THIS WEEK IN HIP HOP
On Tuesday, VH1 aired the 6th installment of their annual Hip-Hop Honors awards ceremony. While in previous years the show has followed a format similar to a Hall of Fame induction ceremony, this year’s program was dedicated solely to celebrating the 25th anniversary of the most important Hip-Hop record label of all time: Def Jam. One would hope that all music fans know at least a little about Def Jam, but even if you have been trapped under a sunken ship for the past 25 years, and think you’ve never heard of the label, I guarantee that your ears have frequently come in contact with Def Jam’s music. Def Jam has been home to Hip-Hop’s most elite artists since day one. Their untouchable roster has included: The Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, EPMD, Jay-Z, Nas, The Roots, Scarface, Ludacris, Method Man, Redman, Ghostface Killah, and DMX among hordes of other influential and extremely talented musicians. These artists combined with the visionary genius of Russell Simmons, Rick Rubin, and Lyor Cohen literally changed music forever.

VH1 deserves a ton of credit for putting on this event. For a TV station that built itself upon safe music for the middle-aged, and then developed into a reality TV powerhouse, when it comes to shining light on what Hip-Hop is all about, they surprisingly drop a steaming shit all over BET and MTV. Let’s try to forget about the White Rapper Show and focus on the fact that they have not only included hip-hop artists in Behind The Music and Storytellers since the hit series’ inceptions, but additionally, have consistently used Hip-Hop Honors as a great way to expose younger generations to the great rap artists of the past. We should all be thankful that at least one station has done the wonderful deed of dedicating a miniscule 5% of their programming to quality Hip-Hop.
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