Now, I'm not saying I am really feeling these shows, but, honestly, you can't knock the idea behind it. When I first moved to this country and was getting into hip hop, nowhere did I turn my attention more than to Yo! MTV Raps. It was there that the world gazed at the thought-provoking conversations among Doctor Dre (not the West Coast producer), Ed Love, and Fab 5 Freddy (one of the pioneers of hip hop and an avid historian of hip hop), with endless video features. Because of this show, I was introduced to Rakim's Follow the Leader, I watched in suspense as Tupac claimed to have violently beaten the Hughes Brothers for dismissing him from the Menance II Society movie, and I learned about the Leaders of the New School and especially Busta Rhymes, just to name a few.
So this post is not necessarily a salute to the Puma shoe as it is to Yo! MTV Raps. While ultimately its competition Rap City (which, by the way, is the longest-running hip-hip show) would take over in this TV-genre, history has proven the impact of Yo! MTV Raps and its prolific contribution to hip hop. I (surprisingly) agree with Juelz Santana when he said on Good Times, "'Memba them good ol' Yo! MTV Raps, man I hope they bring Yo! MTV back."
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