Candlelight: 90s Hip Hop on Strings

Candlelight: 90s Hip Hop on Strings at Cleveland Museum of Art - Gartner Auditorium

You know the beats. You know the rhymes. But would you recognize the hook from ‘N.Y. State of Mind’ when it comes from a violin instead of a turntable? Candlelight: 90s Hip Hop on Strings takes the songs you grew up with and changes the instrument—not the memories attached to them.

The program reaches deep into the era’s catalog: Fugees, Outkast, Nas, Jay-Z, A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan, 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg are represented in the published tribute program. That matters because these are songs people know for their rhythm and attitude — and hearing them voiced by a string quartet changes the shape of that memory without erasing it.

The setting gives the outing its own edge. Gartner Auditorium brings a polished, acoustic-friendly backdrop inside one of Cleveland’s major cultural institutions, and the candlelit presentation adds a visual layer that fits the music’s swagger in a surprising way. It’s a 60-minute performance, so the whole experience stays focused, direct, and built around the arrangement itself. Cleveland Museum of Art - Gartner Auditorium

See the venue and other shows on the Cleveland concert calendar.

Take your favorite decade somewhere unexpected. Get tickets for Candlelight: 90s Hip Hop on Strings in Cleveland.