Musical luminaries including Nas, LL Cool J, and Fat Joe came out Thursday (May 20) to the birthplace of hip-hop for a ground-breaking ceremony to launch the capital campaign for the new Universal Hip Hop Museum. They joined a slew of politicians in the Bronx, where the now-global cultural force that is hip-hop has its roots.

“Hip hop made me believe that anything was possible,” said LL Cool J. “This was like the first time where I felt like, ‘Wow, it’s possible to be powerful. It’s possible to be somebody. It’s possible to have meaning in this world.’ ”The museum is part of a $349 million mixed-use project along the waterfront in the South Bronx.