let's take a moment in silence to reminisce about the golden era of Hip Hop, when the genre and the music was still fresh and exciting give it up for Fab Five Freddy, Dre & Ed Lover


and if you have a moment, sign the petition


http://www.petitiononline...ition.html


Okay.. I know it won't happen in a million years, but one can always dream..

Used to watch YO! every Saturday morning/afternoon. Right before "Remote Control" and the Top 20 Countdown.

Still remember the classic episode when Fab 5 Freddy rolled in an open-air truck with N.W.A through Compton!

The videos were so diverse on that show. You'd get DOC's "The Formula" then you'd get some Kwame, Leaders of the New School "Sobb Story," Brand Nubian "Slow Down," Tribe Called Quest, Terminator X / Bonnie N Clyde then you'd get some Arrested Development "People Everyday."

Loved. that. show.

Some of my favorite YO! MTV Raps videos...

Sir Mixx A Lot :: Posse's On Broadway[!] (this used to be so ill)
Pete Rock & CL Smooth :: TROY (They Reminisce Over You)
LL Cool J :: Mama Said Knock You Out / Boomin' System / Bad / Around The Way Girl
Ed O.G & Da Bulldogz (all videos)
JJ FAD :: Is It Love?
Snap :: Power! (when they used to play HIP-HOUSE!!)
Digital Underground :: Doowhatchalike / Kiss U Back (slap me & I'll slap ya back, punk!)
Oaktown's 357 :: Yeah Yeah Yeah
NWA :: Express Yourself
Salt-N-Pepa :: Tramp / all their videos
Arrested Development :: Tennessee
Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock :: It Takes Two / Joy & Pain
Uptown Artists :: Uptown's Kickin' It[!!!] ohhh!
Digital Underground :: Same Song!!! Ahhh, remember that video?!
MC Breed :: Ain't No Future (In Ya Frontin'!) (old school Houston rap!)
Heavy D & The Boyz :: Don't Curse / Mr. Big Stuff
3rd Bass :: Tha Gas Face
Bazerk!!
Kid & Play :: Ain't Gon Hurt Nobody
Kwame!!
Whodini :: Freaks Come Out At Night
X-CLAN :: Funkin' Lesson (this is a chance! this is a chance!)
Terminator X / Bonnie 'n' Clyde :: Homey Don't Play Dat
De La Soul :: Potholes In My Lawn
MC Hammer :: Let's Get It Started / Pray
Vanilla Ice :: Ice Ice Baby (before we knew "the real story," this was the jam!)
N2Deep :: Back To The Hotel
Queen Latifah :: U.N.I.T.Y.
A Lighter Shade of Brown :: On A Sunday Afternoon
Brand Nubian :: All For One
Geto Boyz :: My Mind's Playin' Tricks On Me
Chi-Ali :: Age Ain't Nothing But A Number
D-Nice :: My Name Is D-Nice
Stop The Violence Movement :: Self-Destruction
Positive K :: I Got a Man
Same Gang All Stars :: We're All In The Same Gang
Paperboy :: Ditty
Leaders of the New School :: Case of the PTA

I can go on and on...

n/m lol it is for the old show.
[Edited 5/8/06 23:58pm]

Christopher said:

Remember the HYPERCOLOR t-shirt commercials they used to show during YO! MTV Raps? You know, those shirts that change colors with heat. Didn't know if that actually worked, never bought one.

And the Caramello & HEATH candy bar commercials.

Yes, even I remember the damn adverts during that show.

Mara said:

haha i DO remember them shirts. i never had one but at that age it seemed like the coolest shit ever!

i remember when they'd stop whatever they were doing and one of them starting doing some dance to a breakbeat.

Mara said:

cool list and the first time I see someone else mention Ed OG & Da Bulldogs here on the org

Christopher said:

Exactly!

Dancelot said:

Thanks.

Yeah, ED O.G. used to bump back then. I'm surprised they don't get more appreciation. That album you posted wasn't too bad either. Had a little filler, but the singles were very much worth it.

The problem is that hit-pop cannot produce enough interesting artists to fuel such a show these days.

Take a look at Mara's list. Most of these artists couldn't get into video rotation, even on Yo!, because they don't sell enough records. Most of them would have sold less units today. Many wouldn't even get a deal.

namepeace said:

agreed about a current version of Yo! and everything else you said. but the petition is to get re-runs of the old shows. I have hundreds of VHS tapes at home still that would be funnnnn!

Uptown all stars, was the shit.. my man Heywood Fulton aka Woody Rock was down with a crew i used to dj for called "The Choice 5 mc's" bunch of local cats that were on point.

Dancelot said:

d'oh!

they should run that on the classic channel.

Mara said:

I think that what made this show so incredibly awesome was that we were able see, hear and experience real hip hop in its purest form. The executives who ran MTV at that time were mostly the same executives who had to be forced into playing Michael Jackson's videos. When Michael blew up with Thriller and millions of kids started tuning into MTV, they realized that they had a huge prize in their hands. I believe these same executives knew the same thing about hip hop, but they didn't understand the whole culture; so they basically hired Fab 5 Freddy, Dr. Dre, Ed Lover and Ted Demme and let them do their own thing. That's why we got such a wide spectrum of hip hop artists being represented. If you notice, Yo! MTV Raps was cancelled just about the same time that MTV and the record companies realized that they could make millions of dollars by commercializing the whole "Thug Life" and east coast/west coast rivalry. And hip hop has gone downhill ever since.

MTV will never show any reruns of this show, but I think VH1 Classic spent some time last year showing reruns of this as well as Club MTV, MTV Unplugged, and Pop Up Video.

728huey said:

I've seen some old clips of various in-studio performances on the MTV Jams channel from time to time.

A while ago I saw Grand Puba / Mary J. Blige's performance of "What's The 411" with Mary J. rapping.

I used to sneak to stay up late and watch it.

"does Ed Lover dance"

namepeace said:

Naw, the REAL reason is there is no need for a Hip Hop show since MOST of what you see on MTV is now Hip Hop. Back then, Hip Hop was still finding its way, now it OWNS the airwaves, so another YoMTV Raps wouldn't really make sense.

Mara said:

I remember those videos too but I didn't watch them on MTV Raps, I used to see them on this channel called the BOX.

StoneCrib said:

True.

I used to stay up way late to see Yo! and get up real early Sunday mornings to see Fade To Black. The late 80's/Early 90's I loved MTV. They actually had live performances, and showed a good amount of music videos.

Back in 92, i sent in some drawing saying "Fade To Black is #1" or something like that, along with a letter asking for Mary J Blige's autograph, LOL. Todd 1 actually held my picture up on the show and said thanks and mentioned my name. They sent me a Fade to Black TShirt but no autograph LOL

Yo! MTV Raps, i still have the Yo! trading cards, with all the different rappers on them

It got a little confusing there for a while though when there were two dr dres

Didn't MTV buy out BET though? I guess they figure they got a whole network devoted to R&B/Rap, no sense bringing back a show on MTV I guess. Kind of like MTV 2 and VH-1 Classics are the only channels that actually play videos anymore.

Tom said:

Trust me, we have not seen the last of Yo! MTV Raps. Trust me. You may have to spend a gang of money buying a 10-DVD set or some shit like that, but it will be back. And I will have my ass at Best Buy when it comes out. One of the greatest shows ever, too many people would pay to buy this shit, so it will come out...eventually.

ladygirl99 said:

I remember the [Video Juke]BOX! I was so jealous of my city friends because my cable company in my suburb didn't have that channel.

IIII-iiii-III am everyday peoplllleeee...