Where are the gold years of Yo! Mtv Raps ?

Yo! MTV Raps was a two-hour American television music video program, which ran from August 1988 to August 1995 through its Yo! MTV Raps (and by Yo! until 1999). The program (created by Ted Demme and Peter Dougherty) was the first hip hop music show on the network, based on the original MTV Europe show, aired one year earlier. The U.S. version was hosted by Doctor Dré (not to be confused with N.W.A. alumnus Dr. Dre), Ed Lover and Fab 5 Freddy, premiering on MTV on August 6, 1988.

Pilot episode

Run-DMC hosted the pilot episode. Also featured in the pilot were DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. Eric B. & Rakim's video for the title track of the album Follow the Leader was the first video to be shown on Yo! MTV Raps. The pilot was one of the highest rated programs to ever air on MTV at that point. Shinehead's "Chain Gang" was the first video to be shown during a regular season episode. Only the Video Music Awards and Live Aid received greater ratings.

Yo! MTV Raps and the spread of hip-hop

The advent of Yo! MTV Raps in the late 1980s was crucial to the spread of hip-hop around the world.^[1] Through MTV Europe, MTV Asia, and MTV Latino, African-American and Latino style and sound was instantly available to millions of people across the globe. This helped to create a worldwide appreciation and interest in the hip-hop scene, which is something that was celebrated on the Yo! MTV Raps 20th anniversary.

The end of Yo!

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. Salt-N-Pepa holds the distinction of appearing on the first (technically, the first episode to feature Fab 5 Freddy) and last episodes of Yo! MTV Raps.

From 1996 to 1999, MTV repackaged it as simply Yo! The repackaged version was far more stripped down. Yo! had a weekly slate of special guest hosts. By 1998, Yo! had no guest hosts and became a one hour program aired late Friday night. Angie Martinez and Fatman Scoop served as its hosts.

In 2000, MTV's outlet for hip-hop videos became Direct Effect, known since 2006 as Sucker Free. It airs three times a week around 7:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time). It is one of the few music video outlets for MTV besides its late-night/early-morning music video rotation hours, as MTV continues to focus on non-music video programming, especially reality television shows.