You're Watching Video Music Box (2021) Movie Script

[cars honking]

[Ralph] Video Music Box

is the place to be.

And you can see

they got it going on.

I'm VJ Ralph McDaniels

doing my thing.

[indistinct rapping]

[Ralph] Recorded live from

Miss Jones' birthday party,

Nas and Biggie Smalls

getting wrecked.

[indistinct rapping]

So what happened was somebody--

they was fighting behind me.

-[Ralph] Yeah.

-And stuff flew.

And my boy tried to be smooth

with it in wiping me off.

They say, "Yo, why is he

touching your head like that?"

[indistinct rapping]

[Nas] And me and Big

were starting a crew

called The Goodfellas

at the time.

That-- That's why we said that,

Goodfellas.

When I look

at clips like that,

I'm, like, it's, like,

a miracle that someone knew

that they should

be taping that.

Those are lost moments,

you know?

They could easily be forgotten

moments forever

if nobody had a camera.

But Ralph McDaniels

and Video Music Box

were there, capturing it.

I go back in a time

where there being a chance

to get seen, get noticed,

be heard.

That was big.

This is a story

that needs to be told.

A story that I've always

wanted to tell.

[Gladys] Hey, you know,

everybody is talking

about the good old days, right?

Everybody, the good old days,

the good old days.

Well, let's talk

about the good old days.

Come to think of it

as bad as we think they are,

these will become the good

old days for our children.

[record scratches]

Backstage,

Spitkicker's tour.

Mos Def, what's up, baby?

What's up, Ralph?

Now what were you saying

about Dream?

Shit. I'm on Video Music Box.

-Fuck everything.

-[laughs]

This is a magic moment.

Like fireworks and shit

-should be going off.

-You just arrived.

Oh, man, I'm here.

-Hey, look, man.

-I want give a shoutout.

-Oh, shit!

-Yes! Go! Go!

[upbeat music plays]

Video Music Box

got it going on.

We in here at the Ark.

We got some shoutouts.

-[Tuffy] How old are you?

-I'm 22.

Just got off the plane from LA.

Praise God I made it

without crashing.

It's Greg Nice and Scooter D

And we came to rock a spot

So won't you

take our advice

And turn to the box

-[man] Go, Biggie.

-What?

[indistinct rapping]

Yo, what's up? We're Run-D.M.C.

When we ain't chillin'

in Jamaica Park,

we chillin' out looking

at Video Music Box .

-Word.

Yeah, to all the killers

And a hundred dollar billas

What's up? This is 50 Cent

on Video Music Box ,

the number one video show.

Bet, take that. What!

I'm just an addict

addicted to music

Maybe as a habit,

I gotta use it

[Daymond]

Coming home, racing home,

and getting in there and hearing

that opening theme song...

[vocalizing]

It's like you look up.

Video Music Box is on.

And then, you know, that's it.

You're shutting down.

[upbeat music plays]

[Ed] Give you a little history

about television in New York.

We didn't always have cable.

There was Channel 2,

Channel 4, Channel 5.

7, 9, 11.

13, educational.

And then for some reason,

it jumped

from 13 to 31.

Nas, why did you do it?

You know you got the mad

fat fluid

When you rhyme,

it's halftime

[Nas] And the U Channel,

whatever that meant,

you go to the other knob

and find these

outer space channels

that don't-- just white noise.

Empty channels.

They were empty channels.

Dance,

get up and get with it

Shante is here

to take care of business

So plug up the mic

and stack the dough, yo

[Roxanne] It's almost like

cracking a safe.

When you finally get that right

little combination, you be like,

"Don't touch it.

So this way

when Video Music Box comes on,

we can see it clear.

I got it made,

I got it made, I got it made

[Tuffy] You'd pick up

the telephone,

"Yo, Video Music Box .

Channel 31 on the UHF dial.

He's playing music videos

right now.

He's playing hip-hop."

We were going crazy.

We were losing our minds.

You was fly once

Now you're losing

all your fronts, yeah

Started off light

On the tip of woolie blunts

But now you get a stripe

Graduated to the pipe

Took a long pull, hype, yeah

You started off,

R. Kelly produced you.

-Mm-hmm.

-And you got out there.

And, I mean, he's produced

a couple of projects this year

but yours was the most

successful outside of his own

-that he's done.

-[Aaliyah chuckles]

And, of course, you know,

there was some controversies

going on,

so I'm gonna cut to the chase

and we're gonna get it off.

I know everybody asks it.

What is the situation

'cause we don't know?

Okay. Well, I'll let you know--

-to let you know-- no.

-[laughter]

But, no, really. I wanna

let everybody know

that it's not true.

I'm Aaliyah, not Aaliyah Kelly.

Video Music Box in the '80s

was must-see TV.

You made an appointment.

You watch Video Music Box .

You watch Ralph's interviews.

LL Cool J. Well, LL

stands for ladies love,

legend in leather,

long and lean,

love of ladies,

last of the red hot lovers.

Looking for little,

level-headed leader.

[Wendy]

And you watch the videos.

And then he gets into parties.

Video Music Box

broadcasting live

from the Peppermint Lounge

in East Orange, New Jersey.

I'm Wendy Williams.

You can see the parties.

...in full effect

[Wendy] And you know where

you wanna be the next week

if you can gain access.

[Shaggy] Mr. Lover lover

Mr. Lover lover. Oh

Mr. Lover lover. Hmm

Sexy mothafucka

[crowd cheering]

She call me Mr. Boombastic

Tell me fantastic

We've been

in the gutters together.

-Exactly.

-It's nice to do all of this.

And now we back up in here.

I did a song called "Big Up".

And that's how I got

the whole idea for "Big Up"

by everybody going

on the mic saying...

Big up. Big up. Easy.

This just came together

like my man, Doug E Fresh.

And all of the beautiful

women out here

who came together just to have

a good time,

celebrate the overweight

lovers' party.

We out.

Actually seeing people

that look like you,

unapologetically hip hop

and, and Black,

it empowered the whole,

you know, culture.

We got the Wu right here,

my man Raekwon up in this piece.

Peace. Peace. What's poppin'?

-Good to see you, brother.

-He had perfect pop.

He's the first uncle.

Everybody thought hip-hop

wasn't really gonna do nothing.

They thought it was just

going to be a phase,

like, "Man, it's over with."

No, Ralph carried it

on his back like Santa.

[Ralph] Heavy D and The Boyz.

I'm rough and tough

and all that stuff

I'll make you dance

and prance

As a rapper, you had to get

your videos on his show.

If you didn't get on there,

you didn't matter.

Sucker you missed

I put feelings aside

I know who I am

My name is Lyte

Is your name Sam?

[Willie] My earliest

memories of hip-hop

are frankly from Ralph McDaniels

and Video Music Box .

And he was playing music

that we couldn't get

our hands on.

I try to explain this to my kids

that we didn't have everything

at our fingertips.

We all knew

there was no coverage

of our rap heroes.

And that if they would

just give us five seconds

of The Fat Boys

on-- on national television,

we were waiting, I was waiting.

Somebody had to start it.

It's like Moses

and the apostles.

Video Music Box

has that impact.

It's that biblical for us,

you know?

These legends that gave birth

to a whole world.

Summer Jam, really,

you need to be like--

to have like the records ready.

It just always kept

its credibility.

[Ralph]

Welcome to Video Music Box .

Today a special show

recorded

at Rahway State Prison.

[Sabrina]

It was always authentic.

Whatever was happening

in the neighborhood

was gonna happen

on Video Music Box.

[Willie] Video Music Box to me

is an underrated piece,

not just of the story of hip-hop

but of the story

of American culture.

Like that, I gotta like that

I need it like that,

I love it like that

I made it like that,

I know it like that

I don't feel like that,

I hide it like that

I'm rockin' like that,

I'm feeling like that

I'll take it like that, yeah

Yo, you're looking at the best

MC in the world.

-You know what I'm saying?

-Yo, what's up?

This is Kool Keith

from the Ultramagnetic MCs.

And I'm with my main protégé.

Money D.

You know what I'm saying?

Yo, this is my man Craig G.

And this is DJ Mister Cee.

He DJs for Big Daddy Kane.

Hello, everybody.

My name is Doug E. Fresh.

-And we are...

-The Get Fresh Crew.

Yo, I'm Teddy Ted.

And I'm Special K

of the Awesome 2.

And we're chilling

with triple number one.

This my man Steady Pace.

And this my man, Masta Ace.

I'm MC Shan,

the crowned prince of rap.

And I'm the royal microphone,

Lord Big Daddy Kane.

And I'm Cutmaster Cool V

and you know I do damage.

And we're rocking

with the box.

When we ain't out

cooking hibachi...

[laughter]

-With Barry Manilow...

-[laughter continues]

And stealing gummi bears from

grocery stores.

You are watching Video Music Box

with Ralph McDaniels

and the VidGrownup.

