and its audio storytelling app Audible for Hip-Hop Sounds & Stories: A 50 & Forever Celebration, an immersive two-day experience that explores how fans have been listening to hip-hop over the last five decades. Read Next: NTWRK, Paramount Pictures, and streetwear brand We Are Little Giants celebrate Mutant Mayhem Happening August 26 and 27 at NTWRK LA, the free event will feature live performances from DJ Drama and SleazyWorld Go, exclusive audio content, and an in-depth discussion on the influences that have shaped the genre.

Todd Gilchrist editor From the wah-wah guitar that opens the title track to the operatic closer “Just to Keep You Satisfied,” Marvin Gaye’s 1973 album “Let’s Get It On” expressed the joy — and complexity — of human sexuality like virtually none in popular music before it. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of its release, Motown/ UMe is holding an event Wednesday featuring fellow R&B luminaries Smokey Robinson and Jimmy Jam, Gaye biographer David Ritz and moderated by UMe A&R vice president Harry Weinger, in advance of a new deluxe edition of the album.

EXCLUSIVE: DCTV, the nonprofit acclaimed as “New York City’s preeminent community of and for documentary storytellers,” is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a series spotlighting the work of DCTV founders, the filmmaking couple Keiko Tsuno and Jon Alpert.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Chip and Joanna Gaines are ready to roll. The home renovation titans behind Magnolia Network are developing a roller dancing competition series for Max.

Mick Jenkins has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to defending hip-hop’s under-appreciated underground. “We’re celebrating 50 years of hip-hop, and a lot of artists like myself who’ve been in this joint for 10, 15 years, underground the whole time, don’t get to be a part of the celebration, but artists who’ve been here for six months get to be on stage at the award show,” he points out in conversation with Dylan Green on this week’s episode of The FADER Interview. “We’re celebrating 50 years of hip hop, not 50 years of rap.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The 50th anniversary celebration for the Roxy in West Hollywood this September is picking up some added components, including an additional appearance by Neil Young and Crazy Horse; a recreation by Stephen Marley of his father Bob Marley’s “Live at the Roxy” album; and a compilation album that will draw on performances from the nightclub’s five-decade history. Young was already announced to appear at the Roxy on Sept. 20, the 50th anniversary of the night he officially opened the club with a multi-night engagement.

Chuck D has narrated a new audio docu-drama series about the rise of hip-hop, which is available to listen to now.The American rapper and Public Enemy frontman recounts the story of hip-hop’s birth in the Bronx, New York during the late 1960s and early ’70s on new series Can You Dig It? A Hip-Hop Origin Story.Across five 30-minute episodes, the hip-hop pioneer retraces the genre’s rise through a blend of “immersive reenactments, oral history and expert discussion”, according to the show’s summary notes.“How did hip-hop happen? To understand that, we have to go back to before the birth’ of the culture,” the description reads.It continues: “It wasn’t a given that the Bronx of the late 1960s and early 1970s would be the birthplace of an American art form. Urban renewal had left the borough neglected and in crisis.

It happens to the best of us.

There was a brief moment during Hip Hop 50 Live — an epic celebration of the golden anniversary of hip-hop that stretched from Friday night into Saturday morning at New York’s Yankee Stadium— that provided a quick reality check.In between Kid Capri’s DJ set and a breakdancing segment featuring Rock Steady Crew legend Crazy Legs, Yankee legend Derek Jeter crashed what felt like the world’s biggest block party and reminded you that it was actually the home of the Bronx Bombers.But on this unforgettable night, the stadium belonged to hip-hop — the music and the game-changing culture that was fathered by DJ Kool Herc at a party in the South Bronx 50 years ago on Aug. 11, 1973.And with a loaded lineup that included golden-age groundbreakers (Run-DMC, Slick Rick), West Coast rap royalty (Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube) and new-millennium masters (Lil Wayne, T.I.), the marathon, seven-hour-plus concert felt like the Live Aid of hip-hop.

Editors’ Note: This guest column by former Luke Cage showrunner and Creed II writer Cheo Hodari Coker is part of Deadline’s series commemorating the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop on August 11.

Toronto rapper Haviah Mighty is reflecting on hip-hop turning 50.

Travis Scott has broken records with his fourth studio album ‘UTOPIA’, which is now deemed the biggest hip-hop release of the year so far.On July 28, the Houston-born rapper dropped his highly-anticipated album, featuring Beyoncé, Teezo Touchdown, Drake and more on the star-studded 19-track album. It was the follow-up to the ‘Antidote’ rapper’s Grammy Award-nominated third album ‘Astroworld’.‘UTOPIA’ has broken many records since it dropped.

A.D. Amorosi 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.

YouTube has announced that they will celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop this year by launching the FIFTY DEEP campaign.This month marks 50 years since DJ Kool Herc performed at a party in the Bronx and showed off his DJing invention of scratching records to extend the instrumental breaks in the song. This revelation was the cornerstone for hip-hop as people could dance longer (evolving into breakdancing) and aspiring MCs could rap during song breaks.In honour of the musical milestone, YouTube has launched FIFTY DEEP, “a cultural campaign on YouTube that salutes how far [the genre] come.” Director of Black Music & Culture Tuma Basa wrote a blog post on the new campaign, saying that the mission “is for every generation to dig into the gems of YouTube’s archival treasury of Hip Hop.”They plan to fulfil their mission by collating a visual library of 2,000 videos that “have changed the game” for hip-hop music, having a custom Yoodle (YouTube’s version of the Google Doodle) to pay homage to the phenomenon of type beats, and creating a Google Arts & Culture Hip Hop Hub to collate “a wide range of cultural institutions’ collections and curated stories.”FIFTY DEEP will kick off this Friday (August 11) with a live stream of Hip-Hop 50 Live on Mass Appeal’s official YouTube channel.

Run-DMC, a 12-year-old Darryl McDaniels got his first education in hip-hop at St. Pascal Baylon Catholic school in Jamaica, Queens.“I was in seventh grade, and Billy Morris — who was in the eighth grade — walked into the schoolyard with a flat Panasonic tape recorder that all the kids would use [back when] there were no boomboxes,” DMC, 59, told The Post.“And he said, ‘Yo, come listen to this!’ He pushed play, I heard a beat … and it was about, like, a minute and 30 seconds of this guy rapping over this little drum beat.

EXCLUSIVE: Martial arts classic Enter The Dragon, which propelled Bruce Lee to international stardom, is turning 50 this month. In marking the milestone, Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, is unveiling a new anime series House of Lee, from Bruce Lee Entertainment, content platform Shibuya and its co-founder, artist Emily Yang.

Angelique Jackson Award-winning producers Mimi Valdés and Nina Yang Bongiovi are teaming up for a new venture, Fly Green Socks, a multicultural media company focused on producing hip-hop narratives in film. “Hip-hop is a culture defining superpower, influencing fashion, technology and even politics.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Igloo is keeping their brand cool with a new collaboration with the iconic ’80s hip-hop group DMC, in celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary.