VH-1 GIVING PROPS 2 HIP-HOP

[JumpinJack AJ]

VH-1 is giving props 2 Hip-Hop this October. I'm not totally sure about the dates...but i think something like Hip-Hop Week starts October 4th...and then on the 12th they are having VH-1's Hip-Hop Honors where they are paying tribute and/or giving awards, and featuring 2 Run-DMC, Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, 2Pac, and more.

Keep in mind that VH-1 started out as a network for an adult contemporary audience and has gotten hipper thru' out the 90's 2 what they are like now. They would have never touched Hip-Hop so this is actually kinda cool. And they definitly will do a better job than MTV would.

[Silver Tiger]

[quote]Keep in mind that VH-1 started out as a network for an adult contemporary audience and has gotten hipper thru' out the 90's 2 what they are like now. They would have never touched Hip-Hop so this is actually kinda cool. And they definitly will do a better job than MTV would.[/quote]

I'd be able to fully agree if they didn't do shows like "VH1 goes inside Big Brother" or "Best week ever".

But the commercials look like they care about good rappers, so fingers are crossed.

God Blessa!

[bigted]

If they do as good as job as they did with that show they did dedicated to Hip-Hop of the '80s a couple of years I'll be happy! Thanks for letting me know about that I'll be looking for it that week, I usually don't watch VH1 too much 'cause they show too much pop music most of the time, I watch BET most of the time when I wanna see some hip-hop(if I'm not working that day I'll watch "The Bassment" and "106&Park"), MTV has been too corny, I rather watch MTV2 than MTV 'cause at least on Sundays they have a hip-hop countdown where they play the videos in their entirety, they're the only music channels that I have, I think I watch ESPN more than a music channel these days 'cause the music hasn't been that good and I haven't had that much time 'cause of work.

[Da Brakes]

They should show that in the Uk! I'll check it out if they do!

[mfuqua23]

Dang. I think it'z just me, but a lot of cool stuff is happening Oct. 4.

[bigted]

My dad's birthday is on the 8th of October, he doesn't like hip-hop that much though, he listens to mostly to old school Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and Harry Bellafonte and a lot of the old school dance hall that's good stuff too though, can't front on the old school. Why would they show this in October when we all know as true hip-hoppers that November is Hip-Hop History Month! It's all good though! :rock:

[mfuqua23]

Hmm. I guess I'm not a true hip hopper, cuz I didn't know we had a time of the month. The only time of the months I knew was Black History, and that 3 letter acronoym the ladies go thru. MUCH RESPECT 2 YALL 4 THAT.

[bigted]

It's all good man, but now you know, KRS-ONE, Doug E. Fresh, Afrikka Bambatta, Reverand Run and Russell Simmons came up with the idea of having hip-hop appreciation week every 3rd week in May and hip hop history month in November I read about it on the internet. We should all know that Will Smith attnds these hip-hop summitts and was a menmber of million man march in '95, hip hop is a culture that represents to bring unity and peace for all people, it's more than just music, it's a movement.

[WildWildWillennium]

Here's some info about the show which will air tonight until the 8th.

"And You Don't Stop: 30 Years of Hip-Hop." A documentary about the history of rap music. Airs October 4-8 on VH-1 at 10 p.m.

"Hip-hop would never have been invented if everybody around it was rich," says Newark-born rapper Ice T in the opening installment of "And You Don't Stop: 30 Years of Hip-Hop," a five-part documentary airing this week on VH1.

The music channel only sent out the first couple of episodes of the series for review, but it seems clear that his words amount to a kind of mission statement. "And You Don't Stop" is a rare pop music documentary that goes beyond a chronological list of names, dates and song titles, and suggests the social forces that made the music happen.

The story begins 30 years ago in the South Bronx, an urban landscape so decayed and depressed that even its residents likened it to a war zone.

The area's overwhelmingly poor and minority youth wanted to express themselves artistically just like anybody else, but lacked the money and formal musical training that might have allowed them to do it in a socially acceptable way.

Instead they spray-painted elaborate graffiti on subway cars, invented breakdancing and embraced the then-heretical idea that turntables, vinyl records and microphones could be used as musical instruments.

Says rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy, "People started to look at turntables and say, 'Hey, maybe we can actually make music out of the records that happen to be laying around.' And they made something out of nothing."

They made a lot more than just something. Three decades down the road, hip-hop is the driving force of modern youth culture, a renegade phenomenon that has become the establishment.

It seems incredible now, but for the first few years of hip-hop's life, the music was mainly a social phenomenon -- something you heard at parties, or maybe on cassette tapes sold or traded by schoolmates.

It wasn't until the massive success of The Sugarhill Gang's 1980 single "Rapper's Delight" that the world realized you could actually make money from hip-hop.

From that point on, hip-hop seesawed between being an escapist medium and a means of social commentary. That the same pop music could spawn the genre-busting raps of Run-DMC, the clownish experimentation of the Beastie Boys, the hardcore political commentary of Public Enemy and NWA and who knows how many lame Hollywood movie soundtrack tie-ins is a testament to hip-hop's inexhaustible potential.