[laughter]

It basically became a religion,

all jokes aside.

It was something

that we couldn't miss.

You turned Video Music Box on,

you was like,

"This happened Saturday.

That happened Friday. This--"

and then he was there

and they was there.

It was revolutionary.

-You know we didn't have WHT...

-That's right.

Well, Mecca Home Theater

for you--for you guys

-that don't remember that.

-That's right.

And HBO.

You know we had Ralph McDaniels.

That's the only thing we had.

You know, Video Music Box .

The VidKid.

I'm VJ Ralph McDaniels.

And I'm the VidKid.

Right here

where you keep the music at.

-Video...

-Music Box.

[Sway] Ralph McDaniels

and his partner, visionaries.

Man, I guarantee you, they had

no idea where this would lead.

There was something divine

speaking through them.

Yeah. Video Music Box

doing it up,

backstage

at the Spitkicker's tour.

It's going down

like that. My man Black

throwing the place.

What's up, baby?

What's the word?

What's the word, baby?

[Lionel] Video Music Box

started with Ralph.

It was Ralph's idea.

It was Ralph's baby.

[Ralph] Three, two, one.

New York City,

in the place to be.

Hi. I'm your VJ,

Ralph McDaniels.

Tonight, Video Music Box kicks

it live from the South Bronx.

It's the 10th anniversary

of the Disco Fever.

So if you're ready,

let's get busy.

[Nas] State your name, gangster.

[chuckles] Ralph McDaniels,

R-A-L-P-H M-C-D-A-N-I-E-L-S.

I was born in Brooklyn,

Brooklyn Hospital,

in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.

My parents are from the--

one is from the Caribbean,

Trinidad,

and one is from down south,

American Indian.

[singer]

We live in Brooklyn, baby

[Ernie] Brooklyn was rough.

A lot of people talk

about the '60s

as though it was all

hippies and love.

Nah. That never reached

to where we were.

There was no hearts and flowers

and girls with long hair

singing-- no, no.

It was-- It was rough.

[Ed] Totally different

from what it is today.

You know, you had a lot

of heroin back then.

In the projects,

it was pretty intense.

A lot of street life.

[Ralph] My grandmother

and grandfather

owned the house that

we lived in in Brooklyn.

A brownstone.

Everybody that lived

in our house was family.

You know, a cousin lived

on the top floor.

My uncle lived

on the second floor.

You know, everybody had their

own entrance and everything.

But we knew each other.

My mom is born

in the United States.

She's the first generation.

Everybody else

came from Trinidad.

She's like a hard worker.

Trinidadians have 20 jobs,

if you don't know.

I'm a Trinidadian.

I have that in me too.

I have 20 jobs all the time.

My grandmother's house

is also the spot

where if you're coming

from the Caribbean,

you can use our address.

So-- 'cause you had to, "Where

you going?"

You get to the Immigration,

"Well, what's the address

that you're going to?

You need an address."

So all of these people

were coming from Trinidad.

One of them is Geoffrey Holder.

Never had it, never will.

-Why?

Why? Good question.

[chuckles]

[upbeat music plays]

[Yvonne] My cousin Geoffrey

came to New York,

and where was he going to stay?

At Uncle Johnny's.

And that was, you know-- he

lived with us for quite a while.

[Geoffrey laughs]

He's in the Bond movie.

He's in-- He's in, you know,

all of these different things.

And it's like Geoffrey's

a big deal, man.

Like he's a painter.

He's a writer, you know?

And he's become

this New York socialite.

And that's, you know,

my mother's cousin.

And I think that

that's where I got

the idea to wanna do TV.

So my dad worked

at the shipyard in Brooklyn,

the Brooklyn Navy Yard,

and he drew the drafts of them,

the schematics of, you know,

of-- of the aircraft carriers.

You know,

those are pretty decent jobs

for Black folks

around that time, you know?

We weren't rich,

but we had enough money

to have something

in the refrigerator

and I had, you know,

some decent sneakers

at the time, you know?

So we were cool.

The Jackson 5.

So let's have

a fine welcome.

[applause]

[Ralph] As a kid I watched--

of course,

everybody watched Ed Sullivan.

That was where

the music was at.

Please, please, please...

[Ralph] I love James Brown.

I love the soul.

I love the way he danced.

And James Brown was considered

like rebellious back then.

You know, like, "Say it loud.

I'm Black and proud."

People were like, "Oh, oh, oh."

And then Dick Clark,

American Bandstand,

I watched that.

People all over the world

are just beginning

to talk about The Beatles.

[Ralph] Dick Clark

was like amazing.

He knew all this information.

I was like this guy is cool

and he's smooth as hell.

[Todd] We saw The Jeffersons.

We saw Good Times.

But we didn't see

too many people that,

that looked like us

on television.

[Ralph] Anytime there was

a, a Black person on a show,

we'd be like,

"Oh, shit. Aretha Franklin

is gonna be on tonight.

Yay." We'd be happy.

[Ed] Stand up

and take a bow there.

-Diana Ross.

-[APPLAUSE]

[Ralph] We saw The Supremes,

a lot of Motown,

The Temptations,

Ellis Haizlip who had

this show called Soul!

which was amazing to me.

[man] Live and in color

from of New York...

[Ralph] But then later on,

I started

to get into Soul Train.

Always in parting,

we're gonna wish you love,

peace, and soul.

[Ralph] Black people was having

a good time on the Soul Train.

I'm like, "What club is--

what club do they go to?

They look mad happy."

'Cause you didn't see it

too often.

There wasn't too many

Black people on TV.

We moved into Queens

when I was 11.

[Yvonne] We wanted a different

environment to raise him

and we felt that

moving to Queens

would be a nice surrounding.

The idea of going to Queens

was that Brooklyn

was kind of crowded.

Let's go to Queens

where we can have

our own home, first of all.

They didn't

have their own home.

Better schools in Queens.

The education

is gonna be better.

The community

is gonna be better.

In the '60s, early '70s,

there was a lot of movement

as African Americans

made more money

or had better jobs.

They were looking

to purchase homes.

[Roxanne]

When it comes to Queens,

you can literally find someone

from everywhere in the world.

And we've always been

very accepting.

[Lance] Queens was nice, man.

It was residential.

It was a neighborhood.

It was a community.

Everybody on the block

knew each other type of thing.

[Ralph] When we get to Queens,

there's not a lot of people

that I see that look like me.

In fact, we're the third

Black family on the block.

In the early 1970s, a few

middle-class Black families

with very much

the same idea in mind

began to move too.

The Whites saw their coming

as a threat.

[Ralph] All right. No big deal.

I'm gonna get on my bike

and I'm gonna ride around

and we're gonna have fun.

So I'm riding

and this White kid,

sitting on his stoop,

and it's him sitting there

with his mother.

And the kid goes,

"Look, Ma. A nigger."

And I looked at him and I--

now, I've never been called

a nigger in my life

up to that point,

and I didn't even know

it was bad.

I just knew that it wasn't good.

We don't want that.

We want to keep

the neighborhood

the way it is.

We love our neighbors.

We're all--

we're very, very close.

So I was like,

"Okay." I kept riding.

Came back to the crib, told mom,

"The kid down the block

called me a nigger."

[indistinct shouting]

We were riding down this block

and, and these white people

started saying,

"Get out of here, niggers."

And my mother looked

at me like,

"We come all the way

from Brooklyn

for a better life."

At that time, I was--

my concern was

did we make the right move

moving here to Queens Village

because now he's exposed

to a different environment

than he was exposed to

when we lived in Bed-Stuy.

I just wanted

a White neighborhood.

No Blacks at all.

[Ralph] We lived here.

There was a Black family.

My friend Dawn and her family

lived over there, and JJ.

Maybe one other Black family

down there.

It was all White people.

Within 10 years,

it was all Black.

White people probably was like,

"Damn, why did

all the White people leave?"

[chuckles]

But that was it.

They was outta here.

-White flight.

There was some people

that you saw

that were blatantly racist.

And then there were other people

that were White people

that were like the connection

was the music.

[upbeat music]

[Ralph] Me and Lionel, we used

to go buy records together.

That's how we started

our relationship as friends.

He'd buy a certain amount.

I'd buy a certain amount.

We'd be like, "Yo, I need

a second copy of that.

You know, you can hold mine."

I was just buying records.

That's all I was doing.

And I see this guy next to me

when you're going to pay for it

and I have a stack of records

literally about this thick.

We've created a DJ group

and it was called

The Brothership Connection.

[upbeat music]

[Fred] New York late '60s,

early '70s

was a hotbed of, of music

like Parliament-Funkadelic

and Sly and the Family Stone,

James Brown.

Then, of course,

you had the music

out of Philadelphia,

The Delfonics.

And then you had

the Latin fave man,

Joe Cuba, Joe Bataan,

you know,

the Jimmy Castor.

