"YO!" TURNS 2O

I was a little surprised to learn that Yo! MTV Raps started 20 years ago this year. I was in college at the time, and didn't have a TV, but I definitely caught the show sometimes.  After college, there was a time where my weekend nights were occupied by Yo! as well as Headbangers Ball and 120 Minutes. If I wasn't out doing something, I was watching those shows with a pen and a pad, writing down any bands that I hadn't heard of. 

But where Headbangers and 120 just introduced me to new bands, Yo! opened my eyes to the hip-hop culture. I never tried to imitate the culture, but understanding it helped me to appreciate this new form of music. 

It will make me sound "old" to say this, and that's not my goal with LEAVING 30s, but man... back then, hip-hop was about A Tribe Called Quest, EPMD, Eric B & Rakim, De La Soul, KRS-One, The Wu-Tang Clan, and "new" guys like Nas and Common. It's just hard to imagine kids today being as awe-struck by, like T.I., Lil Wayne, Flo Rida and whoever else has a big record at the moment. 

I am often jealous of people who were around in the '50s heyday of early rock and roll, or even the wild '60s, or the '70s punk era. But I'm glad to have experienced hip-hop when it was young. 

And I don't mean to make it sound like it's over: Kanye West is a great post-Yo! artist, Nas and Common still make great records, and I think Mos Def and Talib Kweli have some classics in them (alone or together).