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Chris Lighty’s Life Celebrated By Universal Hip Hop Museum
During National Hip Hop History Month, the Universal Hip Hop Museum will pay tribute to music executive Darrel “Chris” Lighty.
Monami Entertainment has teamed up with the Hip Hop Museum to host the “Chris LIghty Tribute” on November 23rd. Chris’s former partner and Monami Entertainment CEO Mona Scott-Young will host the tribute. Other hosts include Chris’s dear friend Sophia Chang, music matri-architect and Unlock Her Potential founder, and recording artist Fat Joe.
The museum will host “Baby Chris’s” tribute virtually at the Universal Hip Hop Musuem’s current installation, the “[R]evolution of Hip Hop”. It’s a semi-permanent exhibition adjacent to the new museum at Bronx Point in Bronx, New York.
The event will focus on Lighty’s impactful career and feature artists and executives who work with Lighty. Therefore, they can personally speak for Lighty’s accomplishments and influence on their careers.
Chris Lighty’s musical impact
Darrel Steven “Chris” Lighty was an American music industry executive who co-founded the record label Violator. When he passed, New York Times described him as “one of the most powerful figures in the hip-hop business.”
“I am deeply humbled to participate in the tribute to Chris Lighty, whose life mirrors the trajectory of hip hop itself: from the South Bronx to corporate boardrooms across America to the greatest global cultural force of our lifetime,” Sophia Chang stated.
At the event, the hosts will go over Lighty’s accomplishments. However, some include being an executive at Def Jam, brokering 50 Cent‘s G-Unit clothing deal, and making Drake‘s Sprite deal happen.
Chris Lighty’s celebrity clients included 50 Cent and LL Cool J, who he’s spotted with in 2006 at BET UpFront in New York’s Manhattan Center Studios. Johnny Nunez/Wire Image
Because of his impact, hip hop has thrived and grown over the world. Many artists wouldn’t be where they are if not for Lighty.
“This is why we exist – so that the world never forgets the titans of the culture on whose shoulders we stand,” Executive Director and Hip Hop Museum founder Rocky Bucano said.
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