So we were very plugged in

with music across the board.

[Ralph] So my Uncle Michael

is my hero.

He's the guy who got me started

in this whole music thing.

And he would buy vinyl,

45s, LPs.

So there were all these cool

clubs he used to go to.

One summer, he said,

"We're going to Riis Beach,"

which is in Brooklyn.

And there was an outside jam

and a basketball tournament

going on.

And you got like pro players

there like Clyde,

Frazier's there,

Earl Monroe is there.

You know, I'm like,

"This is amazing."

But more amazing to me

than that was

there was a guy playing music

and he had crates

of records, speakers,

and turntables, and these amps.

I was just like,

"What is this?"

I heard records

I never heard in my life.

And the crowd is going crazy.

Especially if you play

Love Is the Message.

[upbeat music]

[Ralph] Love Is the Message

by MFSB is like the song

that will never go away.

And back then,

you know, party's poppin'

and then, boom,

comes Love Is the Message

[upbeat music]

[Ralph] And the place goes nuts.

And I'm like,

"That's what I wanna do.

I like that."

I want to make

the people go nuts.

[Lionel] There was a club

in Queens called the Blue Ice

where Ralph started.

And all I could tell you,

like, it was amazing.

It was a little bar,

a corner bar.

It was always crowded,

and, uh, and we were playing,

like, disco, R&B.

[Fred]

Ralph was playing the R&B,

some of the dance records

that were happening,

coming out of the '70s.

And in the '80s,

we had the Furious Five,

Spoonie Gee,

and Donna Summer records.

Whatever was hot,

he was playing it.

[upbeat music]

As a matter of fact,

a lot of the rhymes

that people were doing

in the streets

were off the beats

of these big street bands.

Ralph shined

like nobody else.

I mean, I've just never seen

a guy command a room

the way Ralph commanded

a room.

[Ralph] People always talk

about Studio 54

in that particular time

and I'm like,

"Oh, they were Black discos."

Like there were like--

there was a whole

Black disco scene where like--

like if you like Chic,

Chic came out of that scene.

And those people

weren't going--

they weren't even allowed

to go into Studio 54.

Like, if we went to Studio 54,

we weren't getting in.

Steve Rubell was not

checking us right now.

He was like, "You all

definitely at the wrong club."

[Lionel] And then slowly

but surely rap started

to come into the picture.

Every disco that died

turned into a hip-hop club.

Hip-hop here. No, no!

Don't Close the venue.

We'll take that over.

Set the DJ up.

[Ralph] Russell Simmons and I

became friends

because I was into the music,

playing music.

He was into giving parties.

And Russell had already

went up to The Bronx.

He saw what hip-hop

was all about.

I remember he gave me a record

with somebody rapping on it.

"Yo, Ralphie, play this."

And I was like,

"So why would people

buy this record?"

He said, "What do you mean?"

I said,

"We, we rap in the park

for free every day.

Like why are people

gonna buy these?

They can just come

and hang out with us."

He stood there for a minute,

he looked at me,

and he was like,

"Everybody is not coming

to the park."

And I said, "Oh."

You mean that this is happening

in other parts of the world

or could, could potentially

be happening

in other parts of the world?

I didn't even imagine

that that could happen.

[hip-hop music]

[DJ Chuck] Flash and,

and Bambaataa, and, and Herc--

gotta talk about Herc.

Can't leave him out.

Herc's the godfather.

But everybody

had their own little crews.

So the MC was on the mic.

The MC was really the one

who got the party hyped.

Everybody starts

going to, to this dance

called the freestyle.

In The Bronx,

they called it breakdancing.

In Brooklyn,

they called it freestyling.

So that became the new thing.

Then everybody started

wanting turntables

at that point,

but everybody couldn't

afford turntables

until we had the '77 blackout.

[siren blaring]

[DJ Scratch]

Once the blackout happened,

my brothers came home

with turntables,

speakers, you name it,

and we had our DJ equipment.

The b-boy was the kid who may

not have had shoestrings.

They may have had

some fly slip-on sneakers.

Some may have gloves on

for like a spin and--

it's like a crew,

Rock Steady and all these guys.

[hip-hop music]

[DJ Chuck] Back then, like

I said, it was territorial.

The streets was buzzing.

The home of hip-hop

was in The Bronx.

And, um, and then

it moved around

to, you know,

other parts of the city,

Queens, Long Island.

And then it branched on.

Listen, if you're--

if you're a hip-hop guy,

the majority of the guys

that engaged in this music

at that time are criminals,

of the criminal nature.

It's just the tough era.

[hip-hop music]

You know, we were sort

of like influencers of that era.

When rap really started

to become popular,

we were kind of, like,

the supporters and sponsors.

Back then, you know,

we was rich, you know?

[Shadi] Why were you guys rich?

From that street

entrepreneurship, you know?

And so one thing about us,

we're not braggadocious.

We don't kind of glorify

our past history,

but, you know,

for folks that's viewing,

I would say just Google us.

[Fat Joe] A big misconception

is that hip-hop

was always nice guy music.

You know,

every block party I went to

ended up with violence.

Somebody got robbed,

they turned off the music,

or some shots in the air.

[Ralph] The Feurtados,

they weren't flashy at all.

They weren't--you know,

there was some people that,

you know, they had

all the flash, fly gear.

They was regular dudes,

but they were everywhere.

-[Nas] Serious business.

-Serious business.

[upbeat music]

[Ralph] By the time I got

to my first year of college,

they had

this internship program.

One was communications.

I said, "I'll take that.

What does that mean?"

"Oh, you might get a job

at a-- a TV station."

"Oh, sounds exciting.

Yeah, I'm down for that."

And so my first internship

was at this company

called Manhattan Cable TV.

It was on 23rd Street

and I would go there

two or three times a week.

And there was

all these little monitors.

And my job was every hour,

there's a microphone there

and you say,

"Hi. You're watching

Manhattan Cable

and it's 6:00 PM,"

or, "You're watching

Manhattan Cable

and it's 2:30 AM."

And I was like, "I talk?

Ooh. Nice.

Nice. I get to talk on a mic."

And there were shows

like The Robin Byrd Show.

If Santa can't come down

your chimney,

you just may be able to see me.

[Ralph] It was like porn.

And I was like,

"Yo, this is dope."

[Coca] And what you do is,

you light up your hash pipe

and get it going.

Al Goldstein.

Fuck you, Carlyle Hotel.

[Ralph] Oh, man. This is crazy.

We don't have this

on my regular TV.

[upbeat music]

[Ralph] It was enlightening

because I realized

there were other things going

on outside of Queens,

'cause I was in Manhattan

every day.

I'm in 23rd Street.

I'm getting

on a train, getting off.

I'm looking

at different people.

People come

from different places.

They look different.

They-- They act different.

You know,

and I'm at the age where I'm--

I'm-- I'm-- I'm able to get it.

[upbeat music]

[Ralph] Channel 31

was my third internship.

A bunch of Black folks

are now starting to get hired

at networks, ABC, NBC, CBS.

Oh, I met Ralph,

back in the early '80s.

We was just two young brothers

trying to figure out how--

after graduating from college,

how we was gonna get a job

in this TV industry.

One day,

these tapes came in from a--

and it said Sony

or something on it.

I said,

"Yo, Ed, let's put this in.

Let's see what we got here."

Ed puts in it.

And it's all of these groups

performing in a soundstage.

Now, I'm starting to see MTV .

But I realize that

they don't play any Black music

other than Michael Jackson.

I was like, "Why don't

we just play this on TV?"

Ralph would sit down

and write a little script

of what he was gonna be saying.

And basically it started out

where we had the videos...

And we put it together,

and like,

like we were making

a mixtape, really.

That's what we thought we was

doing. But it was for video.

So it was really a, a video

mixtape in the beginning.

I was like, "Boom box,

music, video.

We're gonna call it

Video Music Box ."

And everybody looked

at me like, "You sure?"

I'm like...

"Sure it's not

Music Video Box?"

"Nah, son.

It's Video Music Box ."

And that's it.

It's a big boom box

and it shows videos."

And that's what we're gonna do.

And that's when

Video Music Box was born.

[hip-hop music]

[man] Hello, Video Music Box .

We keep it on the block,

the house, yo.

[Ralph] Yo, kid,

it's about that time.

-Whose time?

-Box time.

Lionel didn't wanna do

the video thing either.

Half of Video Music Box.

He didn't want to be on screen

or nothing like that.

[laughs]

He brought me in to, uh, kind

of check out what was going on.

When I went to the station WNYC,

it was on Channel 31,

that was the first time

that I ever was in a TV studio.

I saw the monitors,

the waveform monitors,

cameras, and I was hooked.

I was like, "Wow."

Lionel was getting ready to go

to the service.

He didn't figure--

he was trying to figure out

what to do with his life.

