Yo! MTV Raps

Yo! MTV Raps is a two-hour American television music video program, which ran from August 1988 to August 1995. The program (created by Ted Demme and Peter Dougherty) was the first hip hop music show on the network, based on the original MTV Europe show, aired one year earlier. Yo! MTV Raps produced a lively mix of rap videos, interviews with rap stars, live in studio performances (on Fridays) and comedy. The show also yielded a Brazilian version called Yo! MTV and broadcast by MTV Brasil from 1990 to 2005.

Hosts

The U.S. version was originally hosted by Fab 5 Freddy. Later, the show's main host was Doctor Dré (not to be confused with N.W.A alumnus Dr. Dre) and Demme's High School friend, Ed Lover, who both hosted together on weekdays. Fab 5 Freddy proceeded to host on weekends. The original line-up of the show, starring only Fab as the host, premiered on MTV on August 6, 1988.

On the weekday version dubbed, Yo! MTV Raps Today (which debuted on March 13, 1989), Ed Lover created his own dance called the Ed Lover Dance (which was typically featured on Wednesdays) that became somewhat popular in the 1990s. The Ed Lover Dance was performed to the track "The 900 Number" by DJ Mark the 45 King.

Chubb Rock

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Chubb Rock (born Richard Simpson on 28 May 1968 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a New York-based rapper who released several commercially successful hip hop albums in the early 1990s. A former National Merit Scholar, Chubb Rock was a pre-med student who dropped out of Brown University to pursue his musical career.

1990s and earlier

Discovered and produced by his first cousin DJ / Producer Howie Tee, Chubb Rock first appeared on the national scene with his 1988 self-titled debut "Chubb Rock" and 1989's "And the winner is..." The latter produced the minor hit "Ya Bad Chubbs" which garnered air play on Yo! MTV Raps during that time.

His 1991 release entitled The One, reached No. 13 on Billboard's "Top Hip-Hop/R&B" chart for that year. Three singles from that release, "Treat'em Right", "Just The Two of Us" and "The Chubbster", made it to No. 1 on Billboard's "Top Rap Single" chart list for the same year.

The following year saw the release of I Gotta Get Mine Yo, a release which features guest performances from Grand Puba Maxwell and Poke. This release also helped fledgling music producers Trackmasters, on their rise to prominence, as they handled production duties on the recording. Chubb Rock also makes an appearance on MC Serch's 1992 song, "Back to The Grill."

MC Serch

MC Serch (born Michael Berrin; May 6, 1967) is an American hip hop MC and former member of 3rd Bass.

Biography

Serch grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens, attending Far Rockaway High School, and graduated from Music & Art High School. He is of Jewish descent.

After recording three albums with 3rd Bass—The Cactus Album (1989), The Cactus Revisited (1990), and Derelicts of Dialect (1991)—Serch launched a solo career with Return of the Product (1992, Def Jam). The album featured two hit singles: "Here It Comes" (which hit #1 on Billboard's Hot Rap Tracks chart); and "Back to the Grill" featuring Chubb Rock, Red Hot Lover Tone, and Nas. Serch was the executive producer of Nas’ Illmatic, one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the 1990s. He also helped to cultivate the rapper O.C. after hearing him on the Organized Konfusion song "Fudge Pudge," helping him secure a record contract with Wild Pitch Records. In 1995, Serch also mentored the newly formed Non Phixion.

Since retiring from performing, Serch has run a promotions company (Serchlite Music). He appeared in Spike Lee's Bamboozled (2000) as a member of the fictitious hip-hop group Mau Maus (played by other real-life hip-hop performers such as Mos Def, Charli Baltimore and Canibus). His character was a white revolutionary who was supposed to be "1/16 black". From 2003 he hosted Serch In The AM on Detroit Urban Radio Station FM 98 WJLB; he was the first Jewish DJ at that station. MC Serch was dismissed from WJLB in March 2006, reportedly due to a dispute over a Super Bowl weekend party at the club "Motor City Live." Serch also hosted the VH1 reality series Ego Trip's The (White) Rapper Show, known for his catch phrase: "Woop-WOOP!", which ended in March 2007. A follow-up show, ego trip's Miss Rap Supreme, debuted in 2008.

Ol' Dirty Bastard

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Russell Tyrone Jones (November 15, 1968 – November 13, 2004), better known under his stage name Ol' Dirty Bastard (or ODB), was an American rapper and producer. He was one of the founding members of the Wu-Tang Clan, a rap group primarily from Staten Island, New York which first rose to mainstream prominence with their 1993 debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).

After establishing the Wu-Tang Clan, Ol' Dirty Bastard went on to pursue a successful solo career and contributed as a rapper/producer for the Fugees. However, his professional success was hampered by frequent legal troubles, including incarceration. He died on November 13, 2004, of a drug overdose, two days before his 36th birthday. Before his death, Jones managed to record his third solo album, which remains unreleased.

Jones was often noted for his trademark microphone techniques and his "outrageously profane, free-associative rhymes delivered in a distinctive half-rapped, half-sung style". His stage name was derived from the 1980 martial arts film Ol' Dirty and the Bastard (also called An Old Kung Fu Master, starring Simon "Ol' Dirty" Yuen);Method Man articulated its relevance on track 5 of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), stating there was "no father to his style".

Pete Rock

Peter Phillips (born June 21, 1970), better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapper. He rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth. After the duo went their separate ways, Rock continued with a solo career that has garnered him worldwide respect, though little in the way of mainstream success. Along with groups such as Stetsasonic, Gang Starr, A Tribe Called Quest and The Roots, Rock played a major role in the merging of elements from jazz into hip hop music (also known as jazz rap). He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned alongside DJ Premier, RZA and J Dilla as one of the mainstays of 1990s East Coast hip hop production. Pete Rock is also the older brother and younger cousin, respectively, of rappers Grap Luva and the late Heavy D.

Biography

Early life

Pete Rock was born in The Bronx, New York, the sixth of seven children born to Jamaican immigrant parents. His family moved to Mount Vernon, New York when he was seven years old. During high school, he met his future recording partner CL Smooth. According to Rock, his father was also a part-time DJ who had an impressive record collection. Rock would often accompany his father to a cricket club called Wembley in The Bronx and watch as he spun records for the guests. His first job was as a paperboy, in his neighborhood.