From America To The World & Back Again: Hip-Hop Hits The World’s Hallowed Halls …(And Soon The Seven Wonders)

Rap music has influenced millions of Americans over the last five decades.

Every major American city can stake claim to a transcendent poet who for a period of time paints such a vivid picture artistically fans begin to orbit around this bright young star.

In Los Angeles, the greatest example of this in 2024 is Kendrick Lamar. He single-handedly united the entire West Coast at the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Juneteenth and brought the entire rap world into his galaxy.

Read: 30 Years Of Illmatic: Nas Rocks The Mic & Symphony Halls

Chicago’s favorite lyrical son, Common, and New York’s very own legendary producer Pete Rock released a critically acclaimed project in July, The Auditorium Vol 1. The first single, “Dreamin’,” uses a sample from Detroit’s Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin’s classic 1972 record “Day Dreaming.”

“Guess who’s back, back again?” The entire Midwest, because Eminem is back with The Death of Slim Shady, tell a friend.

In Atlanta one half of the legendary group Outkast, Andre 3000, in 1995 famously spoke into the mic at the 1995 Source Awards: “The South Got Something to Say! ”
The consensus in 2024 on multiple global music streaming podcasts and from your neighborhood barbershop and into your living room is “We want Andre 3000 to rap, not play his flute.”

But he is still selling out venues, flute and all, because he is a genius.

Apparently the South still got something to say.

In February, his fellow Atlantan Killer Mike won three Grammy awards for Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Album.

Rap music is currently occupying a rare space — no longer young, not necessarily old, but definitely middle age. The genre has become so beloved over its 50 years that it literally touches every live entertainment venue — clubs, arenas, stadiums — but even I have to admit I did not see the next places, the hallowed halls of yesteryear, the ones that throughout history thumbed their noses at the genre and its rebellious young Black poets — these venues have done a 180 — and now fully embrace the genre.

Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington DC (Check).

Carnegie Hall, New York City (Check).

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles (Check).

Lincoln Center, New York City (Check).

The beautiful diverse demographic that follows the art form is selling out venues all over America and these fans are now becoming members of these institutions.
Everyone wins.

Rap music, possibly our greatest musical export, is now selling out these venues with so much frequency, that I field weekly calls asking, “Can you and Miguel Atwood Ferguson and DJ Clark Kent bring your orchestral tribute to the Notorious B.I.G. to our place?”
As Biggie himself said in 1994 “Never thought that hip-hop would take it this far.”
When you look back over the past 30 years, it’s not surprising that one name has remained at the top of the genre garnering Grammy nominations over four decades.

The birthplace of the art is New York City and the legions of fans understand that New York has made many kings of the genre; Biggie and Jay-Z immediately come to mind.
For 30 years, the third king has been Nasir Jones, better known as Nas (see cover story HERE).

He has solidified himself as one of the greatest American poets of the last three decades and one of rap’s greatest ambassadors.

The natural question is where does rap music go from here?

The answer: Follow Nas, the global ambassador of this genre.

“Old cribs I sold, y’all drive by like monuments, Google Earth Nas; I got flats in other continents” — Nas on “Success” from Jay-Z’s American Gangster album.

After his residency at Las Vegas’ Encore Theater at Wynn ends in August, he will be heading out internationally performing in iconic buildings in London, Paris, Stockholm, Milan, Zurich, Vienna, Berlin, Amsterdam and elsewhere.

At every stop Nas tries to take a moment to embrace the culture and the music of each city.

As he says in this week’s cover story: “Oh yeah, sometimes I find new music. Hip-hop is not just about America, it’s other places are booming with their music and they’re the biggest thing in that country. We come as visitors and we get to experience different artists in that country. Sometimes, I don’t have time to experience too much of it because of just being in the mode of the road. Being on the road takes on a whole thing. It makes you kind of deal with a schedule that doesn’t give you a chance to really go see the city the way you like to. But, you get there and realize these people are doing amazing things musically and I just appreciate that they are still listening to me, at the same time.”

I keep saying to anyone who will listen the next venues are:

The Colosseum in Rome.

Egypt’s Great Pyramid Of Giza.

The Great Wall of China,

Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.

The Leaning Tower Of Pisa.

Why stop at traditional venues? The Seven Wonders of the World are next.

A young Nas likely did not realize on his debut album, the now-iconic Illmatic, that he was indeed Nas-tradamus when he and Pete Rock sang on their chorus:

Whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It’s mine, it’s mine, it’s mine — whose world is this?
It’s yours
It’s mine, it’s mine, it’s mine—whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours

Yes it is, Nas; yes it is hip-hop.

