Two museums are set to open in midtown Manhattan and Harlem to celebrate and recognize all the great artists of hip-hop music.
According to The New York Daily News, the Hip Hop Hall of Fame Museum is set to open up in Harlem on 125th St. next year.
The site will showcase different memorabilia including clothing, posters, turntables and other items all donated from legendary artists including Run-DMC, Salt-N-Pepa, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, OutKast and Eminem.
Other artists who are set to donate their own personal items are Common, Young Jeezy, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataam, the museum’s organizer told the Daily News.
The 12,000-square-foot museum will not only be a place of recognition for hip hop artists but also will host shops, coffee and juice bars and a television studio.
“This will be the home of hip hop history,” JT Thompson told the newspaper.
“People need to understand the importance of hip hop, the elements, the DJs, the B-boys and B-girls and the graffiti writers,” the producer of BET’s one-time Hip Hop Hall of Fame Awards show in the 90s added.
The institution will also serve children every year through its youth media program helping roughly 50 kids annually.
Along with the Harlem location, the museum’s midtown location will be located near Times Square in a 50,000-square-foot space that will hold similar memorabilia along with 90-minute tours and an interactive exhibit for its visitors.
Thompson told The Daily News that the total project is costing nearly $80 million and about $50 million as already been raised to complete the museum.
According to All Hip Hop, these will not be the first hip hop museums in the city. The National Museum of Hip Hop is located in Manhattan on Fifth Avenue