Transcript: Mayor Eric Adams and Commissioner Laurie Cumbo Announce $5.5 Million For Universal Hip Hop Museum And New Capital Funding For Bronx Cultural Institutions

August 3, 2022

Commissioner Laurie Cumbo, Department of Cultural Affairs: Good morning. Good morning. We are about to begin, so if everyone can just get situated where they're going to be situated. All right, good morning, Bronx. How are y'all doing today? Yes. You've got to feel excited today. We are standing in what is going to be the future of the Hip Hop Museum. And we are part of history, we are making it happen. We are there from the very beginning and the ground up to make this incredible project a reality for the Bronx and all of New York City. But most importantly, the world.

Commissioner Cumbo: This is going to be an opportunity to showcase our history and our culture. But for so many of us, this is a cultural art form that we all participated and created. And how wonderful is that we're going to be able to share this gift with the world? Now I'm so excited to be your commissioner right now, because this is such a groundbreaking history experience that we are all here for. That's right, right? Hip hop is an art form born right here in the Bronx, did I just say that being from Brooklyn, but that's what the talking points say.

Commissioner Cumbo: That's what the talking points say.

Commissioner Cumbo: I'm going to leave it right there, because that's what they wrote and that's probably what's politically correct, and I don't want to start another war or another beef by talking about where hip hop really originated, was birthed and grew. So we'll say it's from the Bronx today. But I am so proud today. This is incredible.

Commissioner Cumbo: Today is so phenomenal because we are recognizing the incredible, tremendous talent and creativity here in the Bronx. Mayor Eric Adams made a campaign promise that he was going to uplift the Bronx. And in a time when we are going through the greatest financial crises of all times, everyone knows that in past administrations, when the going gets tough, when budgets get tough, the arts are always the first to go. But Mayor Eric Adams said, "I don't want to do that. I don't want to cut the arts and cultural budgets. I don't want to keep them the same. I want to deliver the largest cultural budget in New York City's history." Delivering $220 million in capital and $237 million in expense funds for the City of New York, the largest budget in the country, including the National Endowment for the Arts.

Commissioner Cumbo: So this mayor gets it and he recognizes it. And he understands most importantly, that when we deliver art and culture to our youth and our young people, we are also delivering the greatest safety plan of public safety in the City of New York. When we can take a gun out of the hands of a child and put an instrument, or a paintbrush, or a DJ mixing table, or a video camera like Ralph McDaniels, we are saving our young people, giving them their full potential and allowing them to explore their talents. So that's what this institution is about today, and all the tremendous organizations that are here today. We have delivered a record breaking amount of funding to the Bronx Museum of the Arts. Give it up for the Bronx Museum of the Arts. The New York Botanical Garden, THE POINT Community Development Corporation, Pregones Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, Wave Hill, and we all know the Bronx Zoo.

Commissioner Cumbo: So we are making sure that we bring resources to every part of this city, but particularly communities like the Bronx that have been underserved and under-resourced for so long. We are righting those wrongs in this administration. At this time, I want to bring up the man of the hour who is making sure that we bring this museum to fruition. And through this project, the Universal Museum, with the support of our borough presidents, our City Council, our mayor have delivered $19.8 million to the Hip Hop Museum because we are taxpayers and we deserve it. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for Mayor Eric Adams.

[Applause]

Mayor Adams: Can we do something, because a moment is a snapshot in time. And if the snapshot that we are doing right now is not really reflective of who was part of this, then history is not going to be accurate. We need all of these artists, all the people who did it, you need to be standing up here and being part of this photo, you need to come on up and be a part of this photo. All those who played the role, all those who have been on it, they need to... The picture... Yeah, just come... This is the picture that people need to see.

Mayor Adams: We are just the facilitators of using your assets to fulfill the dream and mission. And there's a subtext to this that I think sometimes people don't realize, and we missed moment. Imagine you had a hip hop raised borough president in Ruben Diaz who had a vision and utilized… Has been one of the youngest legislators in New York State's history. He brought that hip hop spirited energy and fearlessness to Albany to fight on important issues. That was the voice of the hip hop community. And he planted the seeds, and now we are watching this seed continue to grow. When you have a borough president like Vanessa Gibson who stated, we don't have to destroy what was planted, we are going to water it and nurture it and have it continue to grow. And so we need to understand what this moment is about. And then you have a mayor who grew up listening to hip hop, the music in the park, watching those early pioneers, DJ Ralph McDaniels, running home to look at Video Music Box. This moment is so significant, what many of you have done, Russell and Fat Joe, and all of you. You planted this seed in us. You planted, who I am as a person is what I received from these artists. These artists gave me this energy. So when you see me moving in this level of confidence as a mayor, it’s because I watched them with a level of confidence as they performed. And they stated that you don't have to become who you are to take the city to where it ought to be.

