Is MuchMusic’s new Rap City a CanCon 106&Park?
Posted on 14. Jan, 2011 by Anupa in Canada, Music, Pop Culture, Television, Toronto
Hip-hop was living and breathing and really vibrant in Canada Before Drake (“B.D.”, gonna start using this as a real chronological marker). But Drake’s definitely given rap new cache in this country, especially among a younger set who, for a (brief) time, didn’t really have any rappers of their own. Proof? The relaunch of MuchMusic’s Rap City (along with alt essential The Wedge) with host Tyrone “TRexxx” Edwards.
Part of the reason for the directionless middle-era–between 2004 and now?–was a lack of any cohesive rap-centric Canadian media. If you grew up watching MuchMusic in the ’90s, you had Rap City (est. in the ’80s), Da Mix, and even Electric Circus to round out your knowledge of what was happening in the world of beats and rhymes. Cumulatively, these shows had an advantage over BET’S Rap City because they featured a ton of Canadian content alongside American (and, from time-to-time, global videos). It was a solid foundation for rap fans of any sub-genre, though there was definitely an emphasis on indie/underground artists.
So Rap City 2.0 (is 2.0 passe? Should I be saying, like, 3.0 now?) aired last night to tons of local fanfare. Comparisons to its previous incarnation would be naive and irrelevant in a new world of page views and numbers–TV has changed a whole lot. But the move from “host, resident DJ and a camera” POV to the more popular, studio audience format of shows like the station’s own Much On Demand and BET’s 106&Park, is worth mentioning. TRexxx does have a DJ (and we’re glad it’s a female!) Lissa Monet, and the crowd-friendly set is obviously made to cater to Much’s exclusively teenage audience. Time is lost, though, on playing hypeman to the assembled and crowd-panning shots. It reminds me of how 106&Park (BET in general) notoriously pre-empts music videos, rushing back to Terrence and Rocsi and their screaming audience.
Thankfully, music video content didn’t suffer last night and I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity of artists represented (from Yelawolf to JD Era to a Biggie closer). Sitting on the couch with TRexxx was Nicole Devill (unsure of who she is and why she was there), local rapper Blake Carrington and blogger Ty Harper. TRexxx threw to next week’s feature interview with (obvi) Drake while Devill, Carrington and Harper briefly chimed in on Gucci Mane’s face tatt and diplomatically judged a rap battle. Still: Kicking off with a video by Fabolous? No bumpers of your guest’s names and titles? Not spending enough time with those guests? Zero interviews? Using a different beat for each rapper in your freestyle battle? Assuming it was hastily put together since the show was announced this week, I’ll give Rap City the benefit of the doubt and say laziness wasn’t at play here. In terms of keeping shit local, mad points. But is there such a thing as too local? I wonder if national viewers really understood the congratulatory confluence taking place at the MuchMusic studios last night, or if it all just seemed… kinda boring?
We all know blogs and YouTube and Twitter are killing the game, but they were conspicuously missing from the show last night (aside from the battle, where Tweeters send topics in). MuchMusic was a generational asset in its heyday specifically because of its commitment to original, innovative programming, and the new Rap City doesn’t feel that innovative or original despite the fact that it’s got key talent on its side (pretty much everyone involved is an internets celebrity in some way). And, as a friend brought up, why even bother calling it Rap City? If the name is meant to invoke a symbolic passing of the torch, there’s not much to indicate what exactly is being passed on.
I’m hoping, for the sake of rap and a Drake-era Canada, that Much will think about the backlash of the past few years and revive some of the acclaimed and successful Rap City spirit: interviews, guest hosts, discussion. This isn’t even a plea for an essentialist throwback to “the four elements” or anything. 2010 was a really fucking exciting year for hip-hop, both locally and abroad; there’s tons of territory for this show to cover in the new year and being a CanCon 106&Park would be a disservice.
Rap City airs on MuchMusic Thursday nights. If you missed the show, watch it (minus the music videos) below. And if you’re feenin’ for the old thing, Mama YouTube has you covered.
