![]() ![]() ![]() The program allowed the genre to enter the homes of suburban Americans, and operated as a vehicle for White America to accept hip hop culture (Chang, 2007). Ratings surprised and YO! grew to be broadcasted six days a week. In 1988, MTV premiered the pilot of YO! MTV Raps, scheduled to be aired once a week in after-hours slots late at night. As the channel became more accessible and popular, hip hop benefitted from its success throughout the world in the 1980s (Chang, 2007). (Shuker, 2013) The channel gained momentum just as the genre sprung to relevance, following Sugar Hill Gang’s ‘Rapper’s Delight’ success in 1979. MTV, a 24 hour music television network, was founded in 1981 by Warner Amex to serve the sought-after youth and young adult market. From NWA’s alternative means to stardom through print and participatory culture, to Kurtis Blow’s appearance on Soul Train as the first hip hop artist to have airtime on network television (MacInnes, 2011), to Sugar Hill’s international success on the charts and radio traditional media was imperative to hip hop’s historical rise to relevance as a genre, artform, and an expression to address and enact change of socio-economic and political conditions. Television, radio, magazines, and charts were all important conduits to hip hop’s exposure, accessibility, and tangibility to the masses. Given hip hop’s roots amidst an underprivileged facet of society, media and its continued ascension in accessibility was and is essential to the genre’s continued growth and success. The word-of-mouth proliferation of quality, originality, and authenticity is augmented by media’s ability to disseminate en mass. The foundation that is built beneath the global cultural pillar of society we know as hip hop, is constructed by the interactions, exchanges, and referrals within and between fans and their subcultures. ![]()
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