Rocky Bucano is the founder of the Universal Hip Hop Museum that is set to open in 2024 in the Bronx NY. This year marks the 50th anniversary of hip hop culture. Rolling out spoke with Bucano about his inspiration for the museum, how it’s being received and what it means to hip hop’s legacy?
What do you think that hip hop means to the world?
Hip hop is the greatest unifier. It unites everybody. It makes people feel good. It allows people to freely express themselves. It allows people to explore the unexplored. It allows people to be innovative and create.
What compelled you to establish a Universal Hip Hop Museum?
Well, the Universal Hip Hop Museum is 13 years in the making, going on 14 years, so it just didn’t pop up yesterday. What really inspired us was just being in the right place at the right time. I was running a youth basketball program called The New York Gauchos, which is the top AAU basketball program in the country. And I was asked to explore a real estate development opportunity, which opened up the door for the creation of the Universal Hip Hop Museum.
There have been several different organizations that have attempted to establish a museum for hip hop, even before the Universal Hip Hop Museum. But for whatever reason those organizations just couldn’t get it done – and not because they didn’t have the great idea to do a museum for hip hop, they just didn’t have the resources. It takes a lot of resources to establish a museum. Museum development is one of the most expensive endeavors that anyone can take on and creating a museum for hip hop is even more. because you gotta create the content, you gotta create the stories. Hip hop has to be a different kind of museum experience. It can’t be the traditional museum and natural history experience. That wouldn’t be hip hop. It’s gotta be on the [cutting] edge.
How has the city of New York embraced you?
The city has been our greatest supporter. New York City understands what this project means. Not just to the world, but to New York City. When this museum opens up, it’s going be one of the greatest attractions in the entire world. It’s going to draw people from every corner of the planet.
And that will increase tourism to the South Bronx, which lacks all the kinds of resources that other neighborhoods have. It’s going to be a big boom for the people who live here in the South Bronx as well as the businesses. And it’s going to be a look for the city of New York to have a major cultural institution that’s not in Manhattan, that’s not in Midtown.
Why do you think it’s important to teach the history of hip hop?
If you don’t inform and educate, you don’t pass on legacy. The biggest thing in any culture is to make sure that the traditions, the knowledge, the wisdom, the understanding, the know-how is passed on to future generations so that it can continue, it can live on forever. That’s the whole purpose of having a museum that represents hip hop.
Watch the full interview below.
