Best Music Historians: Hip Hop Heritage Museum – Grand Boulevard

I met Artistic and Kingdom Rock around 1993 at a Chi-ROCK Nation meeting I stumbled upon while walking through Hyde Park. In those times, if you were hip-hop there were only a few dress codes that would alert others—baggy clothes, fat laces, ski goggles, etc.  

The dress code also made it easy to become fast friends, as you were likely buying the same magazines and listening to the same music. I looked at Chi-ROCK’s meeting place, the “Terrordome” (actually the Iowa Building across the street from the Museum of Science and Industry), as a sacred space. I would listen to them plan things, see the breakers, graffiti artists, and emcees get busy, and anticipate my involvement as I got to know more people in the scene. People from all over the city would come there to network, express their grievances, show their skills, and build.

Fast forward to 2021, and it came as no surprise to me that Artistic, Kingdom, and Brian Gorman would start a Chicago hip-hop-focused museum. I already saw them as hip-hop historians, because they and their respective crews taught me so much about what hip-hop was before I was of age to experience the scene. The first time I visited The Chicago Hip Hop Heritage Museum I was struck. Their inaugural installation focused on the start of the hip-hop scene locally. Featuring photos of soul-train dancers, OG b-boys like the late great Shabba Doo, old school graffiti, hip-hop magazines, crew photos, and a memorial wall for all of our fallen brothers and sisters from the scene. It also includes podcast studios and a room dedicated to Chicago’s rap scene, past and present. I even saw myself and my crew from the ’90s, The Nacrobats.

I came back soon after to donate stage props from The Nacrobats’ twenty-seventh-anniversary show (2020) and a few CDs, books, and vinyl. The museum is always looking for items to display that tell our stories. “Come see yourself on the walls” is something we all say when telling others that they need to visit and take it all in. 

Last October, I held my listening party for my album “Mookie on The Southside” there. It was a perfect location, as the album is about growing up on the South Side hip-hop scene. It’s a great space for community, from the many events, podcasts to shows like “An Awesome Day in Chicago” photo event by Ronnie Boykin Jr. Each year, they center the exhibition around a different theme. 2022’s programming was about crews, and 2023’s exhibit featured photos from the late ’80s to early ’90s of hip-hop performances in Chicago, taken by internationally known photographer Raymond Boyd. 

Currently on display is “Revisit to the Fundamental Elements,” where each room represents a different element of hip-hop. Located at 4505 S. Indiana Ave. Be sure to book a tour at enterthecity.com/chicago-hip-hop-heritage-museum.