The Crossover: 50 Years of Hip Hop and Sports will make its TV debut on Tuesday, September 12, at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN and available after the initial airing for on-demand streaming on ESPN+. This production examines the relationship between sports and hip-hop.
What’s Happening:
- Sports and Hip Hop are two pillars of Black culture that empowered a community to be heard and celebrated against the backdrop of cultural oppression and political persecution.
- As the 50th anniversary of the founding of Hip Hop is celebrated, a new ESPN special presentation examines the evolution of this defining culture and its relationship with sports, through nostalgic archives, historic moments and original interviews from those who lived it.
- The Crossover: 50 Years of Hip Hop and Sports, an E60 production in association with ESPN Films, will make its television debut on Tuesday, Sept. 12, at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, available immediately after the initial airing for on-demand streaming on ESPN+.
- Fifty years ago in the Bronx, a new genre of music was born, the product of a people searching for their voice and the opportunity to be heard.
- For decades, the community was bound by the words of leaders like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X before their assassinations attempted to thwart the messaging.
- While their lives ended, the impact of their words never would, instead paving the way for others.
- Soon, athletes and entertainers would step to the microphone and boldly become the sound of a new generation and an inspiration to their people.
- When the world looked to silence them, the culture found a way to speak louder than ever before.
- From Muhammad Ali to Public Enemy, Jay-Z to Lebron James and beyond, the impact on sports has been indelible.
Many rappers, artists and other personalities from the world of Hip Hop are interviewed in the program, including:
- Big Daddy Kane – rapper
- Fab 5 Freddy – director and cultural icon
- Fat Joe – rapper
- DJ Jazzy Jeff — DJ
- Rakim — rapper
- E-40 – rapper
- Killer Mike – rapper
- MC Lyte – rapper
- Rick Ross — rapper
- Ice Cube – rapper/actor
- Luther Campbell (Uncle Luke) – rapper
- Charlamagne The God – radio host
- Too Short – rapper
- Among other voices in the program:
- Nikole-Hannah Jones – writer “The 1619 Project” (The New York Times Magazine)
- Angele Rye – host and cultural commentator
- Michael Eric Dyson – author Entertaining Race
- Dr. Todd Boyd – professor of Race and Culture, University of Southern California
- Laila Ali – daughter of Muhammad Ali and former professional boxer
- Michael Wilbon – journalist
- Jemele Hill – journalist
- Danyel Smith – author
- Ari Melber – host, MSNBC’s The Beat
- Leslie Small – film director; PhD in Economic Development
- Jesse Washington – journalist/filmmaker
- Jalen Rose – former NBA and college basketball player
- Justin Tinsley – sports and culture reporter