Yo! MTV Raps
Urban music went mainstream in the late 1980s, and few programs spread the hip-hop revolution faster or further than MTV’s two-hour program devoted to it. In 1988, MTV invited New York City radio DJs Doctor Dre and Ed Lover and noted street artist Fab 5 Freddy to host Yo! MTV Raps, adapted from an existing show on the network’s European counterpart. The program featured videos from and interviews with some of the biggest names in rap history, including Run DMC, Public Enemy, Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, LL Cool J and Salt-N-Pepa. It ran until 1995.
Boxers or Briefs?
Long before America’s mass preoccupation with Bill Clinton’s crotch area, one high school student had the nerve to ask about it on national television. “Mr. President, all the world’s dying to know,” said Laetitia Thompson, 17, of Potomac Md., at an MTV-sponsored forum of 200 young people in April 1994. “Is it boxers or briefs?” When the laughter died down, Clinton didn’t duck the question: “Usually briefs,” he said. “I can’t believe she did that.”