And I'm like,

"Yo, you might wanna mess

around with this TV thing.

It's kind of like deejaying,

but it's video."

Everything

was like deejaying to me.

[Nas] It's crazy where hip-hop,

you can say

it started with a DJ.

-Yeah.

-[Nas] And video shows

for hip-hop started

with a DJ too.

-So it's, it's attached.

-Yeah.

[Nas] And the way the show ran

-was like records.

-Right.

You know, Video Music Box

brings you the best

and the latest first.

Here's Talking Heads,

"Once in a Lifetime."

And you may find yourself

living in a shotgun shack

Basically, he was playing

music videos

and he was doing a voiceover.

[Ralph]

I never wanted to be on camera.

I didn't wanna be a celebrity.

I didn't wanna do none of that.

I just want it to be my voice.

[hip-hop music plays]

It's gonna be, like,

a video radio show.

[indistinct chatter]

[indistinct chatters]

What's up, man?

Nice to meet you.

Hi, Video Music Box.

[indistinct chatters]

How you doing, Music Box? I'm

with Salt-N-Peppa.

This is Salt and this is Peppa.

You got Sandy D

right here.

We used to hold the mic

like this.

So we hold the mic out and--

to the artists we would talk to.

So you never saw the person.

You just saw the microphone

and the artist, like,

saying whatever.

Yo, The Afros are gonna tell us

what the next video

is gonna be on Video Music Box,

show what they wanna see.

Believe that, baby.

[Lionel] I was like, "Well,

why don't we get in the shot

with them and hold the mic

and stuff like that."

And the camera person was like,

"One, two, three."

And Ralph said...

Video Music Box in full effect.

I'm VJ Ralph McDaniels...

And I was like, "Uh."

I just, like, froze.

I had no idea what to say.

I pulled out the sunglasses,

put them on my face.

I said, "All right.

Let's do it again."

He goes,

"I'm VJ Ralph McDaniels."

And I said,

"And I'm the VidKid."

And I went like this.

And I said, "Word."

That's right. Keep on rocking

with the Box with yours truly,

VJ Ralph McDaniels.

-And, of course...

-The VidKid.

And that caught on.

And that's how

VJ Ralph McDaniels

and the VidKid was born.

[DMC] Ralph on camera

comes across like your brother

or your uncle, Uncle Ralph.

He didn't come across like

a, uh, a media personality.

The term uncle mean

another level

where you're elder to them,

but they look at you

as you're cool,

you're hip,

you impact it with them.

But you have a respect.

And I start calling Ralph that

because I saw how people

was taking to Ralph.

Ralph was the one who took uncle

and made it mean something.

Ralph became

Uncle Ralph for real.

And he deserved that

because that was a title

of endearment, for sure,

and respect.

I like to say what's up

and peace to Uncle Ralph first.

- Video Music Box.

-Uncle Ralph.

Uncle Ralph...

everybody love y'all.

[Ralph]

From our reggae spectacular,

he is Moja Nya

with Rise Up.

[indistinct singing]

[Ralph] There were certain

videos that we played

that you didn't see

anywhere else.

[Fat Joe] We were exposed

to other cultures.

Ralph used to play

the Caribbean stuff,

the-- the-- the reggae stuff

before we even knew Jamaicans.

[DJ Scratch]

I would see Jimi Hendrix,

Madonna, Run-DMC.

We saw Whodini.

Of course, we know

what they look like

but we never seen them like in,

in-- in physical form performing

and stuff like that.

[Diddy] You gots Tha Chill,

Big Daddy Kane, and Rob Base.

[singer] It takes two

to make a thing go right

[Diddy] I remember

just being in my room,

going back and forth,

trying to learn

the choreography.

The first artist

I saw on the Box

was probably the Force MDs,

Force MCs,

Roxanne Shante, UTFO...

[singer] Gizmo's scratching

Milk Dee's rhyming

Milk is chillin',

Giz is chillin'

[Tuffy] Milk and Giz

all day, MC Lyte.

It was just amazing to watch

all these new artists.

There wasn't enough

hip-hop videos,

so I had to fill up the time.

I was on six days a week.

- Say...

- Tell me what you want...

[Ralph] We would say, "Okay,

let's play Hall & Oates

because that's some funky soul,

White boy shit,

but we love it," you know?

We-- We-- We loved that

right there.

"Or let's play Bernard Wright,

Who Do You Love."

Who do you love?

Girl I'm in love with you

Are you for sure?

Sure as the sky is blue

So all of these things

was coming into my head

as I was putting

the show together.

And I think we gathered that

from being DJs.

[upbeat music plays]

Are you ready

to go 'cause...

The streets dictated

to what we were doing.

The streets would tell you if

you're playing something wack

on the radio

or on the television,

"Yo, that shit is wack, son.

What you doing?"

[Ralph] So one day,

I'm on the train

and these dudes are, like,

grilling me on the train.

Like, like, you could easily

get jumped

on a train like quick.

So I'm like, this is going to be

a problem, you know?

And as I'm about to get off

the train,

the dude goes,

"You're the dude on that show

that played the videos?"

And I'm like, "Yeah."

"Yo, we like that shit."

And I'm like, "Damn, man.

We sat here for 10 stops.

Like, I thought

it was about to go down--

why you ain't say that

10 stops ago?"

And so that's when I knew

that the streets

was checking for me.

[hip-hop music plays]

[Lord Black] Big gettin' wide

Gettin' money up in honies

Not funny, you're my sonny

Or your honey

- We're getting large

- On Video Music Box

- With Ralph McDaniels

- And the VidKid

[Todd] Ralph stayed

steadfast his commitment

that this is

what he is going to do.

Because once you are visionary,

you can see things

that you really don't realize

that's in your psyche

until it manifests.

That this is gonna be something

that's gonna not only set

the world on fire

but it's gonna get people

who look like me

a fair opportunity

to get into the world

and make some money.

Video Music Box doing it right.

Got my man Funkmaster Flex

in the house.

[Roxanne] I remember

when everybody was dying

to get on

Video-- Video Music Box.

Like if you heard

it was gonna be filming

somewhere at a club,

everybody went to go.

They'd look for

that bright light

and wanna get right over there.

Why? Because you knew

everybody's gonna know

you was at the party.

Now, the same effects happen

to people who don't want

people to know that they

was in the motherfucking party.

That's what he brought to

even the darkest times

of hip-hop.

He brought that bright light.

And now you see me jiggy,

you puzzled

He ain't sellin'

no records, is he?

That nigga gotta hustle

[Jay-Z] It's super important,

you know, for us to be seen in,

in a light by someone who

truly understands us,

you know,

'cause once we're in the room,

then we-- you know,

we're gonna-- we're gonna--

we're gonna navigate that

and do what we have to do.

[Nas] Hey, man.

This is Ralph McDaniels.

And everybody's on pins

and needles

for what you're about

to introduce next.

And this is--

and we didn't know,

we just have to sit here

and wait,

and then you would introduce us

to new videos.

[Ralph]

...with Kool G Rap & DJ Polo

and the all-stars

from Cold Chillin'.

[Nas] And then you would do

all the shoutouts which--

you brought--

you brought the radio to TV.

-Yeah.

-[Nas] You start to get--

I don't think anybody else

did shoutouts.

No. No.

I wanna give a shoutout

to all my family

and all my true friends.

Love you, Janet.

I'd like to give a shoutout

to my daughter, Ratisha.

Big shoutout to my moms,

my girl, my son,

my nephew, my brother...

Yeah!

Everything originates

from the hood.

The shoutout, it's all of that.

Happy birthday, Jennifer.

I love you.

[Michael] Yo!

Shoutout to every nigga

that came from the projects

that's behind the wall

in Rikers, we love you.

Whatever that is, that resonates

and moves through the city.

And it touches down and lands.

I wanna give a shoutout

to the Bronzeville

south side posse.

Yo, I'd like to give a shoutout

to everybody's girl.

It's priceless.

[indistinct]

...working out of

Rikers Island.

Yo, my name Monique.

I'm from AC.

I'd like to give a shoutout

to everybody at Rutgers

and New Brunswick!

Yo, I wanna give a shoutout

to lockdown brothers, word up.

Sea-cacus, Yards-ville.

Motherfuckin' Northern State.

All that good stuff.

[Mike Tyson] That's our world.

Sometime when you get

a shoutout from my--

my husband in C76

or whatever it may be,

or he might be upstate,

somebody in Green Haven,

Comstock,

that makes them feel good,

makes them feel like

someone's thinking about them,

especially if they're--

they doing time.

Say peace to my cousin, Jazzy,

back in A Town. PA.

I'd like to give a shoutout

to my daughter, Janika,

my moms, my pops,

and the 40 Crew.

Everybody in Flatbush, yo. In

the house.

Video Music Box

shoutout is your moment,

is your moment in the sun.

...Akeem, Ameen,

my boyfriend, Hale.

