Darryl McDaniels (L) and Joseph Simmons (R) of Run-DMC, closing the Hip Hop 50 Live live performance at Yankee Stadium within the Bronx, N.Y. early Saturday morning.

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Darryl McDaniels (L) and Joseph Simmons (R) of Run-DMC, closing the Hip Hop 50 Live live performance at Yankee Stadium within the Bronx, N.Y. early Saturday morning.

Angela Weiss/AFP through Getty Images

For the fiftieth anniversary of hip hop’s beginning, some heavy hitters carried out at Yankee Stadium Friday evening — within the Bronx, proper the place this music was born. The all-star lineup included artists like Run-DMC, Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Eve, Wiz Khalifa and Nas in an exuberant celebration referred to as “Hip Hop 50 Live.”

Tens of hundreds of individuals pressed into Yankee Stadium to witness what promised to be an epic evening. Inside, whereas artists just like the Sugar Hill Gang had been already performing, many followers outdoors had been nonetheless ready for hours to make their method into the ballpark.

Folks of many alternative generations informed NPR what this evening meant to them. (Audience members declined to offer their final names as police and safety tried to usher them into the venue as rapidly as potential.) One brother and sister from the Bronx, Rob and Carmen, had been decked out in full Run-DMC model with Kangol bucket hats, Adidas tracksuits, and Adidas Superstars on their toes. They weren’t the one ones wearing honor of their hip-hop heroes.

“I was born and raised in this area,” Rob stated. “I was around hip-hop before records was made. I was in the park with all these guys, you know? So to come 50 years later, it’s incredible.”

Rappers Ghostface Killah (L) and Method Man (R) onstage throughout Hip Hop 50 Live at Yankee Stadium within the Bronx, N.Y.

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Rappers Ghostface Killah (L) and Method Man (R) onstage throughout Hip Hop 50 Live at Yankee Stadium within the Bronx, N.Y.

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One younger man from Harlem named Greg confirmed up with a buddy as a result of his mama informed him it could be an schooling within the style. “It was kind of a thing where my mom was like, ‘It will be good old-fashioned hoopity-hop,'” he stated. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, sure, why not?'”

Well, that is precisely what they bought. It felt like a royal procession by way of many eras of the tradition. The founding dad and mom of hip-hop had been there — DJ Kool Herc and his sister, Cindy Campbell, who threw the block occasion 50 years in the past this week that’s now thought-about a canonical occasion. Slick Rick carried out. So did Doug E. Fresh, Kool G Rap, Fat Joe, Lil Kim, Eve, Ashanti and members of the Wu-Tang Clan, together with Ghostface Killah and Method Man, amongst many others.

Rapper Snoop Dogg performing throughout Hip Hop 50 Live at Yankee Stadium within the Bronx, N.Y.

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Rapper Snoop Dogg performing throughout Hip Hop 50 Live at Yankee Stadium within the Bronx, N.Y.

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While the present was heavy on New York artists, the South bought some illustration, notably with each T.I. from Atlanta and New Orleans’ Lil Wayne. Snoop Dogg dominated the stage as a California king.

One of the evening’s huge surprises was a collaboration between Nas, who was anticipated to do a set, and Lauryn Hill, who was not on the invoice.

Artists Nas (L) and Lauryn Hill (R), acting at Hip Hop 50 Live within the Bronx, N.Y.

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Artists Nas (L) and Lauryn Hill (R), acting at Hip Hop 50 Live within the Bronx, N.Y.

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Nearly eight hours after the evening began, the present lastly closed with a efficiency by Run-DMC, in what was billed because the trio’s final present ever. By the time they bought to “My Adidas,” many followers within the crowd had been waving pristine white Superstars within the air.

It was a candy sendoff…and regardless of being almost 2 a.m., the gang was nonetheless buzzing.