Salaam Remi is known for cooking up incredible music for over three decades alongside the likes of Nas, Amy Winehouse, The Fugees and other iconic acts. In 2023, the musician has evolved into a groundbreaking visual artist who honors legendary hitmakers with his rare works of art.
Earlier this year, the New York native celebrated the grand opening of The MuseZeum. When fans walk up to his art gallery in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, the walls are covered with murals that depict Bob Marley, Celia Cruz, Slick Rick, D-Nice and the late Betty Wright. Once art lovers walk inside, they're instantly surrounded by a lineup of iconic artists who are immortalized in each mixed media piece.
"The aspect of doing this was just really looking around and wanting to be a part of the creative space," Remi tells iHeartRadio during a tour of the gallery. "We'd done 'Do It For The Culture' art shows where I just showed my personal art collection and a couple little pieces that we did as a team, but really just selling merchandise at Art Basel 2018 and 2019 here in Wynwood. We stopped during the pandemic, but when we reopened last year, it just happened to be I had enough time to create some of my own works."
Remi has spent the past five years creating works of art that honors legendary singers, rappers and DJ's. Each of Remi's multimedia creations are equipped with built-in, visible Bluetooth speakers that allows anyone to truly bring the artwork to life with the sounds of the subject's music. The pieces have been fine-tuned to perfectly compliment each artist that's featured like QuestLove, who plays his signature drums, and D'Angelo who plays a customized keyboard.
His rare depictions of OG rappers like Big Daddy Kane and Rakim have been approved by the artists themselves. Even the estates of the deceased acts like Bob Marley and Marvin Gaye have given their seal of approval. Two massive pieces of Gaye, one of which was inspired by the cover of Remi's remix of Marvin Gaye's "Save The Children," were blessed by Gaye's second wife Jan just days before she passed away in 2022.
"I got a chance to discuss the Marvin Gaye pieces with Jan Gaye about a year ago in early November of 2022," Remi explains. "And then when we opened our Basel weekend, she actually passed away that weekend, which was like, wow. But the fact that she got to tell me like, 'Hey, we love what you do with Marvin's music because I've done so many Marvin Gaye remixes, but this is special, what you're actually doing with the images and that this is something to speak about.' I'm really proud that she was able to feel good about what we were doing there and she was able to say, 'You're doing the right thing.' That was a big moment for me."
The gallery also features more personal works of art by Remi like "Grandma's House" which is a collection of pieces inspired by his childhood. His deep connection to the installation is evident from his authentic phone number from the 1970s that's programmed in the rotary phone down to his actual bronzed baby shoes that sit on top of a familiar tin container of cookies. However, the gallery also contains work from other creators like artist and illustrator Tati Crooks, who has numerous pieces in the gallery, and Justin Wadlington, who's creations inspired by Nas were praised by the Mass Appeal rapper.
"I made sure that there's an ecosystem where I can sell my own work," Remi says. "I have enough notoriety to get attention on that, but if I bring notoriety to a whole museum ecosystem, then everybody else that comes through it also can benefit from the strides that I'm making as far as trying to make sure artists are getting paid properly, making sure that people get paid for their name and likeness and really just having good energy overall."
In addition to the gallery, Remi and his team also launched their accompanying "Midnight at the MuZeseum" concert series to coincide with Hip-Hop's 50th Anniversary. Throughout the summer, rap fans of all ages flocked to the Miami Beach Bandshell to catch exceptional performances from veterans like Rakim, Grand Puba, Lord Jamar, Large Professor, and Big Daddy Kane. Each show allows Hip-Hop's pioneers to perform their classics and create rare moments like when Kane made a song with Remi live on stage.
"I still kind of don't believe it," he recalls. "Basically, Kane had asked me for a track when he was here the night before for the unveiling. And I was like, 'all right, cool.' So I just sent him the track, but I didn't really think anything of it. But the last thing I thought is that Big Daddy Kane, who I taped off the radio as a teenager, was going to call me on stage and then make the audience say my name in a song, talking about I brought him here tonight and made us collaborate live on stage, flabbergasted. I had no idea he was going to do that."
The most recent event happened during Halloween weekend and featured performances from Slick Rick, J.T. Money and the Poison Clan. Fans also got to participate in a costume contest and experienced a special music video set by Video Music Box founder Ralph McDaniels. Ahead of the show, Remi debuted his new masterpiece inspired by the seasoned Miami rapper. Remi joined forces with Tati Crooks and audio designer Ryan Evans to make J.T. Money's face looks like it's made of nothing but cash, which also looks incredible on the accompanying hoodie. All of The MuseZeum's artwork comes with a hoodie featuring the aforementioned artwork on it. Fans can buy them at the gallery or online.
There are plenty of opportunities to experience The MuseZeum in person and online. Over the summer, fans in New York and Washington, D.C. got to experience a pop-up edition in their cities in celebration of Hip Hop 50. Everyday is Art Basel at The MuseZeum, but there will be more special festivities during Art Week in Miami next month featuring more art, music and tech. Fans can pull up to its flagship store in Wynwood from December 6 to December 9 for all the festivities.
"I would call it a 'MuseZeum block party,' Remi says about his Basel plans. "I think you won't be able to miss us to say the least."
Check out the vibes from The MuseZeum's pop-ups below.