♪♪ ♪♪ Hip-hop is expanding, it's global, it's international, and I think nobody can dispute that it's the most dominant cultural force on the planet.

You know what I mean?

Fashion.

You know what I mean?

Cars, the language.

It all comes together.

And it's the biggest genre in music right now.

So I think that speaks for itself.

I look at it like something that started in New York City and was able to influence the world.

You got people in different countries, you know, doing hip-hop.

They don't even speak English, but they understand.

So it's actually a universal language.

When you're talking about the impact on society, it's been raw, it's been real, it's been authentic.

It's been in your face.

I'm a rap person myself.

I came up on rap and this is what's happening.

We're getting busy, you know what I'm saying?

Running the beasties.

And Dave is about to tear things up.

And we in the house supporting our brothers.

♪♪ ♪♪ I was here in the early days when people talked about it being a fad, when people talked about it going away, you know, and to see it here still going strong, stronger than ever is incredible and heartwarming for me.

I feel like hip-hop has grown both ways.

I feel like it's growing older and younger.

It shows you the spectrum and how wide it is.

[ Singing indistinctly ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Put your right hand up, put your left hand up ♪ ♪ Put your right hand up, put your left hand up ♪ I feel like with hip-hop, that's what's so dope about it.

You can be influenced by people older than you, people younger than you, people of right now, from the past.

The different generations of hip-hop now, where you have the the pioneers, the golden era, the '90s, all the way through to today.

The lyrics, the experiences, how you made it, how it made you feel when you first heard the songs, the people, the legacy lasts with the people.

[ Crowd singing indistinctly ] ♪♪ We didn't have anything, so we took everything.

And now I'm trying to give everything back.

Mel: When we was growing up, you had, you know, Martin Luther King, you had Malcolm X, but there was nobody representing like, you know, the average person on the street had something to say.

He wouldn't be able to say it.

He wouldn't be heard.

Hip-hop got all of those people heard and then some.

I think if we look at what's happening right now in hip-hop music, women are stronger than ever.

So many dynamic women out there front and center right now.

It's probably the most women that I've seen actively, you know, getting recognition at one time.

Enabling young kids who come from poverty to be able to just make a song and feed their families.

And as long as you're putting that opportunity out there, it's never going to stop.

The Hip Hop Museum, we're proud that Papoose is a brand ambassador for hip-hop, and right now he's at the forefront of bridging the different gaps of the generation of hip-hop and making sure that artists are empowered.

We want to present for the first time ever, my brother, King Papoose, with the Hip Hop Artist Executive Award on behalf of the Universal Hip Hop Museum, the first ever.

[ Crowd cheers ] ♪♪ Hey, look, man, I ain't losing -- I don't be winning no awards, so I appreciate it.

What excites me the most about the future of hip-hop is to see it come back around full circle.

It started here.

It went everywhere else.

It's been a long time.

But one thing I want people to know -- everything comes full circle, 360 degrees.

It makes me feel amazing because Pap is an OG.

He's one of the originals in this game and it feels amazing to actually be seen and to have somebody cosign you like that.

And we are allowing ourselves to be creative, and we're allowing the OGs to see what we have and how talented we are.

We are spokesmen and like almost politicians in a sense, for our neighborhoods, for our communities, for our fans.

And I hope it's going to keep evolving in that way.

I mean, I don't think it's going to stop to leave a legacy.

I don't think it's going to let up.

Hip-hop, even though it's 50 years young, not 50 years old, I feel like it's just going to keep on growing and growing and growing.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