What’s Up Miss Lil: Celebrating The 100th Birthday Of Harlem’s Own James Baldwin

By Lil Nickelson

During the Harlem Renaissance era, many literary, cultural, and artistic icons of that era migrated to the village of Harlem to nurture and perfect their crafts.

Novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, intellectual, and activist James Arthur Baldwin (1924 – 1987) was one of Harlem’s own born on August 2nd, 1924, in Harlem Hospital. The New York Public Library (“NYPL”) celebrating James’s 100th birthday in a big way with special exhibitions, free programs for all ages, and book giveaways. James patronized the NYPL library in Harlem from an early age, and he saw fit to leave his personal papers, photographs, manuscripts, and more with the NYPL. They are housed at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture located at Malcolm X Blvd, where one of two exhibitions at two NYPL locations began on his birthday.

The opening reception was held on Friday, August 2nd, 2024, from 12 noon to 3pm at the Schomburg Center, and was titled, “JIMMY! God’s Black Revolutionary Mouth.” The public program featured a discussion between Yahdon Isreal, senior editor at Simon & Schuster, and two-time Grammy Award-winning recording hip-hop artist and philanthropist Che “Rhymefest” Smith. The men spoke about how relevant James’ words are still today in the 21st century. So much so that Rhymefest’s latest project titled, “James & Nikki: A Conversation,” was inspired by a 1971 conversation between James Baldwin (at 47 years old) and Nikki Giovanni (at 28 years old).

I got the opportunity to interview Rhymefest before their discussion on stage. Even better was my being present and observing Yahdon and Rhymefest interacting with one another first. By the time my interview started, the men had already connected and were no longer strangers. Rhymefest told me what he found interesting about the 1971 discussion was their respective roles in the literary world, she was the new generation of writer and poet, and she matched him with her “courage Ness”. Rhymefest summarizes their conversation as, “They were speaking about their current times, but they were also speaking about the future too, to today’s times. James told Nikki that they were one hundred years ahead of their times and, when she asked how do we survive? He told her the ancestors taught us how to do that so look to the past.”

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So, on the nine-track composition Rhymefest and his co-authors (they are the new
generation of young, upcoming female rappers) while Rhymefest is the seasoned rapper.
He stated, “Women are the new what is hot in hip-hop. If you listen to mainstream radio
you hear, Meghan Thee Stallion, Beyonce, Nikki Minaj.” The ladies like Rhymefest are
into story telling; to me he is following the artistic road previously walked by Gil Scott
Heron, Marvin Gaye, and James Brown; these artists all were sending important
messages to the people. Rhymefest states, “Music you feel should elicit emotion and
spur you to action; to make people feel.” His collaboration with his co-authors is just like what James did we he had his discussion with Nikki. This project inspired Rhymefest to
run for political office, the school board in Chicago. This project inspired Rhymefest to
run for political office, the school board in Chicago.

By the time Yahdon and Rhyme were introduced on stage, their conversation was flowing freely. The Schomburg exhibition presented selections from James Baldwin papers that highlight his literary career and legacy from childhood to death and runs through February 28th, 2025. The Exhibition at the NYPL’s Treasures Stephen A. Schwarzman Building is titled, “James Baldwin: Mountain to Fire.” Discover never-before-exhibited literary manuscripts from the early years of Baldwin’s writing career—including draft pages from Go Tell It on the Mountain, Giovanni’s Room, and The Fire Next Time —alongside other remarkable items from James Baldwin’s collection. The bonus is even if you are not in NYC you can listen to audio guides for both exhibitions on Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app.

Lil Nickelson is a Senior Consultant with an MBA degree focused on Finance and Financial Management Services from New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business. Skilled in sales, management, business development, marketing strategy, and social media, with a history of working in the food and beverages industry. Her column “Dining with Miss Lil” has been featured in Harlem newspapers and with Harlem World Magazine for numerous years.

Photo Credits: Participants exploring Schomburg exhibition – Lead the article (by Eric K. Washington) Rhyme & Lil – in between paragraphs 2 and 3 (taken by Rhyme’s assistant)
Yahdon & Rhyme on stage – in between paragraphs 4 & 5 (by Eric K. Washington)
James Baldwin quilt artwork after paragraph 5 (by Eric K. Washington).