The Impact of YO! MTV Raps! Watch!- Stüssy x Yo! MTV Raps - Part 1 - The Importance of Yo! MTV Raps-

The cultural importance of Yo! MTV Raps on the fabric of American music stems far beyond lyrics and beats to ignite the start of a movement. I’m continually fascinated and inspired by movements for all the obvious reasons. Hip Hop as a movement through the vehicle of rap not only helped to introduce the world to a new form of music, but fashion and style as well, and forever changed our culture.

For many of us it brought people of all races into suburban homes for the first time. Erik B, the lyrical genius summed up the impact of Yo! on his rap career, “it changed the whole way we had to think about marketing our music.” It created an opportunity, a platform for the music industry to not just sell cd’s, but it gave artist, who otherwise had no platform to be seen and not just heard. MC’s like MC Lyte gained exposure to be able to book 250 shows per year. Hip Hop moguls had not quite been born and the foundations (for better or worse) of main stream rap were being laid. This led to the commercial interests of big business that took notice to recognize the importance of a being able to use the platform, both Hip Hop and Yo! to sell product.

While the youth of America would devotedly sport the styles of the Beastie Boys or Big Daddy Kane, in the beginning we were all just trying to dress like them, no one had a label. Like the early years of Rock-N-Roll, the genre was frowned upon, it was not considered music. Now the art form is over a trillion dollar industry and we have the pioneers to thank for being trail blazers, breaking down cultural barriers and creating a movement that’s now multi-generational. So from Fab 5 Freddy, to Ed Lover and Dr. Dre who brought these artist and this movement into our homes at time before social media, iTunes and the speed at which information travels, thank you, we’ve got much love for Hip Hop because of Yo! MTV Raps!

Do You have Some YO! MTV Raps Trading Cards? I Sure Did!

Check out the Very The Last Yo MTV Raps Show!