Construction on the Universal Hip Hop Museum (UHHM) – the first institution of its kind in the US – is expected to begin by the end of 2019 in the Bronx, the birthplace of hip hop music.

Supported by a team of acclaimed rap stars and disc jockeys, among whom are LL Cool J, Ice-T, and Kurtis Blow, UHHM will celebrate the genre's enduring resonance and cultural significance with various virtual reality and immersive exhibits and artefacts, including a graffiti wall, recording studio, photographs, and other 1970s and '80s musical memorabilia.

In a recent interview with Forbes, Kurtis Blow, the museum's chairman, said the visitor experience would involve various "interactive elements", such as "avatars and holograms", as well as facilities where members of the public can make their own music and graffiti art.

Blow described UHHM as "an important plea that our legacies and our histories can be in one place for the whole world to see".

Set to open in 2023 to mark the 50th anniversary of the "invention" of hip hop, the attraction will be located on the Harlem River waterfront at the 560,000 sq ft (52, 025 sq m) Bronx Point development.

The design practices attached to the scheme are Marvel Architects and S9 Architecture.

In a summary of the project, the site's developers – Type A and L+M Development Partners – said UHHM would be the "only year-round location where people from around the world can come to learn about and experience the subgenre's global permeation".