More than 30 years after groups of predominantly black and Latino youth created hip-hop culture from the suffocating despair of life in the South Bronx, the accomplishments of these pioneers have been largely obscured by the banalities of contemporary rap music. That’s why powerHouse books, VH1, Power 105.1 and Brooklyn Bodega have created No Sleep 'til Brooklyn, an exhibit at the powerHouse Arena that explores the history of hip-hop culture through photography, art, discussion and documentary film. In doing so, the exhibit features a mélange of old school flavor and new school reality, with displays by seminal graf writers like BLADE, along with highlights from the work of their contemporaries like photographer Martha Camarillo. The exhibit’s open daily through November 19, but beginning October 13—during VH1’s Hip-Hop Honors week—it plays host to events like a premier of Brenda Kenneally's Hip-Hop: By All Means Necessary, a documentary about black youth hustling rap as a means for survival. Roughly three decades after its emergence, hip-hop’s origins may be overshadowed, but its history remains alive and vibrant. No Sleep ‘til Brooklyn isn’t a museum, it’s a living, breathing, up-rocking collection of artifacts.

Opening night Oct. 13. powerHouse Arena, 37 Main St. (at Water St.), Brooklyn, 212-604-9074 x.100;  7-10, $25, Powerhousebooks.com.