Mayor Eric Adams on Friday directly compared a ceremony welcoming luminaries of hip-hop to Gracie Mansion, celebrating the genre’s 50th anniversary, to late former Mayor David Dinkins hosting deceased South African freedom fighter Nelson Mandela in the city over 30 years ago.
During the Aug. 11 Gracie Mansion event, Adams made the comments before issuing an official proclamation coining the day — thought to be when hip-hop was first invented in 1973 — “Hip-Hop Anniversary Day.” He gave the proclamation standing alongside legends of the genre such as MC Sha-Rock, DJ Kool Herc, Kool DJ Red Alert and Ralph McDaniels.
Before giving the proclamation, Adams — Gotham’s second Black mayor, who has often referred to himself as its first “hip-hop mayor” — said the “only equivalent” moment to him celebrating hip-hop in the mayoral residence was when Dinkins, the city’s first Black mayor, received Mandela at City Hall in June 1990.
Mandela had just been released from a 28-year prison stint — for fighting against South Africa’s now-abolished apartheid system that treated Blacks as second-class citizens — when he visited the city for three days as part of his global “Freedom Tour.”
“The only equivalent of this moment was the moment when Nelson Mandela left jail, when we had the first African American mayor and he was able to receive him with the level of royalty that he deserved,” Adams said. “I am able to receive you with the level of royalty you deserve as the hip hop mayor.”
Mandela’s visit marked one of the most significant moments of Dinkins’ one-term tenure, according to veteran Democratic political consultant Basil Smikle.
“It was a shining moment for New York City and it was one of the highlights of Dinkins’ mayoralty,” Smikle told amNewYork Metro.
Smikle said that while Adams’ celebration of hip-hop at Gracie and Dinkins hosting Mandela in the city are “two very different things,” they do share a couple of common threads.
One of those threads, Smikle said, was that hip-hop in the 1980s helped spread awareness about Mandela’s name and the evils of apartheid to a younger and broader audience. The other, he said, is that hip-hop was a once-maligned genre that has served as a “vehicle” for uniting Black communities worldwide on issues like social justice and police reform.
Therefore, he said, there is a similarity between Adams acknowledging the importance of hip-hop and Dinkins bringing Mandela to New York, in that both gestures recognize cultural forces significant to the Black diaspora.
“What I take from [the mayor] saying that, is focussing on the thread where Hip-hop, like what David Dinkins did with bringing Mandela to New York, is acknowledging the impact that it’s had on the culture and on the diaspora,” Smikle said.
Hizzoner, who often invokes Christianity when speaking about his mayoralty, also intimated that God made sure the 50th anniversary of hip-hop came at the same time as he was mayor — as opposed to his predecessor Bill de Blasio.
“You are now in Gracie Mansion, that’s how good God is,” Adams said. “Fifty years could have fallen when another man was here. Fifty years could have fallen when de Blasio was mayor. Fifty years could have fallen [with] any other mayor. God made the intersectionality of 50 years of hip-hop to be at the time that Eric Adams, the hip-hop mayor, is in office.”
The mayor has put hip-hop front and center in his administration since taking office. He’s invited several notable rappers and DJs to a handful of his press conferences, including KRS-One, Fat Joe and Eric B.
Adams has also taken on efforts to celebrate hip-hop’s 50th anniversary like placing an art installation in the City Hall Rotunda commemorating the genre’s history and hosting a series of hip-hop “block parties” across the city this summer.
During the Friday ceremony, McDaniels — who helped organize the event — lauded Adams for embracing hip-hop in the halls of city government.
“When’s the last time hip-hop been in Gracie Mansion? When’s the last time hip-hop been in City Hall?” McDaniels asked. “So I’d like to thank Mayor Adams, a very hip-hop friendly mayor, for allowing this to happen.”
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