Jamaica Center, The Ave, the Colie Block \u2014 for kids and young adults coming of age in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s, it was everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had all the newest things. If it was jeans, electronics, music,\u201d Ralph McDaniels, founder of Video Music Box, said. \u201cYou could get gold fronts, you could get diamonds.\u201d<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Jamaica Center, The Ave, the Colie Block \u2014 for kids and young adults coming of age in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s, it was everything
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Groups that helped shape and define hip-hop found their inspiration and cultivated their images on Jamaica Avenue \u2014 the center of which was the Colosseum Mall, formerly a Macy\u2019s that was converted into a marketplace for small businesses
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The Jamaica Colosseum Mall officially closed on Jan. 31<\/p>\n
The City Council is funding the creation of a task force made up of community members. It will be charged with holding the line on residents\u2019 fears of being priced out, as well as preserving the legacy \u2014 the DNA \u2014 of the area<\/p>\n
And you never knew who you\u2019d see. Homegrown stars like Ja Rule, 50 Cent and LL Cool J shot music videos in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis five-mile radius is everybody from Fubu and Nas and 50 and DMC. Jam Master Jay, and it\u2019s just ridiculous who came out of here. So clothing wouldn\u2019t have been right, nothing would have been right, if Queens wasn\u2019t here.\u201d Dave Huie, former Jamaica Avenue business owner, said.<\/p>\n
Groups that helped shape and define hip-hop found their inspiration and cultivated their images on Jamaica Avenue \u2014 the center of which was the Colosseum Mall, formerly a Macy\u2019s that was converted into a marketplace for small businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Avenue was everything for Queens and for my journey in hip-hop,\u201d rapper Consequence of 192 Records and A Tribe Called Quest, said.<\/p>\n
Consequence says writing rhymes as a teen was his therapy to deal with life\u2019s ups and downs, and The Ave is where he found inspiration.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven in my first big record with Tribe, \u2018Stressed Out,\u2019 I was like, yeah, \u2018I\u2019ll be on the avenue where they be actin\u2019 brand new. I\u2019m splurgin\u2019 on these Reebok joints for shorty boo. All of the sudden, I seen these two kids frontin\u2019, talkin\u2019 out they joints, but they wasn\u2019t sayin\u2019 nothin\u2019. We was basically just talkin\u2019 about Queens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Some people looking from the outside in will say it\u2019s so materialistic, NY1 said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s Queens get the money. It\u2019s Queen\u2019s get the money. It is materialistic,\u201d Consequence said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Colosseum goes back to the 80s and before the 80s and the 70s and 60s and, you know, it\u2019s the journey of African Americans,\u201d he added. \u201cThe fight for self-containment and independence and financial freedom, you know, places like the Colosseum allow people to have financial freedom where they didn\u2019t have to say, work for \u2018the man\u2018 and clock in a time card.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Jan. 31, the Jamaica Colosseum Mall officially closed.<\/p>\n
The latest casualty in what has been a decade-long erosion of small businesses and vibrancy on The Ave.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, the youth dictate the culture. They do, and when it\u2019s their turn, they do what they do with it,\u201d Consequence said. \u201cThey live in a time of this is TikTok, this is Amazon, this is Gigster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shopping and entertainment habits may have changed, but leaders in the area say policy and disinvestment also led to declining foot traffic on The Ave.<\/p>\n
A rezoning plan passed by City Council last year aims to revive Jamaica Center, with new residential, commercial and industrial developments.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at the investments in Jamaica, they have lagged behind many other communities across the city. And so with the Jamaica Neighborhood Plan, we weren\u2019t just focused on housing,\u201d Democratic City Council Deputy Speaker Nantasha Williams said. \u201cI was focused on a whole wide range of things that make a community a community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Money is flowing in to rebuild the Long Island Rail Road and AirTrain terminals \u2014 a nod to the influx of people moving into and through the area.<\/p>\n
Williams says affordable housing and money to help people stay in their homes are included in the plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to protect, we need to preserve, but how do we really do that in a way that gives people confidence? And what type of commitments can we get from the private sector and or the public sector to make it real?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
The City Council is funding the creation of a task force made up of community members. It will be charged with holding the line on residents\u2019 fears of being priced out, as well as preserving the legacy \u2014 the DNA \u2014 of the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a term-limited position, and I wanna make sure that the community can hold us, government, accountable for delivering on the things that was promised,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
The Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning (JCAL) cultural institution working to uphold the legacy of The Ave\u2019s golden era of hip-hop.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the vibrancy walking down Jamaica Avenue is still there. It\u2019s there in the support that we see when we do have events,\u201d Courtney Ffrench, JCAL\u2019s artistic director, said. \u201cYou have our audience come in and ask, \u2018okay, so what\u2019s happening today?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
JCAL\u2019s directors say The Ave is making new sounds and images that are a variation on themes of the past, reflecting the shifting demographics of the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a cultural institution, it\u2019s both a challenge and an opportunity,\u201d Leonard Jacobs, JCAL\u2019s executive director, said. \u201cBecause we need to be responsive culturally to an enormously diverse group of people, while at the same time, paying respect and homage and focusing on the historic community that has always been here in Southeast Queens and in Jamaica in particular.\u201d<\/p>\n
And when it comes to hip-hop, the beat that started on The Ave lives on in different ways.<\/p>\n
Consequence\u2019s son, Caiden the Crown Holder, may not be on The Ave, but he\u2019s one of many grabbing the torch.<\/p>\n
NY1 asked Consequence what the difference between his lyrics and his son\u2019s lyrics is, given that there isn\u2019t the same level of gathering place and culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, I think the physical has become digital, and so now the conversion, instead of it being a place, it\u2019s an app and it\u2019s the world. We all are tied together through technology,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The hope of many is that as Jamaica Center continues its evolution, both the old and new will hold that space together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jamaica Center, The Ave, the Colie Block \u2014 for kids and young adults coming of age in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[2296,25,54129,231,9,24,12,63,122,124,123,27,200],"class_list":["post-147911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-app-human-interest","tag-app-top-stories","tag-erin-billups-national-health-reporter","tag-human-interest","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}