MLB Hip Hop 50 Brings All-Star All-Time Music Roster To Yankee Stadium
Thursday, August 10, 2023 at 05:24PM By Barry Janoff
August 10, 2023: On Aug. 11, such all-time players as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford and Derek Jeter will be replaced in Yankee Stadium with such all-time players as Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Lil Kim, Chuck D, Lil Wayne and Fat Joe.
MLB has joined with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Chuck D for special content and programming to celebrate the “connection and impact of music, culture and baseball to support the year-long celebration of Hip Hop 50.”
MLB’s partnership with Mass Appeal’s Hip Hop 50, which runs through 2024, launches Aug. 11 with Hip Hop 50 Live in Yankee Stadium — “where it all began, The Bronx, Aug. 11, 1973.”
In Yankee Stadium, Chuck D, the co-founder of pioneering musical group Public Enemy, will serve as MLB’s special correspondent, capturing the electric atmosphere in exclusive content for MLB’s platforms, including @MLB, @MLBLife social handles, MLB.com, MLB.TV and MLB Network.
Chuck D will also collaborate with MLB on content, music and stories throughout the 50th anniversary year.
Programming includes MLB’s social, MLB Network and in-stadium videos "focused on the relationship between baseball and Hip Hop culture, and how its evolved through the years."
“As a longtime baseball fanatic, I am beyond honored to be the first Hip Hop artist to work with Major League Baseball in this exciting new way — connecting sound and culture to the stories of the game,” said Chuck D via MLB.
“Thank you to MLB for adding me to the lineup . . . and the pitch is on the way."
The event in Yankee Stadium is scheduled to include Run DMC’s 'Bottom of the Ninth . . . The Walk-Off’ performance, Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube.
A “Queens of Hip Hop” set is scheduled to include Eve, Lil Kim, Remy Ma and Trina.
Additional performers scheduled to appear include T.I., Fat Joe, Common, Ferg, EPMD, Ghostface Killah, Lupe Fiasco and Slick Rick.
“Pillars of Hip-Hop” is scheduled to include Kool Herc & Cindy Campbell, Grandmaster Caz, Kurtis Blow, Melle Mel, Roxanne Shante, Scorpio and the Sugarhill Gang.
“Legendary DJs” is scheduled to include Clark Kent, Marley Marl, Mannie Fresh and Battlecat.
Hip Hop 50 Live at Yankee Stadium is co-produced by Mass Appeal, Live Nation and the New York Yankees. 
The concert will be live-streamed exclusively via Mass Appeal's YouTube channel presented by Google Pixel. The live-stream is being produced by Fortress Entertainment & Mass Appeal.
Sponsors also include CÎROC Ultra-Premium Vodka, Google Pixel, adidas, MLB, Audible and VH1's Love & Hip Hop: Miami.
According to Complex Magazine, “It's weird to pin a specific date on a genre of music, and while the elements of hip-hop (graffiti, DJing, breakdancing, and MCing) existed in some form before Aug. 11, 1973, hip-hop historians point to this one particular party (a "back to school jam") thrown by DJ Kool Herc at 1520 Sedgewick Avenue in the Bronx as the date that all of the elements came together to create what we now call hip-hop.”
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