“I made sure that there’s an ecosystem where I can sell my own work,” Remi says. “I have enough notoriety to get attention on that, but if I bring notoriety to a whole museum ecosystem, then everybody else that comes through it also can benefit from the strides that I’m making as far as trying to make sure artists are getting paid properly, making sure that people get paid for their name and likeness and really just having good energy overall.”
In addition to the gallery, Remi and his team also launched their accompanying “Midnight at the MuZeseum” concert series to coincide with Hip-Hop’s 50th Anniversary. Throughout the summer, rap fans of all ages flocked to the Miami Beach Bandshell to catch exceptional performances from veterans like Rakim, Grand Puba, Lord Jamar, Large Professor, and Big Daddy Kane. Each show allows Hip-Hop’s pioneers to perform their classics and create rare moments like when Kane made a song with Remi live on stage.
“I still kind of don’t believe it,” he recalls. “Basically, Kane had asked me for a track when he was here the night before for the unveiling. And I was like, ‘all right, cool.’ So I just sent him the track, but I didn’t really think anything of it. But the last thing I thought is that Big Daddy Kane, who I taped off the radio as a teenager, was going to call me on stage and then make the audience say my name in a song, talking about I brought him here tonight and made us collaborate live on stage, flabbergasted. I had no idea he was going to do that.”
The most recent event happened during Halloween weekend and featured performances from Slick Rick, J.T. Money and the Poison Clan. Fans also got to participate in a costume contest and experienced a special music video set by Video Music Box founder Ralph McDaniels. Ahead of the show, Remi debuted his new masterpiece inspired by the seasoned Miami rapper. Remi joined forces with Tati Crooks and audio designer Ryan Evans to make J.T. Money’s face looks like it’s made of nothing but cash, which also looks incredible on the accompanying hoodie. All of The MuseZeum’s artwork comes with a hoodie featuring the aforementioned artwork on it. Fans can buy them at the gallery or online.