Chicago’s favorite lyrical son, Common, and New York’s very own legendary producer Pete Rock released a critically acclaimed project in July, The Auditorium Vol 1. The first single, “Dreamin’,” uses a sample from Detroit’s Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin’s classic 1972 record “Day Dreaming.”

“Guess who’s back, back again?” The entire Midwest, because Eminem is back with The Death of Slim Shady, tell a friend.

In Atlanta one half of the legendary group Outkast, Andre 3000, in 1995 famously spoke into the mic at the 1995 Source Awards: “The South Got Something to Say! ”
The consensus in 2024 on multiple global music streaming podcasts and from your neighborhood barbershop and into your living room is “We want Andre 3000 to rap, not play his flute.”

But he is still selling out venues, flute and all, because he is a genius.

Apparently the South still got something to say.

In February, his fellow Atlantan Killer Mike won three Grammy awards for Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Album.

Rap music is currently occupying a rare space — no longer young, not necessarily old, but definitely middle age. The genre has become so beloved over its 50 years that it literally touches every live entertainment venue — clubs, arenas, stadiums — but even I have to admit I did not see the next places, the hallowed halls of yesteryear, the ones that throughout history thumbed their noses at the genre and its rebellious young Black poets — these venues have done a 180 — and now fully embrace the genre.

Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington DC (Check).

Carnegie Hall, New York City (Check).

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles (Check).

Lincoln Center, New York City (Check).

The beautiful diverse demographic that follows the art form is selling out venues all over America and these fans are now becoming members of these institutions.
Everyone wins.

Rap music, possibly our greatest musical export, is now selling out these venues with so much frequency, that I field weekly calls asking, “Can you and Miguel Atwood Ferguson and DJ Clark Kent bring your orchestral tribute to the Notorious B.I.G. to our place?”
As Biggie himself said in 1994 “Never thought that hip-hop would take it this far.”
When you look back over the past 30 years, it’s not surprising that one name has remained at the top of the genre garnering Grammy nominations over four decades.

The birthplace of the art is New York City and the legions of fans understand that New York has made many kings of the genre; Biggie and Jay-Z immediately come to mind.
For 30 years, the third king has been Nasir Jones, better known as Nas (see cover story HERE).

He has solidified himself as one of the greatest American poets of the last three decades and one of rap’s greatest ambassadors.

The natural question is where does rap music go from here?

The answer: Follow Nas, the global ambassador of this genre.

“Old cribs I sold, y’all drive by like monuments, Google Earth Nas; I got flats in other continents” — Nas on “Success” from Jay-Z’s American Gangster album.

After his residency at Las Vegas’ Encore Theater at Wynn ends in August, he will be heading out internationally performing in iconic buildings in London, Paris, Stockholm, Milan, Zurich, Vienna, Berlin, Amsterdam and elsewhere.

At every stop Nas tries to take a moment to embrace the culture and the music of each city.

As he says in this week’s cover story: “Oh yeah, sometimes I find new music. Hip-hop is not just about America, it’s other places are booming with their music and they’re the biggest thing in that country. We come as visitors and we get to experience different artists in that country. Sometimes, I don’t have time to experience too much of it because of just being in the mode of the road. Being on the road takes on a whole thing. It makes you kind of deal with a schedule that doesn’t give you a chance to really go see the city the way you like to. But, you get there and realize these people are doing amazing things musically and I just appreciate that they are still listening to me, at the same time.”

I keep saying to anyone who will listen the next venues are:

The Colosseum in Rome.

Egypt’s Great Pyramid Of Giza.

The Great Wall of China,

Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.

The Leaning Tower Of Pisa.

Why stop at traditional venues? The Seven Wonders of the World are next.

A young Nas likely did not realize on his debut album, the now-iconic Illmatic, that he was indeed Nas-tradamus when he and Pete Rock sang on their chorus:

Whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours
It’s mine, it’s mine, it’s mine — whose world is this?
It’s yours
It’s mine, it’s mine, it’s mine—whose world is this?
The world is yours, the world is yours

Yes it is, Nas; yes it is hip-hop.

Geoff Walker is the founder of Kickstand World, LLC and an A&R consultant / creative marketing consultant for the Warner Music Group. Earlier this year he was the guest editor for Pollstar’s Black History Month issue.