A Tribute to YO! MTV Raps to bring back old school rap to STL!

Next Friday September 8, The Rhythm The Rebel and many more local bands will bring YO! MTV Raps back to life at The Ready Room starting at 8pm. The tribute show will take you back to the 90's with local artists covering Public Enemy, Tribe Called Quest and many more rap legends who performed in the show.

The advent of YO! MTV Raps in the late 1980s was crucial to the spread of hip-hop around the world. Through MTV Europe, MTV Asia, and MTV Latino, African-American and Latino style and sound was instantly available to millions of people across the globe. This helped to create a worldwide appreciation and interest in the hip-hop scene.

YO! MTV Raps had its series finale on August 17, 1995. Numerous high-profile names in the world of hip-hop closed the show out with a freestyle rap session. Salt-N-Pepa holds the distinction of appearing on the first (technically, the first episode to feature Fab 5 Freddy) and last episodes of Yo! MTV Raps.

Read our exclusive interview with "The Rhythm The Rebel":

1. Who makes up "The Rhythm The Rebel" group?

David Smitty/DJ Smitty   Daniel Harris/ D Streetz   Terrence Strong/ Strong T.

 2.   How do you describe your group?
 We are a Public Enemy cover band. We revisit PE hits from their extensive catalog.

3. When did you start playing?

   We formed in late June, however, I used to front the hip hop band Fat Monkey from 1996-2002. I’ve been studying PE since 1988.

4. Who are you paying tribute to?

   Public Enemy and (come to the show to find out).

5. Why did you decide to join this show?

About six months ago I posted on FB that I should do a PE tribute band and received an encouraging response.  After hearing about the success of Posse In Effect, I thought why not.  John Herrington saw the post and informed me about this show. I put together a crew and here we are!

6. What difference do you see between hip hop culture back then and now?

Back then the beats were harder and layered with samples.  The hard drums commanded a rapid-fire flow and intricate wordplay reigned supreme.  The samples provided a direct link to our parent's music of the 60’s and 70’s.  Hip hop has always been brash, anti establishment, and nonconformistand as cringeworthy as I find some of the current artists; I must avoid hypocrisy and remember we had Live Crew, pimps i.e. Too Short, Big Daddy Kane, tons of dope dealers and users, and even an Ol’ Dirty Bastard!
 

7. How are you committed to the St. Louis hip hop community?

I basically buy artists music and merch if I respect their grind.

8. What's your impact as an artist in the community?

I claim to be the first rapper from St. Louis to utilize a live band with a dj.

9. Anything else you'd like to add?

     Prepare to have your minds blown!!!