Ashanti, Jadakiss & Ja Rule Mark #HipHop50 At Empire State Building

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Hip-Hop has no bounds and ahead of today’s 50th anniversary, it was celebrated in a historic way.

Ahead of #HipHop50, Ashanti, Ja Rule, and Jadakiss shared a toast to the impact of Hip-Hop culture at the Empire State Building.

Source: @calligrafist

A press release reports that the trio was joined by Chase Republic founder Harold Wilkerson in partnership with Def Jam Records’ VP of Marketing Dr. Charlene Thomas for the affair and the artists flipped the switch to light the historic landmark gold.

Source: @calligrafist

They then popped bottles of Armand De Brignac Ace of Spades to commemorate Thursday being the first time the Empire State Building celebrated Hip-Hop.

Source: @calligrafist / @calligrafist

“To be here today to light up the Empire State Building and celebrate the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop with music’s royalty Ashanti, Jadakiss, and Ja Rule is beyond amazing, we wanted to show our gratitude for all the contribution that these three have made to Hip-Hop and to the culture,” said Chief Marketing Officer, Universal Music Group Alexandra Hinkle before presenting the artists with plaques honoring them for their legacies.

Source: @calligrafist

During the intimate ceremony, Ashanti told our sister site HelloBeautiful that she first fell in love with Hip-Hop as a pre-teen while listening to Hip-Hop legends.

“I was probably 11-ish. I had a purple boombox. I had a stereo, and my first vinyl was Run DMC. ‘Who’s House? Run’s House!'” said Ashanti.

Jadakiss, Ja Rule and Ashanti Light Up the Empire State Building in Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop

Source: John Lamparski / Getty

To continue the celebration, Universal Music Group hosted a private reception where Ashanti and Ja Rule performed for fans and guests.

“Hip-Hop is a genre that they counted out, and here we are today 50 years later as the Number 1 genre, and I’ve been blessed to be a part of 25 years of that, we did it for New York!!” said Ja Rule per a press release.