13 BRONX WEEKLY February 10, 2019 www.BXTimes.com
Angie Martinez being honored by Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. Adiana Rivera
Element of Hip Hop awards
highlight local Bronx talent
BY ALEX MITCHELL
It ain’t called the boogie
down Bronx for nothing.
Hip hop’s birthplace
celebrated some of its most
legendary icons at the 2019
Element of Hip Hop awards
at Port Morris’ Pier 132 on
Tuesday, January 29.
Borough President Ruben
Diaz Jr. joined famed
Bronx rapper and hip hop
artist Grandmaster Caz
along with the Windows of
Hip Hop team to honor a few
borough bred fi gures that
played infl uential roles in
the genre.
Although he leaned away
from attending the awards,
Fat Joe was given the nod
he very well deserved for
his contributions to the
Bronx.
Lately, the rapper’s most
notable philanthropic gesture
for the borough is his
school sneaker initiative
that he laced up with Diaz;
incentivizing entire classes
of middle schoolers to earn
better grades in exchange
for a fresh pair of kicks.
“Joe is the one who calls
me,” Diaz said, praising the
rapper’s drive to help better
the borough that his career
was so often infl uenced by.
Also honored was Super
Bowl champion and offensive
lineman Willie Colon,
who grew up in the Melrose
Houses, played for Cardinal
Hayes High School before
he went on to have a stint
with the New York Jets and
winning his big ring with
the Pittsburgh Steelers.
More than protecting
Ben Rothlesberger (and attempting
to protect Mark
Sanchez) Colon came off the
bench when Hurricane Maria
devastated Puerto Rico.
“Willie and I met doing
relief efforts for Puerto
Rico actually,” said Alfredo
Angueria, owner of the hip
hop speakeasy-bar and restaurant
Beatstro.
“He would show up in a
truck fi lled with supplies
and say, “here just take it,””
Angueria said on stage next
to a towering Colon.
Honored and humbled,
the NFL great took to the
microphone saying, “I’m
coming home,” touched by
how the Bronx remembered
one of its own.
If that wasn’t emotionally
endowing enough,
famed hip-hop radio mogul
Angie Martinez and
production legend Sean
‘Pecas’ Costner were literally
brought to tears when
talking about their careers
and lives together while being
honored by the borough
president.
After having his massive
mural of the fi rst unanimous
Hall of Fame inductee
Mariano Rivera honored
by the Bronx and Dr. Cary
Goodman’s 161st Street
Business Improvement District,
it’s no surprise that
Kingsbridge artist Andre
Trenier was also a unanimous
choice for his own recognition.
He’s best known not just
for his mural of The Sandman,
but many Yankee
greats all around the hallowed
grounds of 1 E 161st
Street in addition to many
other projects like Boogie
Down at the Bronx Zoo,
which Caz and Windows of
Hip Hop also partnered in.
At the ceremony Grandmaster
Caz announced he
will be building a recording
studio in Claremont’s P.S.
55 elementary school for
students to learn the value
of music production.
Keep an eye out for Caz
and his partner in crime
(Bronx philanthropy)
Grandmaster Melle Mel
at this year’s Grammy
Awards.
Grandmaster Caz being interviewed
at the awards. Adiana
Rivera
Join the ‘Dine The
Boroughs’ journey
Photos by Festival Media
BY ANNA SPIVAK
Eat your heart out, outer
boroughs!
A dazzling new dining
experience will promote the
unique cuisines found in
Brooklyn, Queens, and the
Bronx next month!
Dine The Boroughs, a
two-week culinary tour of
some of the outer boroughs’
best bites, will feature some
200 restaurants offering prix
fi xe menu options for just
$28, from March 18 to March
31.
The expansive munch
marathon fi lls a gaping hole
in New York City’s beloved
Restaurant Week line-up,
which features hundreds of
Manhattan eateries while
spotlighting only a fork-full
of outer borough options, according
to one of the creators
of Dine the Boroughs.
“This is really an opportunity
to promote the diverse
food offerings found
in Brooklyn, Queens, and
the Bronx,” said Joshua Schneps,
the chief executive offi
cer of Schneps Media. “We
want to drive traffi c to each
of the boroughs because, as
we all know, great food is a
destination.”
Joining the roster of the
ultimate outer-borough feast
will have no cost for participating
restaurants, said Schneps.
“It’s completely free for
restaurants to participate,”
he said. “They have to offer
a prix fi xe menu, at least for
dinner, during the period of
time that we’ll be holding
Dine the Boroughs, and they
have to be based in Brooklyn,
Queens, or the Bronx. There
is no other charge, and we’re
very fortunate to have such
a large reach in those three
areas, through our different
newspapers, websites, newsletters,
and social channels,
that we can really promote
these restaurants.”
Restaurants and sponsors
interested in signing up can
visit www.dinetheboroughs.
com, which in the coming
weeks will be updated with a
detailed list of participating
eateries and their offerings.
Join the Dine the Boroughs
journey, presented by
the Whitmore Group, by following
along on social media
using the hashtag: #dinetheboros
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