Boutique Hotel

Located in the heart of Hip-Hop’s origin, New York City, Rapper’s Delight explores the genre and culture of Hip-Hop and translates it to a livable musical experience. The full scope included a look book that described the boutique hotel and its experiences, hotel branding, five in-room amenities, a keycard and holder, a memo pad, a door knocker, two menus, a folder, and a website.

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The CONcept

Genre Hotels is a chain of boutique hotel centered around the music maker and music lover with each dedicated to a specific musical genre. Rapper’s Delight showcases this by separating the process of making Hip-Hop music into four distinct dimensions: Creation, Exploration, Collaboration, and Exhibition. All of the names and different aspects of the hotel tie back to Hip-Hop. Rapper’s Delight is a song by the Sugar Hill Gang that came out in the 80s and its lyrics are what the name Hip-Hop itself is derived from.

THE How and why

The amenities and the four different room types each belong to a dimension, depending on the visitor’s specific needs. For example, Hip-Hop would not be possible if it weren’t for sampling. The Exploration dimension tells visitors about Rapper’s Delight’s vast collection of music and samplers that are available for use and recommends the use of the B-Boy suite, named for the lead of break-dancing groups that also only came about due to sampling and scratching. The use of 3D type and different effects furthers the idea of these dimensions of music and the attempt to make Hip-Hop something tangible. As genre with a long history of strife and conflicts that at the same time made it what it is, Hip-Hop being represented with the complementary colors of orange and blue only made sense.

Amenities and keepsakes

The amenities serve as further branding opportunities as well as mementos for guests. The soap bar packaging becomes a bandana for them to keep as well as receiving a free guitar pick holder with four branded picks. As most visitors would be musicians or interested in it themselves, the memo pad serves not only as a place for quick notes but has bars for composing music. The folder with all of the hotel information can also serve as a sheet music holder. All of the rooms were designed by compositing images and coloring them to create the feel of the actual hotel.