Shark Bytes

Day One. This show was always just a poor imitation of the show it ripped off, Video Music Box on Ch. 31 in NYC.

My NY people know what's up.

Jumped when they made a big deal about a Public Enemy video...I miss Public Enemy. They Were awesome. All of those little teeny boppers and wiggas out there need to throw away there "Fitty" and "Eminem" beats and listen to "It takes a nation of millions to hold us back!!!!!"....It is a shame what has happened to Flava Flav. That dude used to be SCARY. Now he is a cartoon....

This sh-t that anybody can do!

To the guest who had all that hate towards the West Coast rappers, This is the reason that shows like MTV Raps get cancelled. Just because it's not from New York doesn't mean it's not hip hop. There are different forms of Hip-Hop. You seemed to missing a brain cell or two, without Dr. Dre and Snoop there would be no Hip-Hop music today. Because right around the time they came out, there wasn't a single New York rapper with a hit. It was almost time for rap to call it quits, and who comes to save the day "Dre Day". The west coast has set the standard for rap music today. Dr. Dre is the greatest producer of all time. Yo MTV Raps would still be on the air if wasn't for New York rappers like Ja Rule doin duets with that slut J-Lo and Ashanti. This is the reason why there was that whole East vs West problem closed minded people can't accept what they dont know about. Long Live Hip-Hop or Rap whatever you wanna call it. From EAST to WEST it is just music.

Never jumped. They stopped the show a few years before rap music jumped in 97. 97 was when rap started to suck with Will Smith's "Getting jiggy with it", Puffy and Master P. And then a few years back hip hop started to suck even more when alotta rappers thought it would be cool to make corny pop tracks with corny popstars like Mariah Carey and Justin Timberlake. So I miss the Yo! days very much. Back when hip hop was hip hop.

Considering the fact that this was on from 1988 to 1995, this show never jumped. It left at exactly the right time! One year later, some unmentionable deaths occur and the year after that, our society and MTV die a slow, painful death. With a growing interest in rock music, I am glad that punk and electronica are still going; despite mainstream radio and MTV itself in doldrums. "Digging in deep" is the best thing to do in order to get what you want. The funniest and honest post was the one regarding "rappers fusing pop acts." Honestly, there is no logic in J-Lo and Ja Rule, Nelly with N-Sync, the skank queen herself, Xtina Aguilera, and Britney Spears on this show. These people are what? They're popstars with nothing better to do with their lives! That's what they are! J-Lo and Britney can try as hard as they want, but they always will be pop. The skank queen will always be pop/R&B. So, if this show went on into the doldrums of this decade, it wouldn't last because of the aforementioned whack jobs.

This show Jumped in 91/92 when MTV pulled the "Arizona" video by Public Enemy because it was "too violent". The show was never the same after that

Rap may have died, but Yo! MTV Raps never jumped. And to the above poster who says that rap today is all about sex and bling-bling, think again. De La Soul (an old school group that is still rapping today) hasn't sold out to the gangsta set and has some of the best rhymes out there.

That's right, Yo! MTV Raps never JTS. It had good hosts such as Ed Lover and Dr. Dre, but the show works with good rap music. Rap died after the deaths of 2Pac and Biggie. It was never the same. Today, rap is all about sex and bling-bling. It ended at the right time. I have an old school rap channel on directv. It plays rap music from 1995 and before. I love hearing artists such as Run DMC, Public Enemy, Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five, Heavy D, and more. I wish those styles of rap music would make a come back.

Yo! never jumped. But for the poster who said Rap is changing with such artists' like OutKast and Neptunes(and this time its really artistic), what makes OutKast better than Jay-Z? Its well known that Neptunes STOLE some of their beats from other people. Also, someone before said all the songs out now are stolen or sampled form other well known artists', well.... thats how rap started. Rapping over disco beats is HOW RAP BEGAN! Sampling is apart of rap music, YO!

