If you don’t remember running home from school to catch Video Music Box on channel 31, just imagine a time when you couldn’t flip the station to BET or MTV on a whim to watch hip-hop shows spotlighting new artists and music. It’s hard to fathom a time when hip-hop ceased to exist in the media and thanks to Uncle Ralph McDaniels, you never have to. In the early 1980s, he instituted the first video show for hip-hop at a time when the concept of YouTube could’ve been cast off as science fiction and MTV had a ban on the vibrant culture that was reverberating within the walls of the South Bronx and Bed-Stuy. Since that time, hip-hop has grown out of New York neighborhoods and touched every corner of the earth but the 25th celebration of Video Music Box, which took place in Central Park's SummerStage on July 18, stayed true to its roots and brought to stage a line-up of true-school hip-hoppers with some new-school flavor.

Even on a disgustingly hot summer day in which a plethora of excessive body heat was surely circulating, hip-hop fans strolled through Strawberry Fields to see the men that brought hip-hop to the masses. Kool DJ Red Alert, Sugar Hill Gang, DJ Jazzy Joyce, and Naughty by Nature are just some of the classic artists that came out to pay tribute to the show that served as the platform for the careers of Wu-Tang and Nas. With Uncle Ralph hosting the show, the audience was taken through what felt like a time capsule back to the 80's. One contemporary group, the Retro Kids, came on stage in what looked like costumes at first. They were young and funky and did a little dance, attempting to make a little love to the audience. You couldn’t help but revel in the quirky production of the past or the light-heartedness of the performers, nor could you help staring in absolute awe of the forefathers of hip-hop jamming in front of you as seasoned veterans.

- Words and photo by Shirline Chowdhury