Bronx Keeps Creating It...

I noticed something in The Gothamist, earlier today.

It was this ill map of the Bronx with historically relevant Hip Hop locales (like the Franklin Avenue Amory Shelter that KRS1 lived for example) highlighted:



It's from Bronx Rhymes, a commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc., (aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulance web site.

Aside from the map, they're also known for plastering posters on and around those same places in the Bronx with information on on them writen in rhyme, for example the poster of DJ Grand Wizard Theodore (the Bronx DJ Credited with inventing the Scratch) near 168th and Boston Road reads: "Grand Wizard Theodore put the needle on the record/Made scratching an art to be mastered and perfected..."

According to their site:

“Bronx Rhymes illuminates the history and significance of Hip Hop in the Bronx by tagging important locations for Hip Hop (1520 Sedgwick, for example) with posters.


Each poster describes the historical significance of that location in the form of a rhyme, and invites people walking by to join in a rhyming battle by txt-ing their own rhyme from their mobile phone.

The website displays the artists and locations along with all the submitted rhymes elevating the most recent submission. Eventually, visitors to the website will be able to rate existing rhymes, and add their own.”

I'm personally feeling it. I went on a Hip Hop bus tour in the Bronx a few years ago and it was awful. The locations were spaced too far apart and then when you finally got to a location I found myself just staring at a building with the tour guide saying something like, "yeah, that gas station used to be a club where the backspin was invented", and it ended up being a complete bore.

This is a way cooler way to pay homage to these neighborhoods and the culture and people that came from them.
Check Out Thier Flickr Pics, and Check Out The Bronx Rhymes Site Here.