Hip-Hop

To quote the late, great Notorious B.I.G from his 1994 album Ready to Die, “Things Done Changed” when it comes to the music industry, especially where hip-hop and rap are concerned.

Hip-hop turned 50 last year, and to celebrate the genre’s milestone, Boston’s own STL GLD held a concert downtown in partnership with the city of Boston. The group estimated that the inaugural, free 10-hour event, featuring hip-hop giants like Earthgang and Dead Prez, drew upwards of 2,000 visitors to City Hall Plaza for a fun — and safe — day. It was a success on all counts.

Harvard University’s Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African and African American Art marks hip-hop's 50th anniversary with an exhibition of ephemera and artifacts from the private archives of hip-hop pioneers Ice T & DJ Afrika Islam.

Modern hip-hop has become so “grotesque” that Timothy “Mr.Goodbarz” Thorpe, a Massachusetts-based hip-hop musician, said he coined the term “Bringing out Playfulness” as a solution to combat the negative trajectory he feels is taking root in the genre.

The Boston born hip-hop group STL GLD will celebrate the inaugural GLD FSTVL (pronounced gold festival) on Saturday, a 10-hour homage to the local and national hip-hop scenes.

The Coolidge Corner Theatre is celebrating 50 years of hip-hop with a month-long lineup of films, panels and a concert in August. The program “Been Here For Years: Hip Hop at 50” was curated by the theater’s first Black film programmer, Billy Thegenus.

Traffic was shut down along Washington Street between Palmer and Eustis Streets in Roxbury Saturday afternoon to make way for Black Market Nubian’s third annual Buy the Block Party — an event that celebrated Black Music Appreciation Month and the area’s creative contributions to hip-hop over the past 50 years.

Shakespeare’s themes of love, loyalty and identity have resonated with audiences for centuries. Now, Actors’ Shakespeare Project (ASP) is remixing those themes with hip-hop beats and rap battles in “The Bomb-itty of Errors.” This contemporary rendition of Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors” runs at The Charlestown Working Theatre in Chelsea through June 26.

“Freestyle Love Supreme,” the Broadway improvisational hip-hop sensation, brings beats and rhymes to Boston’s stage this week. Running March 18 through April 2 at Emerson’s Colonial Theatre, the show celebrates Black artistry with joy and spontaneity.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston presented the streaming series “Hip-Hop Generations” on June 3 at 7 p.m., part of the Sound Bites: Nancy Lee Clark Concert Series.