stream: Ralph McDaniels on The Block with Capital P, East Village Radio 2/19/11

Damn, this is pre “Return of the Boom Bap” and pre “Represent”. Peace to TheReallest36.

Update: Peace to JR of Collectors Item

The Hip-Hop Summit Youth Council with Uncle Ralph McDaniels of Video Music Box and Hot 97 host a “Stand Up, Take Action” event at William E. Grady HS in Brooklyn, NY. The event, which was co-coordinated with students from the school, was a tremendous success and showed that young people do care about eradicating poverty.

VMBGLOBAL.COM

The Video Music Box 25th Anniversary Show was a historic event. The artists either performing or in attendance was a virtual who’s who of Hip-Hop aristocracy (partial list below). The whole concert lasted about three hours with 10-15 minute sets for each act, which meant a steady stream of classic material. If you couldn’t make it to the show and want to get a sense of what tracks were performed, just throw on your best of 80s and 90s hip-hop mixtapes.

I gotta give props to Ralph McDaniels and crew for a few things that added to the show’s success. One is keeping the event so organized. Even with the hustle and bustle of artists continuously going on and off stage, everything ran smoothly. Also, the set lengths. There was always enough entertainment throughout the night to keep the crowd involved and on their toes. Of course, major props are due for the line up. Honestly, when was the last time you heard Spoonie Gee, Schoolly D or Milk Dee rock the mic? Let alone at the same free event! Throw on the fact that none of the artists who hit the stage got paid a cent. They all did it out of love and respect for Uncle Ralph and Video Music Box. Hip-Hop unity at its finest.

Obviously, there are plenty of highlights I could run through like Ralph showing off his DJ Clark Kent designed Air Force One’s made specifically for the anniversary. Or July 18th being officially declared Video Music Box Day by Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Paterson. However, the livest part of the whole show was when the Sugar Hill Gang hit the stage to the tune of Rapper’s Delight. By now, most of us should know the back story behind Big Hank’s verse. After Wonder Mike finished up, I wondered how the crowd would react to Hank’s part of the song. The answer was that they didn’t get a chance to because Grandmaster Caz suddenly ran onto the stage and started spitting the rhymes! The icing on the cake was when Rahiem and Mele Mel of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five joined everybody up there. Amazing.

Big ups to Ralph for being the first and putting in 25 years of hard work. And here’s to another 25+! I got video footage for most of the sets but until those are edited and uploaded onto our youtube channel, check out some pictures I snapped in between recordings (after the jump).

Sugar Hill Gang
Grandmaster Caz
Rahiem
Mele Mel
Lovebug Starski
Crash Crew
Chubb Rock
Naughty By Nature
Nice & Smooth
Special Ed
Milk Dee
Spoonie Gee
Schoolly D
Dana Dane
DJ Jazzy Joyce
O.C.
A.G.
Fab 5 Freddy
Kool Herc
Awesome 2
Mr. Cheeks
Kool DJ Red Alert
Large Professor
Dres
Hakim (of Channel Live)

Sugar Hill Gang, Grandmaster Caz, Rahiem and Mele Mel

Special K

Smooth B

Ralph McDaniels and Kool Herc

Ralph McDaniels

Rahiem

Naughty By Nature

Mele Mel

Kool DJ Red Alert

Greg Nice

Greg Nice

Grandmaster Caz and Rahiem

DJ Jazzy Joyce

Dana Dane

Chubb Rock

The classic intro to Video Music Box, after the jump

I thought they were going to stagger the release of the videos a bit more to fill in for Prodigy’s absence once HNIC 2 dropped. Guess not. All three of these popped in my inbox beginning at 5:48am this morning thanks to OnSmash, the reincarnation of Video Music Box. Ralph McDaniel’s would be proud, if he knew about it. Maybe he does?

Hosted by Ralph McDaniels. The lineup hasn’t been set yet but you know there will be a lot of big names at this event. Plus it’s going down in Central Park in the middle of July. Hip-Hop and beautiful ladies? Why would you want to miss that? Props to the CityParks Foundation for all the hard work. Link

Video Music Box 25th Anniversary Concert

Friday, July 18, 2008
From 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Central Park SummerStage

The influence of “Video Music Box” stretches far and wide, as the show is one of the first and longest running outlets for Hip-Hop since the genre’s inception. Twenty-five years after its debut, Ralph McDaniels hosts a celebration concert featuring performances by a who’s who of hip-hop icons from the series’ illustrious history.

Since I start my new job the next day, I convinced myself not to go. Then I receive this flyer and now, I’m not so sure anymore! Also, the promoter or whoever is organizing this event keeps spelling Lovebug Starski‘s name wrong.

see also:
Ralph McDaniels’ The Bridge Live feat. Rakim, Chuck D, Lovebug Starski + more! in Brooklyn, NY (1/20, 8pm)

The Bridge has been one of the best shows on TV in recent years. If you’re not familiar with it, check out some episodes uploaded recently. Not much to say about this except I’ve seen all these cats rock their own sets so bringing ‘em all together should make for an incredible night in Brooklyn. buy tickets (via)

Sunday, January 20th @ 8pm
18+
$20 advance tickets available starting 1/14, 10am

The Bridge Live in Brooklyn (a new series on the golden era of hip hop)
Featuring: Rakim, Chuck D (of Public Enemy), Lovebug Starski.
Plus special guest appearances.

Live video mixes by Ralph McDaniels

see also:
Download Ralph McDaniels’ The Bridge Episodes Now!
Ralph McDaniel’s The Bridge on NYCTV

update: The links expired so I bunched up all three episodes into one .rar file. Enjoy and keep it alive. link

The Bridge – Hip Hop 12/22/07
Featured Artists of the Night: Whodini, Nas

The Bridge – Hip Hop 12/29/07
Featured Artists of the Night: Biz Markie, Roxanne Shante, Nas, Busy Bee, Grand Master Flash, Mele Mel, Doug E Fresh

The Bridge – Hip Hop 1/5/08
Doug E Fresh (commentary)
Slick Rick (vids)
Furious Five (a little plug)
Big Daddy Kane, Busy Bee (some commentary)
Marley Marl (commentary)
MC Shan & Marley Marl (vids)
Marley Marl (commentary… Talks of Big Daddy Kane speeding it up — MC Shan brining in the ladies to the vids..Rakim/Eric B, and more)
Eric B & Rakim (vids!!!!)
KRS-ONE, Big Daddy Kane, Furious Five (quick hits)
KRS-ONE (commentary)
KRS-ONE – Boogie Down Productions – Criminal Minded (vid)

see also:
Ralph McDaniel’s The Bridge on NYCTV