Yo! MTV Raps promotional jacket

This promotional jacket was sold to the legions of hip-hop fans created by MTV’s hit program Yo! MTV Raps. Since its inception in 1981, the music video channel had been criticized for neglecting black performers. By the mid-1980s, the network had embraced a few black pop artists, turning the likes of Michael Jackson and Prince into superstars; however, hip-hop artists were long considered by MTV’s programmers as inappropriate for their mostly white audience. This began to change in 1986 when white rappers the Beastie Boys broke though with their video for “Fight for Your Right to Party,” while Run-D.M.C. landed their “Walk This Way” video in heavy rotation by featuring hard rock artists Aerosmith in a co-starring role.  By 1988, the genre had gained enough ground that the network conceded to try out Yo! MTV Raps, a hip-hop specialty program, during a little-watched Saturday night time-slot. Hosted by legendary rapper Fab Five Freddy, the show became so popular that a weeknight version, with hosts Ed Lover and Dr. Dre, was quickly launched. Yo! MTV Raps soon became the network’s top-rated program, with new episodes airing two hours every weekday in a prime after-school spot.

With the emergence of the less advertiser-friendly gangsta-rap in the early 1990s, MTV began a retreat from its unstinting support of the program. While some of the gritty, urban videos by gangsta bands such as NWA were aired on Yo!, they were no longer integrated with the rest of the network’s programming. Viewership dwindled and the show was eventually cancelled in 1993, but its impact on the popular music landscape remains. By exporting black music and style from the urban underground to white middle America, Yo! MTV Raps helped hip-hop to permanently crossover as a mainstream genre.