Growing up and being able to see

images of myself,

especially on Video Music Box

was a blessing,

'cause you didn't see

too many kids

who looked like me.

I'm, like, really not too much

of a partier anyway,

so, you know, it was the Box

was perfect for me

so I could just watch it,

you know, say,

from the comfort of the home

and just be like,

"Okay, yeah."

Feel like I'm there.

I'm in the middle

of thousands of people sometimes

with the camera.

They grabbing at the camera.

They--everybody was just trying

to get on film and...

-Lot of classy people in here.

-I'm feeling it.

-All right. I'm feeling it.

-I'm feeling--

I'm feeling you out,

for truth.

So you're just standing here,

making a fashion statement,

interrupting the flow

of the party.

[Ray] It was just an exciting

part of what we did,

which is the core

of Video Music Box.

"Let's go to France,

Egypt where we came from!"

Crazy Sam was doing this thing

called the Uptown Comedy Club.

Went up there,

I ain't hear no comedy.

And then finally, Crazy Sam

came out and he just talked.

And people would laugh.

I wanna give a shout out

to my man,

you know who you are.

I like when y'all

say that shit,

"And you know who you are,

nigga.

All six of y'all." [laughs]

And he did these characters,

Billy Strong Boy,

and this lady,

the Spanish lady on the bench

who talks about everybody.

[yawns]

[Lionel] He was a character.

Best way I can describe him

is like,

what Flava Flav is to Chuck D

and Public Enemy, you know?

And-- And that was something

interesting too,

for the fans, you know,

they liked it.

He became his own personality

and he developed on that show.

I come from a family

of religious gangsters.

I mean, I buy crabs for, like,

a whole city block.

You got crabs, you got lobster,

you got everything out there.

Welcome to Nervous Thursdays.

Where everything is nervous.

[Ralph] Started out

as alternative videos,

and he was so hot

that he was like,

"Why are you giving me

the wack videos?"

[chuckles] He was like,

"Ralph, I need the good videos."

Welcome. I am here

with my home boys.

And we're all chilling.

We would send him

out with a-- with a camera,

and he'd just come back

with the craziest shit ever.

Oh, I don't like the wind

It's strong, it's going...

[Ralph] He was a nutcase.

This lady right here.

She's so short.

Don't get me upset or nervous.

Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Tim Dog.

Tim Dog's in the house.

[laughter]

Hello.

[group] We're Five Star

and you can see our video

"All Falls Down"

on Video Music Box .

[Ralph] Video Music Box

continues with a hot one

from Billy Ocean

"Mystery Lady".

[Billy Ocean's

"Mystery Lady" playing]

Na, na, na, na, na, na

[Evelyn] I actually met Ralph

on a blind date.

I don't think

he'll remember this,

but he came, like,

with a teddy bear.

[chuckles] And we met,

and then my cousin left,

and he left--

they left us by ourselves.

And then the rest is history,

Thirty-five years here together.

[Ralph] Three, two, one.

No, this is not-- ugh.

Three.

-[man] Rolling.

-Three, two, one.

No, this is not MTV,

it's Video Music Box.

A great program

with positive informa-- sorry.

No, I'm gonna do

something else here, hold up.

I'll tell you when to start then

I'm just gonna turn to you so.

Go.

We take the beat to the street

with the top 40 sounds

of Madonna,

New Kids on the Block,

and Bruce Springsteen.

Let's do another one.

It was just in the midst

of the beginning

of Video Music Box,

so he prepared me for it.

[Lionel] Red,

how'd you like the party?

Yeeeeeaa, what's up?

You know what?

This is a spectacular party.

I enjoyed it very much,

and, you know, I hope things

keep on going strong.

And you guys,

y'all are the best.

[Ralph]

Video Music Box continues

with Boogie Down Productions

featuring KRS-One.

To let us into your skin

Why?

'Cause then you'll begin...

-Yeah.

- ...To master

Rhymin', rhymin', rhymin'

Criminal minded,

you've been blinded

Lookin', for a style

like mine

You can't find it

They are the audience,

I am the lyricist

Sometimes the suckers

on the side gotta hear this

Page, a rage

and I'm not in a cage

Free as a bird

to fly up out on stage...

[Professor] Oh, man.

The live performances

on Video Music Box

were like a treat.

Yo. The Jazzy Jeff

and Fresh Prince

early joint at

uh, Union Square.

Music, and make parents

and children

All sit down and they both

be willing to...

[Professor]

These are memorable moments

for like New York

hip-hop dudes.

Yo! What's up?

I'm The Fresh Prince.

And this is a brand new group

coming out of Philly

called 2 Too Many.

And here's their video.

-[group] Where's the party?

-Y'all took too long.

All right. Go ahead,

do it again. Take seven.

[shouts]

Yo! What's up?

I'm The Fresh Prince.

And there's a brand new group

coming out of Philly called...

...2 Too Many.

I don't like that.

-[laughs]

-I don't like that.

[Ralph] We didn't make no money

off of the TV show

because we was non-commercial.

It was a non-commercial station.

If it became money, it would

turn into something else

that I wouldn't have

control over.

And I liked the idea

that I could play

what I wanted to play

and not have to worry about it.

I said, "We'll, make money

somewhere else."

The only way we made money

was doing the parties.

I love New York. This is the--

I mean, no place parties

like New York, baby.

I'm ripped for real.

[Ralph]

These promoters was out here.

And we're seeing--

we were doing the math like,

you know, "Wait a minute,

they charged $20.

It was a thousand people

in that was $20,000.

Oh, let's do that,

we could do that."

And so we started

doing the parties.

All right, y'all ready

for Tribe Called Quest,

New York City?

Put your hands together.

[Wendy] I did go to the parties

that Ralph promoted

and they'd always be packed.

[cheering]

Right now is about New York.

And that's what we--you know,

we all about New York right now.

You could see

the Wu Tang Clan over there.

[rapping indistinctly]

Tribe Called Quest over there...

Well, can I get a level

on the bass and on the treble

Footin up and down

like a UNLV Rebel

The answer be amongst us cause

we rarely dig acoustics

Can't be too much flackin',

not too much packin'

You must container that at

least to dip your hand in rap

Foxy Brown getting ready

to warm up over there.

[crowd cheering]

[Wendy] And a few White people

were in there,

like, you could feel them

trying to steal

our flavor again.

You could feel it.

Black comedy is blowing up.

You know, what I'm saying

it's blowing up, word up.

Def Jam.

We got the power,

we got Uptown Comedy.

You know what I'm saying?

And there was a lot

of Black comics out there

that's just as good as me, man.

We need places to work out.

Please look out for us, man.

Check us out

and support Black comedy.

And I got Beast

over here hiding.

Beast found this man for me

'cause it was hectic

to get to them.

[Sam] Beast was, uh,

the head of our security.

And, um, we had a team

called the Gorilla Force.

And it was a no nonsense crew.

So artists would come,

we were able to get

A-list artists

to come even to Brooklyn.

Ooh, la, la, la

It's the natural law

that the refugees bring

Ooh, la, la, la, la, la, la,

la, la la, la, lah

- Sweet thing

- Yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, in saloons

we drink Boone's

And battle goons

till high noon

[indistinct rapping]

[Beast] So when you see

like the Fugees and Lauryn Hill

and Wyclef perform,

again, it's breathtaking

because, remember,

you were in a neighborhood

that people don't expect

nothing to come out

of a neighborhood like this.

We never had any casualties.

People had a great time

and a great experience.

Oh, yeah, Video Music ...

[Fat Joe]

This is the guy on TV.

Like, how many times

do you see the guy from TV,

let alone the number one show?

Video Music Box,

Pete Rock, CL Smooth.

And he's in your neighborhood

hosting the party.

We're in the inner city.

We're poor as hell.

We're watching TV.

This is the guy.

Guess what, he's in the spot

down the block.

-[indistinct screaming]

-We going.

[Ralph] You know there's some

old people sitting out there

watching going,

"How can that young man now

wear that thing

around his neck like that?"

[laughing]

He's just fulfilling his dreams.

That's all, you know.

[Wendy] Video Music Box

definitely was very,

very influential

in terms of fashion as well.

[Havoc] You'll see

a certain artist,

you'd be like "Yo,

what's that hat right there?

Oh, I wanna get that hat.

You know,

I wanna get that jacket."

[Wendy] We saw everything

from the jewelry

to, you know,

Ghostface in his robes

to, you know, Mary

with her hair pulled out

of the top of her hat.

And we were all doing that.

Well, hip-hop started

on independent labels,

you had all these local hits.

It went from that

to more serious deals

with better labels,

it became more normal

to see the artists

that you were buying,

put out videos

with those albums.

Now, we know

there's no reason

these records can't reach

the masses anymore.

[Ralph] Up the block from me

were these guys

named Full Force.

And Full Force was a group

that came out early days.

