Rap legends Nas, LL Cool J come out for hip-hop museum groundbreaking

Musical luminaries including Nas, LL Cool J, and Fat Joe came out Thursday to the birthplace of hip-hop for a ground-breaking ceremony to launch the capital campaign for the new Universal Hip Hop Museum.

They joined a slew of politicians in the Bronx, where the now-global cultural force that is hip-hop has its roots.

“Hip hop made me believe that anything was possible,” said LL Cool J. “This was like the first time where I felt like, ‘Wow, it’s possible to be powerful. It’s possible to be somebody. It’s possible to have meaning in this world.’”

The museum is part of a $349 million (Dh1.2 billion) mixed-use project along the waterfront in the South Bronx.

The first phase of the development, called Bronx Point, will provide affordable housing and public open space. It also is slated to include cultural and community-focused programming, including the permanent home of the Universal Hip Hop Museum.