February 16, 2014

Stüssy x Yo! MTV Raps (Documentary, 2013)


In conjunction with the release of the Stüssy/Yo! MTV Raps collection, Stüssy produced a 2-part documentary entitled We Were All Watching. Part 1, The Importance of Yo! MTV Raps, takes a look at the history of MTV’s groundbreaking music program, and Part 2, Fashion in the Golden Age of Hip Hop examines the trends and styles from that era and how they changed the world. Yo! MTV Raps was a two-hour television music video program, which aired on MTV (in the U.S.) from August 1988 to August 1995. The program (created by Ted Demme and Peter Dougherty) was the first hip hop music show on the network... Yo! MTV Raps produced a mix of rap videos, interviews with rap stars, live in studio performances (on Fridays) and comedy. The U.S. version was originally hosted by Fab 5 Freddy. Later, the show's main host was Doctor Dré and Demme's high school friend, Ed Lover, who both hosted together on weekdays. Soon they were joined by Doctor Dre's Original Concept group member T Money. Fab 5 Freddy proceeded to host on weekends. The original line-up of the show, starring only Fab as the host, premiered on MTV on August 6, 1988. 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. The advent of Yo! MTV Raps in the late 1980s was crucial to the spread of hip-hop around the world. Watch both Parts of the Yo! MTV Raps documentary below...