And they knew

where I lived so,

they would come and knock

on my door in my house,

I'm like, "How did you guys

even get in the building?"

And I'm like, "All right.

What's about to happen?"

And so, "Did you get our video,

Ralph?"

And I'm like,

"No, your record company

is not giving it to me

because they want me

to pay for it."

"We'll fix that".

The next week, the woman

from the record company

calls me, "Hi, Ralph,

I'm gonna send you

all the videos

that we have out."

And that's how

my relationship got better

with the labels

and as well with the artists,

because now, we were working

hand in hand with each other.

[crowd cheering]

[man] Ah, yeah.

When I say "Can I kick it?"

I want everybody to say

"Yes, you can!"

One, two, three, go.

- It's like that, y'all

- What!

It's like that, y'all

Come on, come on

- Can I kick it?

-[crowd] Yes, you can!

- Can I kick it?

-[crowd] Yes, you can!

- Can I kick it?

-[crowd] Yes, you can!

- Can I kick it?

-[crowd] Yes, you can!

Can I kick it?

[Ralph] This is

the Video Music Box collection,

You know, this is where

we keep everything.

This is what we used

at TV stations back in the days.

And this is how I did

Video Music Box

most in the '80s, that's...

classic Ralph

with the-- with the high--

with the high-top

talking to the legendary

Dizzy Gillespie.

What influence

did Charlie Parker have on you?

The greatest influence.

The biggest influence

on my playing.

[Ralph] And how do you feel

about the music business now,

in general right now?

In comparison to before

when you first started?

Well, there's

much more respect.

They respect it

as an art form now.

[Ralph] How, what

were the feelings back then

when you first started?

Nigger music.

It's not hot tracks

or U68

It's a video show

that we think is great

- Fresh...

- Fresh out of the pack...

- From eight to nine...

- Video Music Box

It will blow your mind

[Ralph] Good evening and welcome

to Video Music Box.

Tonight, Fresh Fest 85.

Taped live

at the Nassau Coliseum.

[DMC]

It was the Fresh Fest tour

that put us

in the big coliseums

and once again,

Ralph was the only camera

in the room.

[Chuck Chillout] Him filming

the Fresh Fest

in Nassau Coliseum.

Run-DMC,

18,000 people.

It was crazy.

Everybody in the world

was there.

[Ralph] I think that's

the first press conference

-I ever went to in my life.

-[reporter] Run-DMC, you guys

got anything to say

to the...?

[Ralph] And we get there

and we see

all the different cameramen.

I mean, like,

national networks.

And we just set our cameras

down right there.

We just fit in,

like that's the thing

that Russell and Run-DMC did,

they brought every new first,

a press conference you know,

a press pass to be backstage,

[electronic music]

[Ralph] The Fresh Fest

was amazing.

Come on, clap your hands.

Come on, clap.

[Chuck Chillout]

Kurtis Blow, Fat Boys,

Whodini,

they had these break dancers.

Chad and Jermaine Dupri

were breakdancers.

This is my brother Dynasty...

We had a good time.

[Chuck Chillout] They was like,

probably 10, 11 back then.

But that tour went shit,

like, 40 some cities.

[upbeat electronic plays

on speaker]

[DJ Scratch] Grandmaster Flash

is on the turntables.

This is actually

the first time I seen him.

Like I see him

on the album covers

but I never seen him DJ.

And he had a dude next to him,

he was going like this.

While Flash was cutting

and scratching.

That was epic to me.

[DJ] From Hollis Queens,

Jam Master Jay

and Run-DMC!

[Ralph] After I saw

the Fresh Fest. I was like,

"Oh, White people are into this

hip-hop thing heavy."

Because I went to Fresh Fest

in Long Island.

And it was mixed.

And everybody knows

the lyrics the same way.

[crowd singing]

"Oh, this is crossover.

This-- This-- This has--

no, there's no color

on this anymore.

This is just rap.

This is just hip-hop."

So, went to MTV.

I said, "I got to get

Video Music Box on,

it's time

for a hip-hop show."

[groans]

"You don't understand, Ralph.

Middle America's

not ready for no hip-hop."

And I said,

"What are you talking about?

I just came from--

let me show you the footage

of Fresh Fest.

Let me show you this."

White kids are singing, Asian,

Latino, Black.

We all together.

[upbeat music]

And they said

"Nah, you don't understand.

That's in New York.

That's not how

the rest of the country works."

I don't know about that.

These dudes is on tour, bro.

They're going on--

ain't just in New York,

they're doing these shows,

they're touring."

"Nah. Not ready.

I don't want to scare nobody."

And I was like,

"I think you're wrong."

-[rapper] Yo!

-[Evelyn] A year later,

they came out with Yo! MTV Raps.

[Tuffy] Their blueprint

was Video Music Box.

Video Music Box

was the essential show

for hip-hop on television.

A lot people want artists

to live up

to a certain standard,

you know, like,

be role models

and all that kind of stuff.

I'm sure, that's put on you

all the time.

Yeah. But it's kinda hard,

I mean...

[Diddy] It was-- It was never

a competition

with MTV

with Video Music Box

because Video Music Box

was its own thing.

[crowd cheering]

You know,

just the love of the art,

and it was still important

and needed,

the job wasn't done,

You want to know

the star status

When I walk in the studio

Mic's there, tracks spare,

and I'm ready to do me some

[Diddy] You know, new artists

needed to be put on,

people that don't get the chance

even before YouTube.

You know what I'm saying?

To really get a light

shined on them.

We're getting ready

to steam roller,

so here we go with Ice-T

and High Rollers on Yo! MTV.

[DMC] The difference

is Video Music Box

was us showing us,

and MTV was them showing us.

That's the bottom line

difference.

That's a different vibe

sitting there watching it.

So I'm not worried about it,

you know.

I'm like, "Nah, we good."

So finally,

now, they're getting speed.

I can see

they getting comfortable

with they doing what they do,

they getting better

at Yo! MTV Raps.

So I'm watching it, and I said,

"Okay, we got to go deep, deep,

deep to the underground."

And we start pulling out

all these underground artists,

guys that nobody's heard of,

Jay-Z.

[indistinct rapping]

When I first got

my little interview,

I was happy as hell.

It was like a,

you know, a badge

to get that Ralph interview.

I know you got new thing

going on with a new label.

-Yeah.

-Production's growing, huh?

Yeah, yeah. We doing

the same thing as these cats.

That's why I came down,

you know,

I mean, represent them.

They did a priority thing,

we doing that too

Roc-A-Fella Records

on their priority also,

you know?

G Rap.

To be a billionaire

takes hard work for years

Some nights I shed a tear

while I said my prayers

[Ralph] The most incredible

hip-hop artist to me ever.

You know, we're looking

for that dope shit

that's in the clubs,

that's in the street

that we hear in the cars.

Luke...

Doo Doo Brown

[Ralph]

You know Miami bass music.

Nobody's playing Miami bass

in New York.

[Luther]

Nobody was playing our videos.

Oh, it's too much ass.

Oh, too many crotch shots.

Well, Ralph was not playing

the same videos

that MTV was playing.

Straight outta Compton!

Crazy motherfucker

named Ice Cube

From the gang called Niggaz

With Attitudes

[Ralph] Like, by '88,

we're playing N.W.A.

Nobody--

who the hell is N.W.A.

and why are you playing that

in New York?

So we're-- we're going

after hardcore music

that's for the ghetto.

All night-a

All right-a

All night-a

Ay, sing with it. Ay!

Oh! Give it up. [laughs]

[Luther]

What people don't realize

is because it's a show,

they really made me--

it really made New York

my number one selling market.

I don't really play

no keyboards and instruments.

My man,

I'll hum him song things.

He'll come with ideas,

we work together,

we make hits together,

we make money together.

The first video

that I begged Ralph to play

from Bad Boy was Craig Mack

"Flava In Ya Ear".

Just like Uniblab,

robotic kicking flab

My flavor bidder badder

chitter-chatter

Madder than the Mad Hatter

[Diddy] You know, on that day,

it broke the video.

And that video

and that piece of art

was so impactful

that it launched Bad Boy.

[Khalid] Have you forgotten

that once we were brought here,

we were robbed of our name?

[Nas] Why did you care

so much about community?

Because, you know,

it was violence

going on in our community.

Here it is. Bam!

In your face goddamn

This is the dope jam

Crack tore the neighborhood

to shreds.

[Shaggy] A lot of gun violence.

You know, it was--

it was tough times and times,

You know I mean.

Some of us,

we sold the drug

and some of us

was victim to the drug.

But the drug

made you do things for $5

that you wouldn't do for 500.

So because Ralph

had complete editorial control,

in between the videos,

he could drop some knowledge.

You know we're here to talk

about-- we're gonna have,

you know, like a conversation,

on what I think

is probably one

of the major problems

is young Black men

killing themselves off.

