Mar 14, 2014 12:18 PM EDT By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

The pioneers of hip-hop are hoping to underscore the musical genre's Bronx roots by opening a hip-hop museum in the borough, The New York Times reported.

The plan for the Universal Hip Hop Museum was announced on Wednesday by a group of hip-hop artists and their supporters at a news conference in front of City Hall. They hope to open the museum inside the Kingsbridge Armory by 2017.

Organizers said the hip-hop museum would utilize interactive technology to provide a comprehensive look at the musical genre, informing people of the historical and cultural roots of hip-hop and the contributions made by break dancers and disc jockeys, the Associated Press reported.

"Many people have a misconception of what hip-hop is," Afrika Bambaataa, an American DJ from the South Bronx who is frequently called the father of hip-hop, told reporters at a press conference. "When they say hip-hop, they only say it's the rapper, and there's a whole culture and movement behind it."

Bambaataa would serve as the museum's chairman.

The new museum is the latest in a line of efforts to honor hip-hop that date back to at least the mid-1990s, The New York Times. However, Rocky Bucano, the president of the planned Universal Hip Hop Museum, said their effort was different because the Universal Hip Hop Museum has the backing of Mr. Bambaataa and "other artists who have agreed to serve on an advisory committee for the museum and raise money on its behalf."

Grandmaster Melle Mel, a hip-hop musician, said that a hip-hop museum could draw tourists to the Bronx and become a destination like Yankee Stadium.

"If you just keep it on the music level it cheapens it," he said. "To embrace it as an art form, that's what makes it a museum."

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