CBC Celebrates 50 Years Of Hip-Hop With Special Programming This August

CBC is offering a lineup of special programming this August on CBC Music and CBC Radio to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop music. The milestone anniversary will be anchored by a special event in collaboration with Manifesto at Toronto’s RBC Echo Beach, Manifesto presents: The Block Party is a celebration of art, culture and 50 years of hip hop music on August 11. With performances by Aminé, Saukrates, Kuruza, Keysha Freshh, Phoenix Pagliacci and more, tickets are available for Manifesto presents: The Block Party and live highlights from The Block Stage will be broadcast from coast-to-coast-to-coast, live on CBC Music.

CBC’s 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop programming includes:

A collaboration between Manifesto and CBC Music’s THE BLOCK, MANIFESTO PRESENTS: THE BLOCK PARTY is a celebration of 50 years of hip hop and the genres that it inspired. With musical performances broadcasting live from The Block Stage at Toronto’s RBC Echo Beach, tune in to the celebration of art, culture and 50 years of hip hop music from coast-to-coast-to-coast.

  • DRIVE WITH RICH TERFRY  – Special programming broadcasts Friday, August 11 at 5 p.m. local time (5:30 NT) on CBC Music

In the last hour of DRIVE leading into the MANIFESTO PRESENTS: THE BLOCK PARTY broadcast, host Rich Terfry presents a 70 minute DJ mix of classic and new tracks spanning 50 years of Hip Hop.

Ahead of Hip Hop’s 50th anniversary, host A. Harmony takes listeners on a journey back to the very beginnings of Hip Hop at a party at 1520 Sedgwick Ave. in the Bronx, to the creation of an entire new subgenre where Hip Hop and R&B collide. Hear music from Mary J. Blige, Fugees, Ro Dolla, Erykah Badu, and more along the way.

  • FREQUENCIES WITH ERROL NAZARETH – Special programming broadcasts Sunday, August 6 at 4 p.m. (4:30 NT) on CBC Music and Friday, August 4 at 11 p.m. (11:30 NT) on CBC Radio One

To mark the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop, FREQUENCIES kicks off with Public Enemy No. 1 Chuck D, shouting out his longtime friend Errol Nazareth, and then Errol takes it from there, highlighting Hip Hop from all over the world.

CBC Music’s home for music of Black origin, hosted by Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe, is celebrating 50 years of hip hop by airing 50 stories over 50 days – focused on an artist, event or significant moment in hip hop history. A new story airs nationwide each night on THE BLOCK on CBC Music until August 11.

  • Q WITH TOM POWER  – Broadcasts weekdays at 10 a.m. (10:30 NT) on CBC Radio One and CBC Listen, or listen anytime on demand everywhere podcasts are available. 

To mark the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip Hop, Tom Power sits down with some of the biggest artists in the game — from Rap royalty Wyclef Jean, to rising Canadian star Charmaine to viral rappers bbno$ and Yung Gravy. Starting August 21 and airing all week long, Q will talk to the artists who witnessed and shaped the genre’s rise — and those who will take it into its next 50 years.

With hip-hop celebrating its 50th birthday on Friday August 11th, Commotion’s  group chat looks back on some of the pivotal moments that defined the culture – from the first commercial rap single, the media coverage of the tensions between Biggie and 2Pac and the rise to pop dominance of Canadian rap star Drake – and also imagines what the future of hip-hop might look like 50 years from now.

Ahead of the August 11 anniversary date, CBCMusic.ca also has feature stories about the 8 Women Shaping Hip Hop in Canada and How Black and Indigenous Communities Have Connected Through Rap.

Manifesto has curated a week-long lineup of programming around the Greater Toronto Area from August 7-13. Manifesto’s 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop edition features events that span African diaspora superstars and some of Canada’s finest homegrown world class talents. For more information on Manifesto’s art and culture events, visit www.mnfsto.ca.

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