- A local nonprofit will hold a 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop celebration Sunday in Musikfest Cafe at ArtsQuest Center in Bethlehem
- Hip-hop started in Bronx, New York, but quickly spread through the Lehigh Valley, organizers say
- The event will feature live performances, a graffiti contest, breakdancing and awards in 13 categories
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — On Sunday, organizers will roll out the red carpet at Musikfest Cafe at ArtsQuest Center in Bethlehem.
The occasion is the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, which organizers say has a lesser-known historical footprint in the Lehigh Valley.
The celebration, set for 3 p.m., will feature awards in 13 categories, including best promoter, best studio, best DJ, lifetime achievement award and best music video.
Tickets, at $20 and $30, are available at SteelStacks.org, as is a form to vote for candidates for awards.
There also will be a live graffiti contest, a beatboxing battle, breakdancing and live hip-hop performances.
The difference with this event is that all the featured acts and speakers will have some relation to the Lehigh Valley hip-hop scene — an underrated one, said organizer Michael A. Frassetto.
"It's a way that people who may have felt a bit like, not part of normal society, so it's an expressive art form that they gravitate toward, to express themselves. And that's what we see with the people in hip-hop. Maybe they don't fit in with normal society's norms, so they gravitate toward hip-hop and they could express themselves artistically through hip-hop."Michael Frassetto, organizer
"Yeah, we've been speaking about how hip-hop has improved lives — really all across the world, but especially here in the Lehigh Valley," Frassetto said.
"That's why we wanted to put on an award ceremony to recognize the people in hip-hop, because they've really never been recognized for their talents for the last 30, 40 years that they've been doing it in this area."
Hip-hop and positive change
Frassetto runs Movement Moves Media, a nonprofit that seeks to mentor children through the arts, including through the musical genre of hip-hop.
He said hip-hop stands out to him and his team as an exceptional way for people to express themselves, because of its authenticity.
"It's a way that people who may have felt a bit like, not part of normal society," Frassetto said. "So it's an expressive art form that they gravitate toward, to express themselves.
"And that's what we see with the people in hip-hop. Maybe they don't fit in with normal society's norms, so they gravitate toward hip-hop and they could express themselves artistically through hip-hop.
"And that's why you hear a lot of the lyrics in hip hop that might be what people some people consider vulgar, but it's real life to the people who are expressing themselves and it's just another outlet that they can use."
He said that in his six years of running the Movement Moves nonprofit, he's seen hip-hop change lives and uplift communities.
One example he gave was one from four years ago in Allentown, when a group consisting of musicians Sunny George, Oso and Fitted Kub released a song called "Something's Gotta Give." It was aimed at curbing gun violence.
It got picked up by local media and racked up more than 14,000 views on YouTube.
A 'bad rap'
No pun intended, Frassetto agreed that hip-hop often gets a "bad rap."
He said he finds it to be unfair, and that other genres, such as country music, are not always subject to the same scrutiny.
"There's country songs that have lyrics about killing people and, and killing cops and stuff like that, but you don't hear that covered by the news," Frassetto said.
"You don't hear 'Oh, country is such a vulgar type of genre.' That might be one or two percent of country. That's just one or 2 percent of hip-hop, as well.
"A vast majority, 98 percent of hip-hop, doesn't have those types of lyrics, but the ones that are always in the news and the ones covered are the ones that are more vulgar.
"But when you talk to people who really enjoy hip-hop, they might enjoy some of those songs. But really, that's not what defines hip-hop at all."
An example of a hip-hop song with a positive, uplifting message is "Hey Young World" by rapper Slick Rick. Its main message is about the importance of listening to your parents, doing well in school and staying out of trouble with an eye on shaping a bright future.
Frassetto said he likes the song, and that it's part of just one of the many subgenres within hip-hop.
Hip-hop in the Lehigh Valley
"Hip-hop started in New York City in 1973, and from there, it got very popular and spread to, some say next, was Philadelphia, and some other East Coast cities, but in the mid-'80s, it came to the Lehigh Valley," Frassetto said.
Many of the original Lehigh Valley hip-hop acts are scheduled to make an appearance at Sunday's award show, and some awards will be handed out for lifetime achievement.
"One of the original names was DJ Tang, and he's actually part of this show, as well," Frassetto said. "He's going to come up on stage toward the end of the show, and he has a few minutes to talk to the crowd."
Frassetto said hip-hop spanned across generations in the Lehigh Valley, with some people who listened to it while in local high schools in the '80s, some of whom are now older than 50 years old now — as well as kids from the decades that followed, straight through to Lehigh Valley kids discovering it for the first time now.
He also said he believes hip-hop is successful for good reason.
"I mean, hip-hop is a genre of music that became the largest-grossing, largest-selling genre in the history of the world," Frassetto said. "And it's only 50 years old, so to get that large in 50 years...
"If people don't really enjoy hip-hop, that's one thing, but you definitely have to respect it because there's no other genre in the history of the world that that was able to pull off what hip-hop has."