Whether you already know the outlines of this story or are coming into it with fresh ears, "And You Don't Stop" is still a fun ride. VH1 and sister network MTV must have dug into the nooks and crannies of their archives in search of revealing footage. The documentary's first hour can be appreciated simply for its images of New York City in the 1970s and early '80s -- a gritty jumble of breakdancers, paint-spattered el trains and Kangol hats.

But the series doesn't make the fatal mistake of pretending that a beloved art form just happens in a vacuum. In recounting hip-hop's first 15 years, Monday's and Tuesday's episodes point out the music's roots in 1960s funk and R&B and its somewhat prickly relationship with the vastly more popular disco.

The documentary also explores the spiritual kinship with punk rock -- an equally rebellious, original form that sprang from the muck of 1970s-era English youth culture.

Hip-hop's sense of frustration and anger, which stayed buried under party beats throughout the '70s, bubbled up to the surface with the release of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's hit single, "The Message," which warned listeners, "Don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge."

TV producer and cultural critic Nelson George says that starting in the late '70s and early '80s, the mostly white East Village rock scene, which adored English punk, started opening itself to black rappers and DJs.

Blondie lead singer Deborah Harry -- who became the first white rocker to rap on vinyl with her early '80s single "Rapture" -- describes the sound of hip-hop as "the underdog barking loudly."

"And You Don't Stop" moves along at a brisk pace. Yet it somehow manages to include almost every significant milestone in the music's evolution, from promoter Russell Simmons and producer Rick Rubin starting Def Jam records out of Rubin's dorm room to Run-DMC attaining crossover success by emulating the street-tough leather look favored by white rockers like the Ramones.

Interestingly, VH1 allows the documentary to critique MTV for failing to embrace rap until 1984, when Run-DMC featured a monstrous electric guitar sound in its single "Rock Box." (A clip from the video for that single shows a closeup of a sneakered foot stepping on a sequined white glove -- a jab at Michael Jackson, who at the time was the only other African-American musician given regular exposure on MTV.)

The most powerful parts of the first two episode focus on Afrika Bambaataa and Public Enemy, musicians who saw hip-hop's potential for social commentary and political change and embraced it with uncompromising passion. The 1980s footage of Public Enemy's arrival on the music scene is electrifying; with their grim demeanors and cartoonishly surreal presentation, they came on like the first rap superheroes: the Justice League of Hip-Hop.

Ironically, the series will prove most instructive for the audience that's least likely to watch it: music fans who grew up on rock-and-roll, and who still think rap is just a bunch of noise, profanity and shouting. As DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince put it in their same-titled hit single, "Parents Just Don't Understand."

"And You Don't Stop" doesn't water down rap's excesses, compromises and missteps; hip-hop's sexist, racist and materialist tendencies get full play throughout.

But at the same time, the documentary persuasively argues that the music deserves to be taken seriously. And it does this in the simplest, most effective way imaginable: by playing the music, interviewing the participants and letting the facts speak for themselves.

[bigted]

It sounds like something that teeny bop fans who think that 50 Cent and Eminem are the greatest rappers should watch so that they'll know about hip-hop's history so that way they could spend their money on real hip-hop classics! :ditto:

[Hero1]

people over at okayplayer are saying how its funny that vh1 is doin this hip hop special when they never played any hip hop music videos or supported hip hop themselves

[bigted]

If all these hip-hop history shows over the next week get a higher rating than their average shows on there, they should showing ol' school hip-hop music videos in their rotation, that'd be dope, I know that'd get me to watch more often, 'cause I usually don't watch VH1 myself, but if people get exposed to real talent then maybe they won't waste money anymore on Nelly CDs and go out and buy KRS-ONE CDS instead! :switch:

[Silver Tiger]

Wow, they spent more time on Will and Jeff than I thought they would. Pretty good stuff guys. Check it out. There's some freestyle footage. Will does some commenting, they talk about performing. Other MC's talk about him too. LOL he also say's something funny about Spider-man, but this is a board for the whole family so you'll have to check it out.

God Blessa!

[JumpinJack AJ]

VH-1 started as a low-budget adult comtemporary TV station. In the mid-90's they started getting a lil' hipper. Now they are a like a Top 40 station that has fun with pop culture. They aren't a Hip-Hop station...but they do give props 2 Hip-Hop.

[bigted]

I didn't think that they'd mention that much about JJFP or KRS-ONE but they did a great segment on both, I was feeling that! :switch: It also showed when FP protested with Chuck D and a lot of other rappers in standing up for hip-hop to get respect at the Grammy's, that shows how much FP loves hip-hop and I liked that they showed him making comments in defending Chuck D and Public Enemy because of the controversy behind the Public Enemy political lyrics. Was it just me or does it look like Will had grey hair when they interviewed him for the documentary? :kekeke: He ain't that old yet! :roll: Overall I liked the show but I was a lil' disappointed that they didn't mention Eric B. and Rakim, Queen Latifah, Slick Rick, Biz Markie, or MC Lyte! :bang: Are they done with the '80s now in the documentary? :dunno: