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NYC plans 6 days of events for hip-hop awards

Festivities coincide with VH-1's third ceremony honoring genre's pioneers
/ Source: The Associated Press

A six-day celebration of hip-hop culture will be held in October along with VH1’s third annual “Hip-Hop Honors” show, network and city officials announced Thursday.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg — or “Mike B,” as he called himself for the day — announced the festivities while flanked by hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons and Ice-T.

Bloomberg said it’s important for the city to honor musical traditions.

“That means celebrating an art form that has expressed the realities of city life,” Bloomberg said after welcoming visitors to his “crib,” City Hall. “As hip-hop has evolved and new artists have emerged, its lessons have continued to be valuable for us.”

The events and promotions Oct. 12-17 will include hip-hop artists visiting city schoolchildren, performances at clubs throughout the city, and fashion- and sports-related events.

The show itself will be taped Oct. 7 and broadcast Oct. 17. This year’s honorees include Simmons, MC Lyte, the Beastie Boys, the Wu-Tang Clan, Afrika Bambaataa, Rakim and Easy-E.

Ice-T, a rapper who plays a detective on TV’s “Law & Order: SVU,” will host the show.

In their comments, Ice-T and Simmons stressed the educational value of hip-hop and said its artists often spoke the truth, even if it wasn’t pretty.