Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears on FOX 5 New York

August 5, 2023

Arthur Chi'en: Now, if you watch FOX 5 regularly, you know we've been celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip hop and we wanted to talk to one of hip hop's biggest fans. Mayor Eric Adams calls himself the ‘Hip Hop Mayor’ and our Lisa Evers spoke exclusively with the mayor about the important role hip hop has played in his life and in his political career.

Lisa Evers: We're here inside a rarely used special room at City Hall for an exclusive sit down with Mayor Eric Adams about his lifelong connection to hip hop, what it means for him, and what it means for our city.

Mayor Eric Adams: Sitting here as a mayor, who would've thought hip hop would have gotten us this far as Biggie would say. You know?

Evers: Exactly. How did hip hop first grab you?

Mayor Adams: I think growing up as a child, seeing it come into being, it's amazing, sometimes, you don't know what you are experiencing, that it is going to have a global impact. And it was in the auditorium one day, we were doing something, it was some type of drill. And we heard someone on a microphone doing this rhyme. And we knew that, "Wait a minute, this is new." And then you had the block parties, music in the park. I grew up in South Jamaica, Queens where you had Run-DMC, and I used to see them coming to and from their concerts, carrying crates of records up the stairs. So you just felt as though here was a sound that identified with you, and it was put into place that you didn't have to have a great voice, you didn't have to be a singer, it was just an everyday sound that you were able to make happen. It was something that just caught on.

Evers: This is the first time there's been any kind of official hip hop artwork.

Mayor Adams: Right. Right here at City Hall, and our goal was to use these posters to show the evolution. And you remember the good old days, $2, $3, $5, these are really iconic posters. And you just saw the creativity, nothing fancy. You had a simple artist that would draw it out, and then started going DJ Hollywood. Just really impressive. Al Smith Center. Jeez, just brings back so many memories.

Evers: What were some of the lessons, or maybe just inspiration, that you got from hip hop? Because here's a culture coming out of some of the most underserved communities in the United States, mostly Black and brown women and men, people who had been marginalized, whose stories were not being told.

Mayor Adams: Right. No, they weren't. And it goes back to Marvin Gaye, ‘What's Going On?’ So many of us was able to identify with ‘What's Going On’ and Marvin Gaye, because they were talking about those issues. And that's what hip hop did. Not only did it help us enjoy this beats and the sounds, but you heard and you saw yourself. It hit mainstream. But it wasn't an easy journey to get to mainstream.

Evers: Right.

Mayor Adams: It was a long road, but became global. It went global. And it was just amazing to see it. And having it here means a lot. Unlike any other genre of music did a genre produce this entire movement. The music became a movement.

Evers: Looking ahead, the mayor tells me he hopes every generation will be inspired by hip hop's example of succeeding against all odds. At City Hall. I'm Lisa Evers, FOX 5 News.

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