White rappers were
auditioned to appear on the show in which they'd be faced with various
Hip Hop themed tasks. The winner, who should be the strongest and best
prepared white rapper will win $100,000 and a huge leg up in their
career.
Throughout the show we were able to see and get a little wisdom from
several blasts from the past like Prince Paul, Grand Master Flash, Lord
Jamar and Professor X of Brand Nubian, to name a few. New blood like
Saigon and Juelz Santana also had appearances.
As a lover of Hip Hop, the show is definitely entertaining. The idea of
a "white" anything is totally not necessary, but it was a great concept
for reality TV. With that said, a lot of things seem to be working for
the show---except for the talent. Man---I probably would've extended the
audition process!
You'd think that an up and coming rapper trying to get respect would
seize certain opportunities; like when Ms. Jones challenged them to
freestyle on the air. Instead, an opportunity of a life time just became
more embarrassing moments that took away from their
credibility. Each of their freestyles were stuttered and mumbled
ridiculousness. Persia who's from the streets of NYC should
know better. How can she even call herself an emcee if she can't even
spit a
freestyle on the radio? The others at least tried, she acted as if it
was some kind of game and she was just blowing it off. When you're
experiencing an extreme and rare double exposure: being aired on the
hottest Hip Hop radio station (Hot 97) --- while being filmed on a Hip
Hop TV show airing nationwide---to borrow Serch's words, "It is not a
game people!"
After watching the show for while and growing an attachment to the
bunch,
moments like that are almost painful to watch.
A few of the contestants do have a respectable flow. My personal favs
were Persia and Sullee who both unfortunately, had to "STEP OFF"---the
phrase used when contestants are booted from the show. Collectively
however, these cats are not ready and they can't seem to get it
together. Ironically, the contestant that does have his "act" together
the best is Jon Brown, "The King of the Clowns" in my opinion. He takes
all the challenges seriously and does what he needs to do to win. I'm
actually not surprised he's still holding on strong. However, the self
dubbed "King of "'Burbs" Jon Brown is a clown not to be taken seriously.
He's a reminder to me that Hip Hop has been around for quite some time
now and it lost a lot of its magic, originality and power. It's so image
oriented and empty nowadays that it's a studied blue print. Hip Hop, the
usual crap that's spun regularly on the radio and music video channels
can be studied, imitated and manifested by Jon Brown's from the suburbs.
This boy might even win this thing which speaks volumes. Halleluyah
Holla back!
None of these guys seem to be able to free style. Emcee's on national
television---my TV--that can't freestyle or at least fake it? When it
came to their written challenges, most of them stumbled over words and
forgot lines, paused and started over. Now that's just bull shit. I'm
sorry, I can't sit there and take them seriously. Real emcees don't make
mistakes people; they improvise and flow out of them. Tripping over
words or stopping in the middle of a flow is a red flag "no no" in any
siefer. Imagine spitting in a circle of hungry rappers then coming to a
sudden screeching halt saying, "Wait...hold up, gimme a sec---damn!"
>> continued...