Redman, the gritty New Jersey rapper, who famously showed off his bling-less Staten Island house during a 2001 episode of MTV "Cribs," says the entire episode, long thought a hoax, was legit... "When they were in there filming, I did have a moment of thinking, 'I don't want to show that my city can't live the good and lavish life too,'" ... "But then I was like, 'F--k it, this isn't about nobody else but me. I invited these guys to my house and now I got to go with it.' This is just something that we do. Everything you see was real. It's just everyday life for us." Redman, who grew up in Newark, "had the chops, the originality to want to really show how he lived," "Cribs" creator Nina Diaz told Thrillist. The popular MTV show was in its infancy during the original Redman episode, but was a unique trend-setter in a TV landscape now cluttered with reality shows. "Other people would wait until they got this ballerific place to let us in because they had watched all these other ones like Master P, who was living in a gold Louisiana mansion. People saw that and they would say, 'I'm not ready... You have to give me another year. I have to make some more bank,'" Diaz said. Redman showed the no-frills side of his life. His "bank" consisted of a shoebox filled with dollar bills and his house had no screen on the storm door or a doorbell. The original episode opened with him in a messy bed, pretending to be woken up by the TV crew. He showed off "exhibit A," which consisted of "his clothes and s--t" sitting strewn about in a corner. Redman told his audience he irons clothes on the floor and shows off his "walk-in closet" – "step in, step out." Inside his bathroom, Redman pointed out the Noxzema and Herbal Essences body wash - "keeps me smelling good for the women." And downstairs, Redman's cousin, who goes by the stage name Mr. Cream, was sleeping on the floor, he says, after a long night recording at the in-house studio.... There were dishes in the sink, pizza boxes everywhere, a piggy bank, his bedroom is a mess. He was quite proud of it, and it was so refreshing because everyone in hip-hop is so style-conscious." Revisit Redman's "De La Casa" below...