In the Cradle of Hip-Hop, a South Bronx Gallery Bridges a Gap | The New York Times “No galleries, to me, have accepted hip-hop to be a part of their DNA.”

For the past 11 years, Free Richardson has run The Compound, his creative advertising business, from a compact space off Bruckner Boulevard in the South Bronx, where he works on campaigns for Timberland, ESPN and EA Sports. Part agency, part clubhouse, The Compound refers to the physical footprint, a bunkerlike space where Mr. Richardson hosts clients, professional athletes and hip-hop artists who come to use its recording booth, kibitz or admire Mr. Richardson’s collection of KAWS figurines, hip-hop ephemera and N.B.A. memorabilia.

Free Richardson in the gallery with a photo of Yasiin Bey by Jonathan Mannion. Devin Yalkin for The New York Times

But the name also signifies Mr. Richardson’s governing ethos: that combining creative disciplines usually yields something interesting.

“Everyone who would come over would say, ‘Yo, this is like your own art museum,’” Mr. Richardson said. “So I said, O.K. It was always in the back of my head but it was like, when is the time right to do it?”