Hip-Hop to the Rescue in NYC #NYCVIBE

The biggest names in New York Hip hop have rallied together for a great cause.

Robin Hood, New York’s largest poverty-fighting organization, aired a citywide online telethon to raise awareness and funds to help New Yorkers whose lives have been impacted by COVID-19. The “Rise Up New York” telethon, hosted by Tina Fey, united a star-studded group of New York’s biggest actors, musicians, politicians, athletes, and more. But one of the most moving segments of the telethon came in the form of a tribute to hip-hop’s birthplace - The Bronx.

During the past year, NYC VIBE spent time with many of the Hip Hop stars from NYC to talk with them about where they want to see the city go, who needs help, what their inspiration and vision is and how we can help - this is an underlining important story to come from the Robin Hood fundraiser.

Very exciting and very important.

“Do you want to know why New York is one of the greatest cities in the world?” asks hip-hop legend RZA. “We gave the world hip-hop,” answers The Beastie Boys’ Ad-Rock. Joined by Fab 5 Freddy, Chris Rock, Mike D, Rosie Perez, Salt-n-Pepa, and Run DMC’s Darryl McDaniels, these iconic New Yorkers teamed up to illustrate how badly the Bronx has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Underserved urban communities like the Bronx are suffering from a lack of aid and resources. As McDaniels emphasizes, “Black and Hispanic New Yorkers are dying at a higher rate than any other group.”

Robin Hood CEO Wes Moore, who spent part of his childhood in the Bronx, echoes the urgent need for help in these communities. “For so many of us, our job is to follow orders and stay inside and socially distance, but we have millions of people who don’t have that as an option. And unfortunately that weight often falls on our communities of color, our communities that were in poverty beforehand, the working poor — those are the communities that we fight for.”

From the NYC VIBE video vault - comes thought-provoking discussion!