To honor industry legends, the Hip Hop Hall of Fame will open in New York City in 2018. Yet, has this project become too ambitious for its own good?
Walking in the footsteps of Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a Hip-Hop Hall of Fame will debut next year. This comes almost three years after the Hip Hop Hall of Fame launched a $1 million crowdfunding campaign.
The Hip Hop Television Channel announced that the Official Hip Hop Hall of Fame (HHHOF) won its bid to acquire a major Harlem building and development site. It was also chartered a non-profit Museum and Educational Institution. The HHHOF will help “preserve, archive, exhibit, educate, and showcase Hip Hop Music & Culture from around the world.” Exhibits will offer “important and unique documentation of hip-hop’s development and its impact on social trends.”
To support the museum’s development, HHHOF launched a $150 million capital fundraising campaign. This will help “complete acquisition of the Harlem building and development site.” The campaign will have two phases.
The first phase will include the museum’s rollout with a retail space. It will have a ground floor themed HHHOF café, a gallery, and a visitors bureau. It will also include a retail gift store. The second floor will include a museum, an event space, and offices. The HHHOF development team hopes to also build a multi-media studio for film and television content production there.
Plans are set to have the museum open in February 2018.
The second, overly ambitious phase includes plans to build a 20-story high museum, a hotel complex, and a mall. The HHHOF development team also wants to build an arcade, sports bar, and a concert lounge. Unlike the first phase, there is no projected completion date. While the HHHOF counts with several financial backers, how do Harlem residents feel? Will it ever complete phase two? How will it stay financed?
The museum still doesn’t have an official address nor specific site details. However, the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame will open its offices on 125th Street. The historic street also houses the Apollo Theater.