As stated before, rap jumped, not the show. I personally preferred the days of Fab 5 Freddy, but the show was about the videos more that the host/hosts. Whoever said that "lyricism of the the 80's pales in comparison to the lyricism of today." and that "Notorious B.I.G. raised the art of lyricism to a new level" needs to do some homework. For starters go out and pick up Eric B. and Rakim "Follow The Leader" or Big Daddy Kane's first album (his other albums don't quite make the cut. If you can listen to Ain't No Half Steppin' or Follow The Leader's title cut and say that they aren't simply magnificent in regards to lyricism, I suggest you rethink your criteria. I still listen to tons of older rap and reminisce about rap that was actually fun. I can't really consider it old school since technically that line was crossed when Run-DMC came on the scene.

When MTV wouldn't show enough N.W.A. videos on "Yo!" because of too-much gang violence and language but other than that great rap video show while it lasted. Much like "Headbanger's Ball", didn't jump, but the network it self not only jump the shark, but JUMPED THE SHARK BIG TIME!! Memo to MTV2: Since you brought back the "Ball" bring back the "Yo!" please!! As what N.W.A. always said "F#$k the Police!!!" ROCK ON!!

No 2 Live Crew was a porno group, not "Gangsta Rap." Ice T may have came before NWA, but they were the most popular, and effective. There have always been raps that "Tell it like it is." Like "Doe or Die." In the late 80s. Gangsta rap is'nt telling it like it is. It's a chance for some small time punks to fell important. Old drag acts, and pony tail wearing abominations. How can you talk about killing black people in one song, then whine about police pulling you over in the next? These suckers are'nt talking about criminals they are talking about wanting to be criminals. If I talk about pedophilia that may be "Keeping it real." But people don't want to hear that, and may get angry and disgusted. It's all glorification to sell records, and anyone who believes otherwise is a total fool. Yea YO! jumped in the early 90s, when rap stopped being any good or fun.

Yo!MTV raps actually had a much longer shelf life than could have been expected.As a rare black suburban kid in the late 80s,my tastes were influenced heavily by rock as well as rap.So this was my favorite period of MTV,period.The inevitable corporate greed hadnt caught up with them yet.But by the early 90's the cultural winds were somewhere else and everybody outside of the proverbial "ghetto" knew it.So the corparate bloodhounds followed the hottest trail.Yeah,it's true that the quality of rap went down slightly.And also it's sad that the industry had to get so violent to go to the next level.But as far as MTV goes it was partly resonsible.The last decent videos I saw were the Blck Sheep/Das-EFX era(circa 1992-93).Then the climate of rap shifted big-time and the music was no longer a good fit for heavy exposure on MTV.Also the expansion of BET(owned by Viacom,like MTV)was a HUGE factor.So Yo!MTV raps time was simply over. P.S.-every genre of music "dies",then re-invents itself.If you listen to The Roots,N.E.R.D or OutKast,you already know that Rap is being morphed again(this time into something thats actually artistic!!!)

My name is 5 FER 2. I was born in the late 80s but I eat, sleep, breathe, and live for that old school rap. I came out the womb break dancing to Eric B For President and Aint No Half Steppin by the Kane. I think Yo! never jumped. Like one guy said, Yo! stopped the right time. You know that 1995 and 96 is the year rap stopped. It didnt happen in 1992. It all ended when 2 Pac was shot. After that, "Puff Mama", "Jay Z", "Fag Nelly", "Eminem", "DMX", and that wanna be "Ja Rule" started rappin about there houses or how there like Pac. Forget all that mess! And to all you fools doggin the gangsta rap. Gangsta rap just gives you the reality of life and how it can be sometimes, growing up in the projects or hoods. Rap couldnt have had stayed unhardcore forever. Dont be mad at Dre or Snoop. It all started with "2 Live Crew" and "Ice T". The people from the hoods wanted to here about the things that really happened. You can dance to "It Takes Two" all you want in a club, but when you walk out that door the police could start harassing you. Yo! just changed with the times like all of us do. Lets face it, rap died when Yo! MTV Raps was cancelled.