KRS-One wants hip-hop to be honored in a historical area on the East Coast.
In a recent roundtable that included fellow rapper Fat Joe, the “Sound of da Police” artist informed the group that he seeks to develop a “Little Hip-Hop” section in underserved cities globally. KRS seeks for the area to be similar to cultural neighborhoods like Little Italy or Chinatown, both used to describe areas that are heavily populated with predominately Italian or Chinese people and businesses dedicated to their heritage.
"Just like you have Chinatown, or Little Italy, or Little Armenian, Brooklyn, they got a Little Caribbean and Flatbush, why can't we have a Little Hip-Hop in every city in the world?" KRS said. "A Little Hip-Hop, just like you got a Little Chinatown, give us a little section, the most deprived section of your town, give it to Hip-Hop."
KRS-One added his hopes to "centralize Hip-Hop in a section of a city" and "bring jobs into that section" along with investments. "All the entrepreneurs that work with Hip-Hop have a place to set up your business. We're attracting global tourism as well to the city."
The rapper shared that Newark, New Jersey Mayor Ras J. Baraka has accepted the proposal for Little Hip-Hop to span across the city. Newark currently has a hip-hop-based museum named The Temple of Hip-Hop, described as “the first international cultural center,” which was established in 1996 and founded by KRS-One.
