The 12th anniversary of Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival is celebrating with a four-day salute to the culture. On Wednesday, July 13 will take place at Brooklyn’s Medgar Evers College and feature an opening keynote address from civil rights activist and Baltimore mayoral candidate DeRay Mckesson, followed by a panel on the state of hip-hop journalism and a seminar on mental and physical health inspired by late greats Phife Dawg, Sean Price, Chris Lighty and Capitol Steez. J. Cole‘s right-hand man and Dreamville Records president Ibrahim Hamad will also be participating in a discussion about independence in hip-hop.
“The festival is a celebration of hip-hop music and the culture, and the black excellence that drives it,” Wes Jackson, the president of Brooklyn Bodega and executive director of the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, says in a statement to Billboard. “We want to celebrate its history and create a cannon of knowledge for the next generation so they can take it further… I want the festival to be a physical and metaphorical home for hip-hop — a place for tourists, developing artists. legends, professionals and intellectuals. I want them to come to us and experience the culture from graffiti to MC’ing and everything in between.”
Day two (July 14) will host the Dummy Clap Film Festival at Medgar Evers College, screening the 86-32 flick based on boxer Roy Jones Jr., the hip-hop documentary Style Wars and the 1991 classic New Jack City among other films paired with a discussion. Day four (July 15) will feature the “Juice Hip Hop Exhibition,” comprised of various showcases on MCs, DJs, dance and sneaker culture at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn.
BHHF’s grand finale on Saturday, July 16 will be a show under the bridge (11 Water Street, to be exact) in Brooklyn Bridge Park featuring headliners — and New York natives — Nas, Talib Kweli and Fabolous. “[I] haven’t performed in Brooklyn in the summertime with that energy in a while,” Fab tells Billboard. “Eager to see my people!”
