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Genius IQ/BBQ +
The 50th
For hip-hop's 50th anniversary, Genius created a yearlong content series across our channels. To round out the celebration, we brought back the first IQ/BBQ after the pandemic. Featuring artists from different cities, scenes and generations, the lineup highlighted the enduring power of hip-hop as it heads into its second half-century. In addition to the day-long concert, IQ/BBQ featured 50 years of hip-hop lyrics, and activations from our partners.
Shot + edited by Raw Media House
Design
To help align external partners across digital and IRL, we created a flexible guide for The 50th and by extension, our IQ/BBQ. We wanted to show hip-hop's duality with elements that felt technical and freeform. We used abstracted references to record ephemera to nod to the genre's roots. Allusions to misprints and drafts show how even things that scale to the masses feel personal and tactile. The tone needed to strike a balance of reverent and celebratory, yet approachable.
Role: Creative Direction
Sr. Designer: Alex Cheung
Promotion
Our teams at Genius worked together to create a rollout strategy for the line-up and tickets. Within six hours, we filled up our 6k RSVPs on DICE, and had over 42 article mentions over time. We also used our artists and an exclusive merch collab to extend our reach.
Role: Creative Direction + Design
Sr. Designer: Alex Cheung
Merch Design: The Good Company
The Event
Using our design system, we brought the celebration of 50 years of lyrics to life. Spatially, we borrowed cues from a backyard or stoop kickback–a nod to hip-hop's birthplace, and the event's namesake. We also created a trivia experience so guests could test their hip-hop knowledge.
Role: Creative Direction
Sr. Designer: Alex Cheung
Product Designer: Sam May
Experiential Partner: Superfly
Brand Partners
Rabanne: The So Fresh, So Clean Shop offered guests free shoe shines and shape-ups.
Showtime's THE CHI: The Rap Cafeteria featured tables that represented different eras and scenes in hip-hop.
INFINITI: Partnered with artist Jade Purple Brown to pay homage to women in hip-hop.
Patrón EL ALTO: Created a premium VIP lounge with a focus on cocktails.
Role: Creative Direction
Experiential Partner: Superfly
The 50th Content + Hub
The Genius social and editorial teams created content surrounding The 50th all year. We created a small system for posts and videos, as well as a hub to aggregate all things hip-hop 50th. This included a hero editorial, and the top hip-hop songs, artists, albums, and producers for as long as Genius has been around.
Role: Creative Direction
Designers: Alex Cheung and Sam May
Wed Design: Jake Brussel Faria
Dev: Ryan Scheuer
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