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MANDY RODGERS
Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: Variety
If you watched "Yo! MTV Raps" in the late '80s or early '90s, you might remember host Fab 5 Freddy giving out his e-mail address live on the air. Now, he still wants you to "holla" at him.
Freddy said he was one of the first to give out an e-mail address on MTV, back when the World Wide Web had not yet consumed everyone's lives, and he would receive 50 to 60 e-mails a day, mostly from college kids.
"[Colleges were the] first places completely wired and had access to the Net," Freddy said in a conference call. "You guys have the ability to do your thing and the publications that you do, a lot of this stuff is going to be on your school Web site."
Promoting the month-long celebration for "Yo! MTV Raps" 20th anniversary, he said college media has influenced the industry and other generations.
Back in 1988, MTV unveiled the first episode of the series, featuring Run-DMC and introduced hip-hop music to a more mainstream audience.
The show brought the essence of hip-hop and the legendary pioneers of the genre to a TV audience first unfamiliar with the music.
Fab 5 Freddy hosted with Doctor Dre and Ed Lover. Freddy wanted to do something different, and he embraced the show's concept and took his hosting gig to the streets versus a cramped studio.
Soon, the idea of hip-hop videos and artists featured on TV caught other channels' attention, but Freddy doesn't mind the copycats.
"It really was the beginning of a cultural revolution. Young black men being able to scream into the camera and microphone how they felt," he said. "We had never seen anything close to that in mainstream America."
"Yo! MTV Raps" introduced many artists to America, such as a then-unknown dancer named Jennifer Lopez, and raised the popularity of others such as Snoop Dogg and MC Hammer. Tupac Shakur even gave himself away to authorities when during an interview, he admitted to assaulting the Hughes Brothers [directors].
Freddy said he was one of the first to give out an e-mail address on MTV, back when the World Wide Web had not yet consumed everyone's lives, and he would receive 50 to 60 e-mails a day, mostly from college kids.
"[Colleges were the] first places completely wired and had access to the Net," Freddy said in a conference call. "You guys have the ability to do your thing and the publications that you do, a lot of this stuff is going to be on your school Web site."
YO! MTV RAPS
Visit MTV for more information and full schedule of showsPromoting the month-long celebration for "Yo! MTV Raps" 20th anniversary, he said college media has influenced the industry and other generations.
Back in 1988, MTV unveiled the first episode of the series, featuring Run-DMC and introduced hip-hop music to a more mainstream audience.
The show brought the essence of hip-hop and the legendary pioneers of the genre to a TV audience first unfamiliar with the music.
Fab 5 Freddy hosted with Doctor Dre and Ed Lover. Freddy wanted to do something different, and he embraced the show's concept and took his hosting gig to the streets versus a cramped studio.
Soon, the idea of hip-hop videos and artists featured on TV caught other channels' attention, but Freddy doesn't mind the copycats.
"It really was the beginning of a cultural revolution. Young black men being able to scream into the camera and microphone how they felt," he said. "We had never seen anything close to that in mainstream America."
"Yo! MTV Raps" introduced many artists to America, such as a then-unknown dancer named Jennifer Lopez, and raised the popularity of others such as Snoop Dogg and MC Hammer. Tupac Shakur even gave himself away to authorities when during an interview, he admitted to assaulting the Hughes Brothers [directors].
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