Mayor Adams: Let's not try to rewrite history and say that the tracks of these artists were always part of movie tracks. You could not have a movie track that was made from these artists. It was not acceptable. Now you can't find a movie that doesn't have hip hop music that's part of it.

Mayor Adams: You go to the sports arenas, you couldn't have a rap or hip hop as part of the intermission. You could not have had what you saw at the Super Bowl Halftime, if it wasn't for the boldness of these artists. They would demonize. And then there's the history of the demonization of Black and brown music, so it's not only hip hop, they demonized jazz. They demonized blues. They demonized gospel. There's always been this demonization of Black and brown music, but our stance and popularity and strength of saying we’re going to be who we are.

Mayor Adams: So these hip hop artists, what you did is you borrowed from Miles Davis, from Charlie Parker, from Coltrane. You borrowed from BB King. This is where we are. And then James Brown, they used to not allow James Brown and Ray Charles to perform in certain locations. So there's a long history here. The disconnect was that the music was alone and the politicians were alone, and we had to come together and realize we are the same. You gave us this. And so now the productivity of what you gave is producing the museum inside on these two floors, but producing the housing as well. Don't disconnect this moment. The first time in New York City history, we have a hip hop mayor. Dyslexic, arrested, rejected, now I'm elected.

Mayor Adams: They don't know what they did. And we are producing a product. Look at these lawmakers that are here. Folks don't want to see this. They don't want to see the comfortability of us sitting down talking to each other and saying, "How do we produce a product that is not going to demonize another generation?" Do you know how much power we have right now?

Mayor Adams: A Black A.G., a Black P.A., a Black leader of the Assembly, a Black leader of the Senate, a Black —the leader of the Congressional Caucus in New York. All of this chocolate, we better do something with it. You know what I'm saying? We can do this. And so this museum is our Trojan horse, we just want to get on the inside. We're on the inside now, we have the power now, but we can use the experience of these men and women here to reform how we use music to educate our children. To not only build this project, to make sure the young people on this project don't have a steel gun but it's steel hammer so they can be part of the construction.

Mayor Adams: We can use this moment so that if we want to really end homelessness, like Shams DaBaron has been saying. Let's build projects like this. Not only rent them, but turn them into condominiums so we have home ownership and not have to worry about being displaced when we build up communities and people want to throw us out. It's a bold moment. It's a bold moment. But we can't do it alone, we got to do it with the partnerships. That's what we're saying today. I'm saying to my brothers and sisters in the industry, we want to be your partners. You laid the blueprint that we are following. Too many of us have been singing off key, now we have to have a universal rap that we all have to say together. So this is only the beginning.

Mayor Adams: And I'm proud to be the mayor at this time, the mayor at this time. Thank God Bill de Blasio didn't open this museum. No hit on him, but this is my museum that I should be opening. It's my museum. This is the museum that I'm supposed to be opening, that Vanessa's supposed to be opening. That our assemblywomen and senators are supposed to be opening. We're supposed to be on this rooftop, on this terrace, opening this museum, continuing the progress of a young man who jumped on mattresses in a broken lot in the Bronx that everyone wrote off and turned those lots into housing and had the vision here. And now transformed that vision to our new borough president and our new assembly persons, our new senator. This is a continuation that we must do. If we want to see the progress that we deserve, we have to start not anew every time, but to continue the pathway.

Mayor Adams: Let me conclude with this. Nat Turner ran his mile. He turned it over to Marcus Garvey. Marcus Garvey ran his mile. He turned it over to Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks ran her mile and turned it over to Jesse Jackson who turned his mile over to Reverend Sharpton who turned his mile over to Barack Obama. Barack Obama ran his mile and turned it over to Vice President Harris, this continuation of this marathon of our success from the days of being on the plantation that Nat Turner fought to overturn. We are now finally saying to ourselves, we're not going to be on anyone's plantation on any level ever again in our life. Let's run our mile so that we could be as proud as they have been when they ran their mile. Thank you for everyone that participated.

