An NYC Rap Icon’s Latest Hustle: Hip-Hop Coordinator…At the Library

In the ’80s, Ralph McDaniels helped young rappers like Notorious B.I.G. and Jay Z make their names. Today he’s teaching hip-hop history to a new generation of youth.

Photos by Jessica Bal

When Ralph McDaniels wanders around the first-floor atrium of the Queens Central Library, his hearty laugh and approachable nature jibe with the sociable character of the space. Older men watch the news together and teenagers chase each other. A woman looks McDaniels up and down and says, “Looking good as usual.” A young man, maybe in his twenties, wearing a beanie and backpack, runs up to him and grabs his hand like he’s bumping into an old friend.

“I been watching that for like 25 years,” he says about McDaniels’ revolutionary television show, “Video Music Box,” which first aired in 1983 on WNYC-TV as a means to document the bourgeoning hip-hop scene in Queens, New York.

The boy raises his hand to his brow. “Salute to you, brother.”

The cropped afro McDaniels sported in the opening segment of “Video Music Box” is long gone, and he walks with a slow gait and a slight limp. He just celebrated his 58th birthday, and though he can’t understand half of what the young ar…