The Hip Hop Museum: Breaking new grounds onsite and virtually
By Michael Carnevale
Located in the Bronx of New York City, The Hip Hop Museum (THHM) was founded by iconic entrepreneurs and artists to bring rap and hip-hop history to the masses.
As the museum moved through the construction of a physical transformation, they also wanted to launch an immersive virtual experience to break down barriers of accessibility. By harnessing the power of the metaverse, CARNEVALE helped make this vision a reality. Our challenge was to recreate the authenticity, magic, and discovery of the THHM from the comfort of home.
Exploring history
Museum goers and fans alike can now virtually step into the Bronx Subway Station near where hip-hop was born with their own digital avatar to take a first-person walk through history. Extending into sound studios, performance stages, and VIP lounges, users of all backgrounds and situations are able to share in all that the THHM has to offer. Changing exhibits and live musical performances will help bring people back for exclusive experiences for groups or individuals.
“Working with CARNEVALE has been a truly fantastic experience. The CARNEVALE team is a wonderfully diverse and supremely skilled group of people that makes it uniquely qualified to tackle cutting-edge projects such as our metaverse targeting the Hip Hop Generation(s) in all.”
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About the author
Mike Carnevale believes digital experiences are part of reality now, and that they should hold the full range of human experience, from practical purpose to emotional connection. He has been pursuing that idea for decades as the founder of CARNEVALE, working alongside teams at companies like Honda, Walmart, and Rockstar Games as each new wave of technology arrives. He trained as an industrial designer at Carnegie Mellon, then designed furniture for Steelcase and worked on aircraft interiors and cameras at Henry Dreyfuss Associates. That work taught him a product is only as valuable as its ability to improve someone's everyday life. Today he spends much of his time with executives working through what AI and other emerging technologies mean for their products, their teams, and the people they serve.
