Rap Music Notes by MC

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From Wikipedia.com "Rap" entry:

Rapping is the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes and wordplay, one of the central elements of hip hop music and culture. Although the word rap has sometimes been claimed to be a backronym of the phrase "Rhythmic American Poetry".

Rapping, which is also known as Emceeing, Flowing, MCing, Rhyme spitting, Spitting, or Rhyming, can be delivered over a beat or without accompaniment. Stylistically, rap occupies a grey area among speech, prose, poetry, and song. Rap is derived from the griots (folk poets) of West Africa, Caribbean-style toasting, and American Blues and Jazz roots.

Rapping developed both inside and outside of hip hop since Jamaican expatriate Kool Herc first began doing his dancehall toasting in New York in the 1970s. In the 1980s, the success of groups like Run-DMC led to a huge wave of commercialized rap music. By the end of the 1990s, hip hop became widely accepted in mainstream music.

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Yo! MTV Raps was a two-hour American television music video program, which ran for 7 years (from August 1988 to August 1995). Many credit this show with introducing more hip hop into the mainstream music and popular culture. The program was created by Ted Demme and Peter Dougherty. It was the first showcase of hip hop music on the network, and was hosted by Doctor Dré (not to be confused with N.W.A. alumnus Dr. Dre), Ed Lover and Fab 5 Freddy. Yo! MTV Raps began on MTV on August 6, 1988.

Run-DMC hosted the premiere pilot episode of the show. Also on the first episode were DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. Eric B. & Rakim's video for Follow the Leader was the first video ever to be shown on Yo! MTV Raps. The pilot became one of the highest rated programs to ever air on MTV at that point.

The show introduced many mainstream MTV fans into the world of rap and hip hop and gave exposure to many groups and artists ranging from 2Pac, Public Enemy, NWA & Ice Cube to Redman, Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul. It also inspired the creation of a promotional music video "Down With MTV" which featured raps and appearances by various MTV and Yo MTV personalities done over the classic track by Naughty By Nature "OPP".

Yo! MTV Raps series finale was on August 17, 1995. The final show featured performances and appearances from numerous high-profile names in the world of hip-hop. Many of these names closed the show out with a freestyle rap session. Salt-N-Pepa hold the distinction of appearing on the first (technically, the first episode to feature Fab 5 Freddy) and last episodes of Yo! MTV Raps.

From 1996 to 1999, MTV repackaged Yo! MTV Raps as simply Yo!. The repackaged version was far more stripped down than its predecessor. Rival music network, BET began its own rap/hip hop program to compete with Yo! known as "Rap City". The program became the longest running hip hop video show on cable TV with an 18 year run.