Our 6th annual SOURCE360 Festival is just one week away, and we’re getting prepared to deliver four days of fun, festivities and a chance to honor the world of Hip-Hop that we’ve been covering for the past 30 years.

On Friday, August 16, we will be honoring a few special figures that’ve contributed heavily to the culture from their own respective areas of expertise. The 360 Icons Awards Dinner is set to go down at Ginny’s Supper Club (310 Lenox Ave) in Harlem, featuring a “Hip-Hop in Harlem” outdoor mixer, cocktails sponsored by Jack Daniels and an exclusive VIP after party to really get the weekend off to a good start.

As we honor legendary fashionista Misa Hylton, renowned Hip-Hop historian DJ Kool Herc, seasoned photographer Ernie Paniccioli, and “The God MC” himself Rakim, take a look below to see just why we consider them to be worthy of the “360 Icon” title:

Misa Hylton: The Fashion Icon

Her work in the ’90s styling the likes of Missy Elliott, Foxy Brown, Mary J. Blige and most notably Lil Kim — who could forget those pasties at the 1999 VMAs! — was literally just the tipping point for what she has done throughout her still-thriving career. From being creative director of Rapsody’s new video for “Ibtihaj” to flossing out Teyana Taylor and Christian Combs in custom MCM gear for their “HYWI?” video, Ms. Hylton clearly has so much more to give us. We’re just here to give her the flowers while she can still smell them.

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A post shared by Misa Hylton (@misahylton) on May 17, 2019 at 12:26pm PDT

Kool Herc: The DJ Icon

Being credited as one of the founding fathers of Hip-Hop is a heavy crown to uphold, but it’s certainly a title that Kool Herc has maintained effortlessly for almost five decades now. Even with all that he’s done as a community activist and disc jockey, particularly inventing the breakbeat style of DJing, it wasn’t until this year that he put out his first vinyl release ever with Mr. Green titled Last of the Classic Beats. At 64 years old, Herc proved to still be a pillar in rap that can still drop a classic. It’s really our honor to give the OG his rightful props.

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A post shared by Dj Kool Herc (@kooldjherc) on Feb 8, 2019 at 2:21am PST

Ernie Paniccioli: The Photography Icon

The culture wouldn’t be properly preserved without someone to capture those special memories as they were happening. That’s where Ernie Paniccioli comes in. His legendary eye has taken him everywhere from the graffiti-ridden streets of 1970s New York City to publishing his amazing 2002 book Who Shot Ya? that covers three decades of Hip-Hop photography. His latest editorial collection of photos, Hip Hop at the End of the World, dropped last year and reminded us yet again that nobody has witnessed Hip-Hop from a perspective quite as illustrious as Ernie’s.

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A post shared by Ernie Paniccioli (@erniepaniccioli) on May 21, 2019 at 5:02pm PDT

Rakim: The MC Icon

There have been many dope emcees over time, some who’ve even been considered the greatest of their time, but there’s only one that is dope enough to be inarguably deemed as a godly figure in rap. In short, nobody, be it past or present, compares to Rakim in any level — his style, flow, lyricism and overall skill as a rapper is literally one of one. We would honor this man every single day if we could for his past and current contributions — pick up his upcoming autobiography this fall! — but we’ll settle for now by giving him one of our 360 Icon Awards next week.

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A post shared by Rakim Allah G.O.D. (@rakimgodmc) on Feb 12, 2017 at 12:59pm PST

Join us in celebrating these four hip-Hop icons at the SOURCE360 ‘Icons’ Awards Dinner, happening next Friday (August 16) at Ginny’s Supper Club in Red Rooster Harlem. Purchase tickets by clicking here.

The post Here’s a Breakdown of the Honorees at Our SOURCE360 ‘Icons’ Awards Dinner appeared first on The Source.

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