Commissioner Cumbo: Thank you. Talk about God directs your path and directs your footsteps. I knew we had to be here in the Bronx today, and I knew we had to have who we have here today. As our mayor, Eric Adams, has said, hip hop has made each and every one of us. And this political dynamic that you're seeing would not have happened without the boldness of the hip hop music and community coming forward and showing us what is so possible. They created a soundtrack of inspiration that we listen to every single day to fight those hard battles that we have to go through each and every day. I'm going to bring forward, at this time, an incredible and dynamic woman who I had the honor of serving with in the City Council, but before that, she was in the New York State Assembly.

Commissioner Cumbo: And now I am so proud because when we were in the City Council, you know how you kind of have a little competition when a dynamic woman meets another dynamic woman and you're trying to figure out who's going to be the most dynamic woman, but this sister is brilliant. She is one of the smartest people that I know. She is creative, but even more than that, she's the hardest working woman that I know. I look on her Facebook and social media account and get tired of looking at all the things that she's doing, but she is committed to the Bronx and she is committed to carrying that baton from our previous borough president, Ruben Diaz, Jr., and taking it the next mile. It's not a competition here, it's a race where we are passing the batons of leadership to continue the legacy of one another. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the borough president, Vanessa Gibson.

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Commissioner Cumbo: Always and forever brilliant. When I'm in Brooklyn, it's one thing, but I see I'm very outnumbered here. They got signs and colors and numbers, I just fall back. And addresses. They got street addresses. So I'm going to just let, y'all have that. Now we have a very important figure in all of this, our previous, but forever... Once an elected, you're always elected, and Ruben Diaz's love of the Bronx is forever. And he was texting me last night how he was going to get on the mic and spit some bars today and that our mayor better be prepared. So he did his thing, now we're going to hear what Ruben Diaz has to say. But this man is beloved all throughout the Bronx and beyond because of his commitment, it's so genuine, it's so real, his love for this museum.

Commissioner Cumbo: I told him he's not even going to be able to spit bars the way he used to because now he's out of office, he's taking vacations. He's eating well, going to islands I don't even know about. He's living very comfortably right now. So I said, it starts to go away a little bit after you've gotten a little comfortable. So I said, I know last night you were in your room with the chains and the Kangol on, trying to write your verses in the Kangol. But I know it's going to sound a little different right now because you're a little bit more comfortable. But I love this man. He's been an extraordinary leader. He has done tremendous work for the Bronx. The Bronx will always be a better place because he has served. Put your hands together for number 13, Ruben Diaz, Jr.

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Commissioner Cumbo: Man, if someone can tell the story of how each and every person here got to this place right now, the story of our parents, of our grandparents, the blood, sweat, and tears, the nine to five jobs, the two and three jobs, the latchkey kids, all of those stories, if they could ever come together, it's going to happen here at this museum. I want to bring up at this time, this can't happen without state representatives as well. So I want to acknowledge our state representatives, they're going to come to the mic. And then we're going to close out with Russell Simmons, because we need a little Queens energy up in here right now. I was looking for Brooklyn and I grabbed Russell real quick. Because when I told Rocky, I said, "Can you bring out some celebrities?" I didn't think he was going to go out and bring out Russell Simmons, right? So we are so proud and honored to have all of the hip hop pioneers that are here today. I'm going to bring up Senator Jose Serrano and he will be followed by Assemblymember Chantel Jackson.\

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Commissioner Cumbo: That is so true, Brooklyn versus everybody. I'm comfortable in my own skin. It's fine. My mayors from Brooklyn, so I know somebody's got my back real big here. So we're going to just close out, as I said, but I just want to give you a snapshot of funding. The Universal Hip Hop Museum is receiving a total of city funding of $19.8 million. The Bronx Museum of the Arts is receiving a total of $26.7 million. The Pregones Puerto Rican Traveling Theater is receiving a total of $11.2 million. Wave Hill is receiving a total of $2.9 million. The New York Botanic Garden is receiving a total of city funding of $12.7 million. The Bronx will be left behind no more in this administration.

Commissioner Cumbo: I want to close out and just thank everyone for coming here today. This is an inspirational day and a story that our children deserve. They deserve to hear good stories. They deserve to hear the good about what's coming out of the Bronx. And with that, I'm going to close with Russell Simmons. Thank you all so much. God bless you all. Can't wait for the... Thank you. I can't wait to be here for the ribbon cutting. It's going to be the biggest thing you have ever seen in New York City. Did you see how people waited online round the corners for a Biggie Smalls MetroCard? Wait till this museum opens. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands for our pioneer, Russell Simmons.

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