And, uh, I wanna first

talk to you Guru

about the, uh, the video

that you have out,

it's called "Just to Get A Rep".

And this is how

the story goes

Brothers are amused

by others brother's reps

But the thing they know best

is where the gun is kept

Young brothers are just, like,

everybody's frontin'

on each other. Everybody--

like, it's a lack

of self-esteem.

And to gain esteem,

they want to take something

from the next man.

Bring him down so,

to gain more respect,

to gain a rep.

I believe it was Ralph

that came up

-with Word.

-[Ralph] Word.

That's what they were saying

on the street.

That's what we was saying,

"Word?"

Behind that slang,

came information.

If I'm real sad,

I just cry about it.

Just get it all out,

you know, my system.

I think crying is a good way

to get a lot of things out.

[Sabrina]

So we-- we-- we would drop

in stopping teen pregnancy.

It was important for me

to get information across

in the show like edutainment.

You know, it was like,

we can educate you

at the same time

as entertain you.

He also was the voice

of kind of reason

and bringing

to you social issues,

very-- not as speaking down

to you,

speaking with you

and just kind of sharing

with you what's going on.

And I think

he's probably the only person

we trusted

about what's going on.

It's Uncle Ralph.

He was Uncle Ralph,

he was bringing it to you.

[indistinct rapping]

[Ray] I would say

that 10% for me

of Video Music Box

at the time was artists.

The other 90%,

we were in the community

or doing an event.

I live in Brooklyn, people from

outside Brooklyn say,

"Our Brooklyn niggas is wild.

Them niggas is just crazy."

-Now, we ain't wild.

-Why is that?

Because every time

something bad happened,

they put it on the news.

But when something happens in

other places, they don't

bring it out like that.

[Bryan] Video Music Box

is based on family.

It might've really

come from my parents.

You know,

they were really active

in community-based issues.

Families is-- is bigger--

is a bigger word

than business to him.

Well, I think, um,

the security is good.

I think everybody feel

more safe

and they need to just

leave those guns home

and, you know, just chill.

Get their education

so they can get there

and make something

out of their self.

[Professor X] Via survival,

you have become a victim.

A war victim.

They're not even being respected

under the guidelines of wartime.

[Ralph] So we would go

to Rikers Island all the time.

You know, we had relationships

with corrections,

and they would let us come in

because the inmates watched

Video Music Box all the time.

They would-- uh,

the correction officers

that I knew would be like, "Yo,

when Video Music Box

comes on,

no stabbings, no nothing.

Nothing's going on."

Soon as it's over,

it's back to business.

Everything's crazy again.

[]

[news reporter] Prosecutors say

they were part of a gang

of about 30 youths,

so we're on a wilding attack

in Central Park last April.

[Ralph] Korey Wise,

when this thing comes out

about these guys

the Central Park Five,

you got some five Black kids

and you got one White woman

and it's just--

you can't win.

These Black kids

are gonna lose,

it's not gonna-- it's not gonna

work out for them.

Later on in life,

I'm watching this tape

of Korey Wise talk

and he's in-- he says

"I was in, um Rikers Island

and watched Video Music Box."

So I'm like,

"What did he just say?"

After I found myself,

uh, becoming incarcerated,

that's when I found

myself embracing--

embrace the Video Music Box.

Video Music Box, it just--

it just--

it spoke to my soul.

I guess it helped raised me.

[man] "Video Music Box

would like to thank the staff

at Rahway State Prison

for allowing us

to come in and do this story."

[Ralph] Rahway prison

used to write me.

The guys used to write me

all the time.

And then they got

a record deal.

And-- And traditionally,

over the years,

people have come out

of Rahway with record deals.

With a charge

and our system locked

When you don't wanna live

[Ralph] And they had a record

deal when I was a kid.

I used to listen

to their records.

It would say "Recorded

in Rahway State Prison."

We call this the house of pain.

Because prison

is about suffering,

it's about living

in pain 24 hours a day.

[Ralph] And it was the real

deal. These was lifers.

Like, these was cats

that they wasn't getting out

no time soon.

[somber music playing]

[Hakeem] Yeah,

the Rahway presentation

was particularly searing,

because it was sort

of an indication

without being lectured to,

you probably wanna avoid

going down this path.

Because this is a circumstance

that you may find yourself in,

if things

go the wrong direction.

I'm trying to make babies,

I'm trying to raise babies

with a strong mother

and a strong father figure,

and I can't do that

when you're behind bars.

-Go ahead.

-So respect.

But I need you here, too.

So, maybe you recognize

the fact that I need you,

if you know what I'm saying?

To build our young

and create that army.

If we don't make it

this generation

but the next generation will.

We tried to find a balance

in presenting

Video Music Box over the years.

You know, we can get

as hood as you wanna get,

we can give you some knowledge

in between there, you know,

and we can have some fun.

However, you wanna mix it up.

I mean, Ralph,

we come from an era

where it was really a dream

to get on at this time.

-Yeah.

-You know?

You know, to become

and maybe get some love

from Rey, get some love

from you, you know.

That was a part

of the dream, right?

-That's right.

-Just to make it that far

and just have a record

in the neighborhood,

who would've thought

it'd be a major

business conglomerate

like it is today.

[hip-hop music playing]

[reporter] Rap has arrived!

The music and the culture

has been absorbed

into many parts

of mainstream America.

Rap music and hip-hop culture

have gone from being

an inner city

homeboy lifestyle

to a popular music.

Craved even by suburbia.

[reporter] At this school,

the kids learn the four Rs,

reading, writing,

'rithmetic, and rap.

Most of the expressions here

make quite a bit of sense.

Fat cables for example

means big gold chains.

Full moon,

that's a large back side.

[Steele] I think

the corporations started

to see the change,

the prospect of making

a lot more money

and being in more control.

You saw the money grabbing

and-- and the opportunity

for individuals

like myself, uh,

coming from these areas.

Uh, the-- the lane

started to kinda get

a little bit more narrow.

[Daymond]

Everything in the world

has some hip-hop tied to it,

and corporations

are making

an absolute killing off of it.

Once the inner city got you,

then the outer city

wanna get involved,

the Whites, whatever, the other

people that's living outside.

They say, "What the hell

are all those niggas doing?"

It's gotta be something.

Let's get involved.

That's the money

we can make out of this.

All these black motherfuckers

jumping around and shit.

How can we make some money

out of that?

And I am Cash Money,

the number-one stunna.

I'm the Birdman Jr.

Weezy, baby.

I mean, hip hop

in the '90s,

we got rich.

[laughs]

-[upbeat music playing]

-[indistinct singing]

[Diddy] We started

to know our worth.

You know what I'm saying?

So, you know, you--

you started to have people

that actually, you know,

became millionaires.

I'm a capitalist

and I'm about making money,

but definitely, uh,

when a corporation comes in,

that's when

the manipulation comes in.

And I'm happy for everybody

getting money,

but it corrupts the system.

[indistinct rapping]

You know, my era came in

with a sense of-of,

"We're not going

to work for you.

We're going to own

our own shit,"

[indistinct rapping]

And we had to figure it out

because there was a lot

of trickery in these contracts

and a lot of shit like that.

-[hip-hop music playing]

-Yo, show time, let's go!

What?

[DJ repeating beat on vinyl]

[DJ Scratch] When you

first start, you know

you're doing it

because you love it.

It's something new.

You're trying something,

and then it became

something epic.

Ralph McDaniels

went from becoming,

you know, somebody

that was doing this shit.

It was a great idea.

And then, now he's an activist

for the culture.

-[rap music playing]

-[indistinct rapping]

[Nas] Everybody deserves a shot.

He gave people that chance.

He gave people that shot.

That was part

of the building blocks

to get us to where

we needed to go.

Video Music Box,

all right.

We're here,

I'm in 125th Street.

Broad Money about to drop

this Tuesday.

I'm taking it's kinda like--

you know,

to the subways today,

that's kinda crazy right now.

Oh, yeah. You know

what I'm saying,

[clears throat]

ain't no artist get on the train

since MC Lyte,

you know what I mean?

-So...

-MOP up in the place!

It's going down like that.

[Billy] I can't find

someone else

outside of our immediate family

that's in the business

that supported MOP

as much as Ralph McDaniels

and Video Music Box.

- How about some hardcore?

- Yeah, we like it raw!

- How about some hardcore?

- Yeah, we like it raw!

- How about some hardcore?

- Yeah, we like it raw!

[Billy] You never would think

that your video

is coming up next,

and he's gonna

actually say your name,

and he's gonna be excited

about your song.

[Lil Fame] He didn't care.

He's just doing a video.

The whole neighborhood

is hyped.

-Uh-huh.

-So we basically did

the video

for the neighborhood.

[hip-hop playing]

[Ralph] The reason why

we started making videos

is because I said sometimes,

"I don't like the videos

that we get that we play

on Video Music Box."

