THE HARD RHYMERS DOMINATE VH1 HONORS

Public Enemy Public Enemy Video The Roots Hip Hop

I didn't catch VH1's Hip-Hop Honors (honoring Def Jam Records) because of work, but I caught the best part at VH1.com - Public Enemy performing "Rebel Without A Pause" backed by The Roots and Street Sweeper Social Club. It may have been a bit too many people on stage at once, but still powerful as ALL HELL. I know people were bummed that Jay-Z wasn't there, but I don't think he could compare. Another cool performance was Eminem and The Roots with DJ Jazzy Jeff performing LL Cool J's "Rock The Bells" (LL wasn't there - I don't think he's digging Def Jam these days).

Rollling Stone had a neat feature about eight great Def Jam records that people slept on, including 3rd Bass dude MC Serch's solo album (which featured the second appearance of "Nasty Nas," now just known as Nas), which I remember liking. I would also add Method Man & Redman's first duo album, Blackout. It did yield one huge hit, "Da Rockwilder," which they performed at the show, but the rest of the album didn't get any love, and it should have. Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again, EPMD don't get their due respect dammit!

VH1 HIP-HOP HONORS FEATURES DEF JAM

If any label deserves its props at VH1's Hip-Hop Honors, it is Def Jam. Of course, Def Jam in 2009 has as little in common with its early roots as Motown in 2009, Rhino in 2009, Atlantic in 2009, etc. But the history of Def Jam certainly deserves to be celebrated: LL Cool J (still on the label, I think!), The Beastie Boys, Public Enemy (all of whom have been honored on their own) and EPMD (who, insanely, have not). Not to mention Method Man & Redman (seperately and as a duo), The Roots, Ghostface, and probably some others that I'm forgetting about. 3rd Bass! I hope this isn't just some way to get Jay-Z on VH1, I know they're hot for him there. The show airs on VH1 on October 13.

I worked at VH1 the first year we did Hip-Hop Honors. It was really a proud moment for me. When I started there, the channel was super white and seemingly not into hip-hop. At some point, that all changed. Hip-Hop never had a real awards show to celebrate its history, and thanks to VH1, now it did. Run-D.M.C., Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, plus 2Pac and some real founders of the artform: DJ Hollywood, DJ Kool Herc, The Sugarhill Gang and The Rock Steady Crew. I got to interview lots of cool people: D.M.C., Pac's sister, Wyclef Jean, KRS-One, Kid Rock and a few others. It's impossible to top that year's class - it's like the first class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: after you've inducted Chuck Berry, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sam Cooke, Little Richard, Fats Domino and Ray Charles, you are only going down from there. But back to Hip-Hop Honors, I'm glad they're still doing it, and I hope EPMD get some props at this.

VH1'S HIP-HOP HONORS

I was glad to see one of my favorite groups of all time, de la soul, get their due at the Hip-Hop Honors. It took Q-Tip, Estelle (John Legend's protegee), Cee-Lo, Public Enemy with Mos Def and EPMD to pay tribute to them. The only problem was that each segment was too short (no pun intended).  It's just too bad that PE and Mos Def's collab was like, one minute long. 

And they need to honor EPMD next year! They are way more influential than some other artists who have been honored. But it was also great to see Cypress Hill and Slick Rick get honored.  I wasn't as big of a fan of Naughty By Nature or Too $hort. 

Anyway, great show, I remember working at the first Hip-Hop Honors, and there was some initial skepticism about Video Hits 1 doing a hip-hop awards show. But it was awesome, and they've done a great job on all the subsequent ones. (Although tough to beat the original lineup, which included PE, Run-D.M.C. and KRS-One). 

1988: HIP-HOP'S GREATEST YEAR?

RollingStone.com just did a cool feature on the best hip-hop albums from 1988. Indeed, it was a great year for hip-hop. RS cites Public Enemy's It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back at #1, and I'd definitely agree. I don't know if I got into that album in 1988 - I think I happened upon it the following year - but, wow, I still remember being blown away by how awesome/different/aggressive the album was. And I'm still knocked out every time I hear it today.

At #2 was Run-DMC's Tougher Than Leather. At the time that it came out, they seemed kind of over, but when the album was reissued a year or two ago, I felt like it was a pretty good album that I "slept on."

Soon after I got into P.E., I also got into Ice Cube and Ice-T, both of whom are represented on this list. N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton is on the list, as is Ice-T's Power. Both are great, but I got into Cube from his solo debut, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, which I actually prefer to N.W.A. I know, blasphemous. My favorite Ice-T albums were The Iceberg/Freedom Of Speech... Just Watch What You Say and O.G. - Original Gangster.

The list also included great albums by EPMD, Eric B & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions and even DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. Yeah, it's easy to just say, "Yeah, hip-hop was better back then." But, it was. Still, there are great albums being put out today, look at Kanye West, Common and Nas to name three. Like the No Expiration masthead says, "There's always great new music being made."