"There, in the fresh mixed-use development Fifth + Broadway, sits the National Museum of African American Music. The institution, which opened last January after nearly 20 years of planning, is the world's first dedicated to Black American music and its far-reaching contributions to all genres of music throughout the U.S. Inside, about 1,500 artifacts illuminate five centuries of sonic history, from the rhythmic traditions brought over on slave ships from West Africa to the birth and global ascendancy of hip-hop."