MTV Jams is a Viacom-owned American hip-hop/urban music video channel that debuted on 1998 as MTVX, then was relaunched in 2002 under its current name. Like its sister stations MTV Hits, VH1 Soul, and CMT Pure Country, MTV Jams is available exclusively on digital cable.

The channel runs on an automated eight hour wheel schedule which repeats three times a day, starting at 6am Eastern, and then resetting at 2pm and 10pm. Promotional advertising, other interstitial programming and some events, such as the Ozone Awards are also carried on the network, along with various theme programming to promote album releases or other happenings in the music world.

MTV Jams was the last remaining MTV network in the United States to use MTV's original Kabel font for their music video credit tags, which the main MTV network discontinued in October 2007. MTV Jams switched to the font style used by MTV Hits and rarely by MTV itself in May 2011. The logo had a minor readjustment in February 2010 to remove the Music Television tagline and a small quarter of the logo in line with the official rebranding of all MTV networks.

MTV, an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs.

MTV has had a profound impact on the music industry and popular culture. Slogans such as "I want my MTV" and "MTV is here" were embedded in public thought, the concept of the VJ was popularized, the idea of a dedicated video-based outlet for music was introduced, and both artists and fans found a central location for concert music events, news, and promotion. MTV has also been referenced countless times in popular culture by musicians, other TV channels and television program, films, and books.

MTV has spawned numerous sister channels in the U.S. and affiliated channels internationally, some of which, like the former MTV Tempo now known as TEMPO Networks, have gone independent. MTV's moral influence on young people, including issues related to censorship and social activism, has been a subject of intense debate for years. MTV's choice to focus on non-music programming has also been contested relentlessly since the 1990s, demonstrating the channel's previous impact on popular culture. MTV has since largely departed from music programming and is now known for producing mostly teen-oriented programs.

Jams is a line of clothing produced by Jams World. Jams shorts, a popular clothing item in the 1960s and 1990s, were closely associated with the surf scenes in California and Hawaii.^{[citation needed]}

Company founder Dave Rochlen was a surfer, originally in Santa Monica, California, then in Hawaii. Inspired by his own desire to find more comfortable surfing attire, combined with a Life Magazine article showing Russians looking comfortable attending the beach in bathrobes, Rochlen bought some brightly-colored floral fabric and asked his wife Keanuenue to make a short, baggy pajama with a sewn-up fly and cut-off at the knee. With this vision, they created the first pair of Jams on December 25, 1964.

Rochlen quit his job as a systems analyst and started his new company Surf Line Hawaii, Ltd. to make and sell his new creation. Soon after his first commercial pairs of Jams hit the Makaha Beach in Hawaii, Life magazine ran a two-page spread on Rochlen and a group of his surfing buddies in the June 1965 issue. After the article, the Jams line was sold in places like Bloomingdales, Macy's, and Lord & Taylor.