National Museum of Hip-Hop Needs Your Suggestions
POSTED ON February 10th, 2010 BY Paul
The National Museum of Hip-Hop is a proposed museum that would exist to “feature and commemorate the cultural achievements of hip-hop, as well as its artists from around New York, the Nation and the World.” It’s an idea that is way overdue.
As one would hope, they’ve included each of the traditional four elements in hip-hop, each with its own section in the museum space. They are asking for suggestions and critiques on their current plan, and who better than the readers of MTAS to provide some wisdom?
There are hints that some b-boy perspective is needed, like the fact that in a blog post they state that the term “breakdancing” is for “the commercial folks whom are street-impaired,” yet they’ve named the b-boying section of the museum the “Breakdance Department.” Not to mention that in that same blog post, the subject is b-boying as pop culture overseas, and they neglect to mention Korea at all.
Read over their plans for the b-boying section here, and give them your feedback using their contact form.
CATEGORY: Media
That’s a really great idea but I can’t take it seriously if they really do call it “breakdance department”. How much research did they really do?
they should make it bboy department first of all
and second they need to showcase bboying not only from the US but around the world, cuz thats ultimately what its come to and hip hop isnt limited to the borders of the US its universal
if they do go through with it, they HAVE to have a bboy timeline in there haha
and like DVDs of documentaries battles
they should also have like bboy history lessons or somehting
The fact that they’re reaching out to this site for input is encouraging. If they take the recommendations seriously this could be really cool.
They didn’t specifically reach out to us, I just found the site and saw that they were asking for suggestions. Shouldn’t discourage you from contacting them though.
@ Paul: We want to send THANKS to you for taking the time to give us your suggestions and also for letting others know to do the same.
@ Bloop: We do call it B-Boy; the fact that “breakdance” was still in there was actually a mistake. We have done a ton of research on this and our Artist Council (which is where we get most of our information) is made up of actual B-Boy pioneers.
@ Bboy Zillah: If you read the actual B-Boy section you will see that we consistently include global artists when talking about ANY element of hip-hop but especially B-boying. We pay strict homage to ALL b-boys; in the US as well as abroad. And yes, our b-boy archive will consist of thousands of street as well as published films of b-boy battles from around the world. Documenting the time line is of utmost importance to us; after all we are a historical institution! We MUST do that first and foremost. Also mentioned in the B-Boy Page on the NmoH website is the fact that each element’s department will have a dedicated school/workshop for that particular element. The B-boy department has two full-sized dance studios whereby students can learn and practice their b-boying skills.
@ Ninja Neishon: Paul is right; we didnt reach out to him specifically. Instead, through our website, we are calling on ALL of the culture to reach out to us with comments and suggestions; which if you take another look at our website, you will see we have taken into serious consideration. We want you guys to know, that we are DEAD SERIOUS when we say we need your suggestions and that we value them. We truly want this Museum to be “by” the culture for the culture.
Thanks for responding, can’t wait till the museum is up and running!
when will it be finished and u should have wax sculpters of people like ken swift,k-mel and alien ness plus a statue to glide master from nyc breakerz
Can someone link me up with a rep of the National Museum of Hip Hop? The Urban Movement Tour would like to take part and help out in as much as we can. I like this. Culture is building more and more in 2011.