Bill de Blasio is holding it down for hip hop! The New York City Mayor signed a bill into action today that renames 42 streets and places throughout the city. Two of those renamed streets pay tribute to pioneering moments and people in hip hop.
A block in the Bronx where 1520 Sedgwick Ave is located has been renamed “Hip Hop Boulevard.” DJ Kool Herc, a Bronx DJ who was vital to hip hop’s emergence, threw a “back to school jam” at 1520 Sedgwick Ave, and it was at that party that hip hop first emerged as a genre. It's widely considered the birthplace of hip hop. DJ Kool Herc, real name Clive Campbell, still resides in the building.
Mayor de Blasio also renamed a stretch of DeGraw St. in Brooklyn “Robert PH Diaz Way,” in honor of the late, influential emcee Robert “Pumpkinhead” Diaz. He passed away in June of 2015 while awaiting surgery for gall stones at the young age of 39. Check the Instagram video below for footage of Mayor de Blasio making the announcement.
DJ Kool Herc and Africa Bambaataa were both in attendance for the momentous occasion. In true New Yorker fashion, Bill de Blasio repped his city’s place in the hip hop canon, saying, “If you have friends on the west coast, remember to tell them it all started here, okay?” We’ll remember, Bill.
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