A hip-hop pioneer recently commemorated 40 years of broadcasting music videos on New York City’s airwaves. Numerous urban artists attended and performed at the event at Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park, while thanking VJ Ralph “Uncle Ralph” McDaniels for providing the much-needed visibility for their careers on his Video Music Box program.
“It’s the show that started it all and made it possible for me to get on at Yo MTV Raps,” said Ed Lover during a private sideline session. “God bless you, Ralph. Love you.”
The long-running show began at the Brooklyn home of Daniels in 1984, as an idea for bringing the fledgling hip-hop genre to the city.
At the anniversary celebration, house rocker Busy B performed some of his true skool era tracks, like “Rock the House” and “Suicide.” Nice & Smooth thanked Daniels before performing their synchronized rhyming/singing style with “Hip-Hop Junkees,” “Dwyck,” “Do You Wanna Get Funky?”
Harlemite G Dep performed several of his verses before concluding his set with his standout track, “Special Delivery,” and an ode to the late Black Rob, his Bad Boy Records labelmate and good friend from East Harlem. When Rob’s banger “Whoa!” was blasted through the speakers, the entire audience chimed in.
By the time Special Ed of Flatbush, Brooklyn, got on stage, the clouds were blocking out the sun, and as he was reciting rhymes, it began raining very heavily, forcing audience members to flee the open-area arena. To the dismay of most, the concert’s headliners, the duo M.O.P., who were scheduled to go next, did not get a chance to take the stage and perform due to the heavy downpour.
RIP, Foxx.