Rap City (TV series)

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Rap City
Genre	Music Video Series
Creator(s)	N/A
Starring	Various Artists
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BET
Original run	1989 – present
Links
IMDb profile

For the Canadian TV series, see Rap City (Canadian TV series)

Rap City is a long-running one-hour music video television program block (debuting in 1989) aired on the Black Entertainment Television network. The program was an exclusive showcase for hip hop music videos, and features interviews with and freestyles from popular rappers, and often has guest DJs serve as co-hosts.

While its competitor, Yo! MTV Raps, mainly focused on all of the popular rappers, Rap City also included videos from up and coming underground rappers.

1 Hosts and timeslots
2 The freestyle booth
3 References
4 Related media

[edit] Hosts and timeslots

Among notable previous hosts of the show are Chris Thomas (The first host of the show), Hans Dobson, Prince Dejour, Joe Clair, and Leslie Segar (a.k.a. Big Lez).

On September 13, 1999, the show was re-titled Rap City: Tha Basement and newly hosted by Big Tigger (a.k.a. Tigger), who succeeded Joe Clair and Big Lez. On August 28, 2000, BET moved the show to a new time slot at 4 p.m.

On January 21, 2005, the show was repackaged and host Big Tigger was replaced by Mad Linx, a DJ and radio personality. The transition was explained that Tigger's "mother" (Patti LaBelle) sold the basement and forced Big Tig out to live with his father.

On October 3, 2005, Mad Linx went on hiatus to host BET Road Show. For several weeks, the show was hosted by J-Nicks, a native of St. Louis. Occasionally, special guests (such as a hip hop star) would host Rap City. The network also shortened the shows run time from two to one hour.

On December 28, 2005, BET returned the show to its original 5 p.m. time slot. Mad Linx returned to his weekday routine on February 2, 2006. J-Nicks left to work as a weekday radio DJ for WHTA Hot 107.9 FM in Atlanta. On August 24, 2006, Q45 replaced Mad Linx on the show. On September 25, 2006, the time slot for Rap City changed to 4 p.m., and then flipped back to 5 p.m. in October 2006. Currently, various artists of hip hop music are hosting the show on weekdays. Mad Linx hosts Rap City Top 10 on Saturdays and Big Tigger hosts the show when Rap City presents specials.

[edit] The freestyle booth

See also: Freestyle rap

One of the most prominent and most popular segments of the show has been the freestyle booth. In these particular segments, the guests would lay exclusive new vocals on the spot. This came to place around Big Tigger's tenure, which also included a guest DJ every week. Seemingly, this concept was scrapped when "Tha Basement" concept left but it has since returned. This is now seen as a major staple of Rap City.