ICE T, KURTIS BLOW, MIKE EPPS, DAVE EAST, NAUGHTY BY NATURE, DE LA SOUL AND MORE SET TO APPEAR
The Universal Hip Hop Museum and Mass Appeal have teamed up with YouTube to host Hip Hop Loves NY, a live stream simulcast honoring healthcare workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 fight in New York. Set to air on Thursday, April 23 at 6 PM EST, the event will be amplified by Socialive, an enterprise video creation & live streaming platform, and pushed across Universal Hip Hop Museum’s social media pages and streamed live on the Mass Appeal YouTube channel.
Featuring some of the biggest names in Hip Hop, viewers will see live appearances from Ice T, Kurtis Blow, Mike Epps, De La Soul, Naughty by Nature, Biz Markie, Dave East, Chuck D, Kid N Play, Sugar Hill Gang, Big Daddy Kane and more! Hosted by Video Music Box’s own Ralph Daniels, the benefit event will also see guest appearances from the community and political leaders including New York State Assemblyman Michael Blake, New York City Deputy Mayor Phillip Thompson, Borough President of the Bronx Rubén Díaz Jr, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, and New York City Public Advocate Jumanne Williams, while witnessing first-hand accounts of medical workers who are currently on the frontlines.
Proceeds raised from Hip Hop Loves NY will be donated to SOMOS Community Care, a network of over 2,500 healthcare providers throughout New York City and The Bronx Community Relief Effort, an effort focused on meeting the most essential needs in the Bronx as a result of the global pandemic via Text-to-PLEDGE, the official event donation service provider.
This is the largest collective of Hip Hop artists joining forces to save lives since 1989’s Stop the Violence movement. “New York has become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Rocky Bucano, Executive Director of the Universal Hip Hop Museum. “It has shed light on the health and economic disparities in Black and Brown communities as African Americans and Latinos are dying at a disproportionately higher rate. This is a result of underlying health issues and major economic gaps in our city. The courage and the tenacity of the frontline healthcare workers serving in the most vulnerable populations is nothing short of heroic. We wanted to do something special to recognize their sacrifice and bring a little levity during this historic health crisis. This is how Hip Hop says thank you.”
Peter Bittenbender, CEO of Mass Appeal, shared “Hip Hop has a history of supporting the community in times of crisis, we wanted to harness the power of music as a means to heal and reflect our humanity. The event is both an elevation of the NY community and an acknowledgment of the effect of coronavirus on all of us. We’re grateful to be a part of this.”
Highlighting the power of connection through virtual community, Socialive’s Founder and CEO, David Moricca exclaimed, “One of the challenges of COVID-19 is how to stay connected without physically being connected. In trying times like these, that connection is more important than ever. That’s why we’re thrilled to partner with the Universal Hip Hop Museum and Mass Appeal to provide a complete enterprise that can distribute live streaming video to multiple social media platforms in real-time — and to use the power of video to celebrate and support our frontline workers.”
Hip Hop Loves NY is executive produced by Rocky Bucano with Tina Marie Tyler serving as the Supervising Producer. Visit https://www.uhhm.org/hip-hop-loves-ny/for additional information.
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