Whilst ripping some videos off of an old VHS I came across this great bit of nostalgia from the Wu-Tang Clan. It's an episode of Yo! MTV Raps from 1993 with Fab 5 Freddy and was filmed on the production set for the video Da Mystery of Chessboxin.
I think most people can reminisce about the Wu in their heyday, but watching this episode took me straight back to that era, and seeing Ol' Dirty in his formative days as a fresh faced, raw, crazy and highly entertaining character is priceless. RIP ODB.
When the Saturday edition of Yo! MTV Raps used to air, when Fab 5 Freddy was the host, he toured a variety of locations to meet rappers, usually in their home town or on the location of a video shoot. On one of those occassions, the MTV budget stretched a little further than usual and they paid for Freddy to grace the shores of the UK and present this edition of the series.
I would love to know the reasoning behind the selection of artists for this particular show. MTV had shown the London Posse some love and previously played several of their videos, but to present Black Radcal Mk II to the international stage was a surprise to me. I'm not saying they shouldn't have been there as they'd put out a lot of good material at the time, but in the early 90's there were so many excellent and successful artists in the UK, I just feel some others should also have been given a chance to shine and better represent the UK's hip hop diversity. On the up side, it's was great to see MTV recognise some of the more underground groups.
Nevertheless, this little selection of interviews is still interesting and it's great that MTV took the time to explore hip hop beyond the US.
First off I've got to say thanks to Warz over at the StyleWarriorzRevenge blog for digging this up. For anyone who missed it, VH1 showed a documentary about Yo! MTV Raps a couple of weeks back. Now don't let yourself be put off by the previous efforts that have feebly attempted to reflect on this iconic show, this is the real deal. Firstly it was an hour long show (the minimum needed to do any kind of justice to a 7 year programme that hosted 100's of artists). Ed and Dre are back reflecting on the highs and lows and some of the back stage drama that went on (like Chuck D being mad at Flava Flav for dropping crack on the stage during a live performance!).
If, like me, you had an episode of Yo! as part of your daily routine then this is essential viewing. A copy of this documentary briefly appeared on DailyMotion for about a day, but it was quickly removed, so watch this pronto in case the same thing happens again!
The full episode is embedded after the jump
Mike Check
Update - If you haven't seen the first episode of Yo! (or maybe you've not seen it for a long time), then you can get it here in one of my previous posts.
In case you haven't picked this up else where on the web or in the twittersphere, MTV have announced that they will be resurrecting Yo! MTV Raps for one night on the 4th Dec. The show will air on MTV2 at midnight (presumably that's US time?).
The show will be called Yo! MTV Raps Classic Cuts and will last 30 minutes. The original hosts (Dr Dre, Ed Lover and Fab 5 Freddy) will return as the shows presenters. Featured in the episode will be A Tribe Called Quest, Geto Boys and Ice Cube as the show looks back at a significant video from each artist during the golden era. There are a host of other artists from today's era also tipped to be making an appearance to.
Now when I first heard this news I was kind of excited at the prospect. It’s been so long since we’ve had a respectable TV series dedicated to hip hop that it’s long overdue. Then it dawned on me, not only is it a one-off episode, but it only lasts 30 minutes!!! In MTV terms, this equates to about 20 minutes (at the very most) of actual program as the station is always bloated with adverts.
Divide that 20 minutes between introductions, a couple of videos, (very) brief discussions with the artists and you’re done, episode over. Ed and Dre must be doing this purely for the love and nostalgia, because it sure isn’t going to make them much money.
20 mins!!!! C’mon MTV, if you’re making the effort to reunite the stars of the show and film another episode, then please make it worth it and at least make an hour long episode, or do a week long series. Ted Demme must be turning in his grave at this token gesture.
Oh well, I’ll reserve any further judgement until after the show. I had hoped the viewing figures would be high and MTV would see the sense in reviving one of its most significant achievements in the last 20 years. But then again, it wouldn’t work as a up to date version of the show would be littered with the Wayne’s, Jeezy’s and Drake’s of this world. So my proposal is for MTV to start re-running the old shows.
It's always good to know your roots, and MTV is no exception. Before the mass commercialised television network that exists today, was a semi commercialised network! However, once MTV had understood the power and importance of Hip Hop, they embraced it by creating the legendary Yo! MTV Raps. Here is the first episode of Yo! MTV Raps, the quality isn't quite as good as you might like it to be, but you can imagine the type of VHS tape that originally captured this and remember that it's from August 6th 1988!!!
Yo! MTV Raps was still airing in some European countries until quite recently despite the US show ceasing transmition in 1999, but nothing compares to the early episodes and the raw energy that it had.