Sometimes it just doesn't work.

I always want the video

to take it to the next level.

So, your movement

can only be, like, right here,

you come back this block.

[Ralph] Me and Lionel

was sitting down one day

and we came up

with an idea of a name

of a company

called Classic Concept.

Then, we started,

like, really producing

and shooting our own stuff.

[record scratches]

Well, my name is Roxanne,

and don't ya know

-[Nas] Roxanne's Revenge.

-[Ralph] Roxanne's Revenge.

Right. That's the first

hip hop video we ever made.

We shot it in Queens,

Queens and Brooklyn. Yeah.

And I remember Ralph,

you know, doing his directing,

and Lionel Martin,

and he was like "Yeah."

And I was like,

"Oh, these are professionals

with three cameras.

This is great."

We weren't really in it

for the money.

[gentle hip-hop music playing]

[Beast] Ralph's

perspective is like,

let me get to know you.

What do you like,

let me hang around

your neighborhood.

Let me see how you eat,

how you move,

-how you walk.

-Ralph did everything.

MC Ren, we had

MC Rail, Steady B.

We shot music videos

for all these artists

and we made them matter.

I grew up on the crime side

The New York Times side

[Ralph] You know RZA

was like, "Yo,

I got a song that's called

C.R.E.A.M.

I want you to do it."

And I said, okay

and I-- I listened to it,

I was like wooh.

Cash rules

everything around me

C.R.E.A.M., get the money

Dollar dollar bill, y'all

[Raekwon] I'm telling him

things, like, yo,

catch the trees.

Catch the rocks.

-Yeah.

-He was just like, "Say less,

-I got it under control."

-He did what he had to do.

He made that shit

match the song.

-Yeah.

-[Nas] When I was starting,

you gave me my visuals

to show me to the world.

Sparkle like a diamond,

sneak a Uzi on the island

In my army jacket linin'

Hit the Earth

like a comet, invasion!

Nas is like

the Afrocentric Asian:

half-man, half-amazin'...

[Ralph] I saw us

as a renaissance

of young Black filmmakers.

[Nas] The buddha

monk's in your trunk

Turn the bass up

not stories by Aesop

Place your loot up,

parties I shoot up

Man, Ralph played

a-- a big part

in Nas' rise because he did

the press kit for Illuminati.

[reporter] The 20 year old

Nas is a product

of one of

the largest and toughest

housing projects

in New York City.

Queensbridge Houses,

AKA The Bridge.

It's full of crime,

full of all this crack, drugs,

all of that.

Just like every other ghetto.

[Raplh] You know what's funny?

Is, like, when we did your EPK,

-I don't know if you realize...

-[Nas] That was huge for me.

Right. Right.

[Nas] I don't know if I ever saw

one of those done...

-Right. Did not. Not on TV.

-[Nas] ...for anybody else. Nah.

Because nobody

played them on TV.

They just used

to give him to the...

you know, TV stations.

-"Oh, this is Nas...

-Yeah.

[Ralph] ...the new artist."

They'd look at it,

"Oh, this is cool,"

but they never put it on TV.

-Right.

-[Ralph] I was like,

"I'm gonna play it

on the TV."

Before even Sony even said it.

[Nas] You know, we was in--

we was like this,

it was like, "Oh, shit, bro.

We're, uh--

We're about to be--

Yo, we made it."

[Ralph] He has a lot of style,

you know what I'm saying?

He-- not only lyric-wise,

you know like, his person.

I don't even know

if you remember,

when they got me on the phone

with you, and I was like,

"Well, what's your idea? What do

you want it to look like?"

And you said,

"Just like Video Music Box,

like what you normally do."

So, I said, "Oh, okay.

We could do that." And that

was all I needed to know.

So, I said, "We gon' do that,

we might as well play it."

I'm a product of hip hop,

you know what I'm saying?

I'm a product from--

of the old school

and the newest of the new.

Ralph had his eyes

on everything that was moving,

so he knew who I was

even though I wasn't

anybody at that time.

But it's Ralph,

so he knows what's going on.

Thank God. [laughs]

It was simple back then right?

Some of the things

that you see here,

I guess, are some of your items.

I don't know if you have

everything here today

but just give us the idea

or the audience an idea

of some of the other items

you might have

or the items in general.

Well, for-- as for right now,

we, uh-- we're testing

the New York market...

I tracked Ralph down

all the way into Virginia.

l saw him and I gave him

a couple of shirts.

Then, he did

this interview with us,

and he was the one

who, kind of, anointed us

right there and said,

"Check them out.

Good clothes.

And, you know, you need

to know who they are."

The phone the next day

was ringing off the hook.

Ralph started to put out

something called Fat Fashions.

A fashion show.

I didn't have any money.

He said, "No problem.

-You can just show in the show."

-[Ralph] Please give it up

for Team FUBU.

[Daymond] So,

when I approached NLL

or I approached anybody else,

Ralph had already basically

whispered in their ear

due to me airing.

He opened the door

for those artists

to believe in me,

and I don't care

what artists they are today,

they owe a large part

of their career to Ralph.

[dramatic music playing]

[Ralph] In 1998, or before 1998,

Giuliani decides

that he was gonna get rid

of some of the assets

the city had.

And one of them became

the city TV station, NYCTV.

Video Music Box. Ruff Ryders,

this is how it's going down.

My man, DMX, in the place,

it's a beautiful thing man

to see you, man.

-Once again, congratulations.

-Yeah.

Thank you very much to all.

[stammers]

And I don't think

they really understand

how beautiful it is.

You know what I'm saying?

'Cause for me, being a dawg,

lock down,

you know what I'm saying?

Watching you on the Box,

you know what I'm saying?

And now,

being a part of this?

I knew--

I just did what I had

to do. You know what I mean?

And, and I'm glad

to be here, man.

I am the streets.

I will be the force

of the streets till I die.

You have a fan out here.

-Thank you very much.

-For real.

Video Music Box.

You know what I'm saying?

You know I'm with it,

the branch, whatever...

[Evelyn] Channel 31

was the biggest outlet we had.

Everyone got to see

Video Music Box on channel 31.

So when they decided

to sell it,

it was a big loss for us...

I gotta stand right here, man.

Sixteen years, I had been

doing Video Music Box.

Can you get this

in the background?

So, when that day ended,

and we got all our tapes,

and we went,

put them in storage,

did whatever we did.

Video Music Box doing it

behind the scenes and...

And I went home

and I had nothing to do.

Oh, this is real,

like it's really not happening

no more, like.

And, you know, we were still

doing music videos

but Video Music Box was me.

[Lionel] I remember Ralph

was very upset

because it was like, now it's--

I got to start from scratch.

All the relationships

I developed,

all of this stuff

and everything like that.

[tape rewinds]

And now you got to start

all over again,

on a political side

as far as getting himself in.

It was like an empty hole.

I was like, "Okay.

What can I do?

Should I go to MTV again?"

I go to BET.

Maybe there's another

channel that's out here

that would take our show.

You know how like

you right here,

you was-- you was hot.

It wasn't like we did anything

wrong, like we fell off.

We was hot when we fell off

that channel.

-Come on, man.

-[crowd chanting]

[Ralph] And I was like,

"Damn, dudes is going

to be playing me when I come up

and start trying to get

a job over here.

They're gonna handle me."

My pride got in the way.

Like, no, I ain't

asking nobody for that.

We're gonna wait it out.

And I just waited it out,

and waited it out,

and waited it out.

It wasn't Ralph's fault

that the channel

was closing down.

He had nothing to do with that.

So, he was like,

"Okay, it's happening".

This is Ralph, Ralph was like,

"All right, no problem.

We're gonna figure it out."

And I remember

crazy Sam calling me.

What you think

the next move is?

I said, what the fuck you

mean what the next move is?

Hey, Ralph, you want me

to go in the streets

and promote

this shit everywhere,

every record label,

every fuckin' place

that moves, barbershops?

He said, "Nah,

I'm gonna lay back,"

I said, "What are you

gonna lay back for?"

I wasn't even going out.

I didn't even want

to talk to nobody.

I was like,

no, I gotta figure this out,

I gotta figure it out.

Don't talk to me.

And crazy Sam's,

"Yo, come on, nigga,

come outside. Come outside."

And I was like, "Fuck it."

So, let's see

what's going on.

And we're gonna proceed on,

all right?

But it didn't keep

Ralph from not taking

his show elsewhere.

It took a lot to search,

but he never gave up,

and he made sure

that he found an outlet

for Video Music Box.

And it was

this other station,

which was like channel 31.

It was channel 25...

He went down for a little while.

But then when he popped

back up again,

it was just like he never left.

I'm that same

brother, you know,

Untouchables, hunny-sixth.

I'm with Uncle Ralph

on Video Music Box.

[rap music playing

on speaker]

[rapping indistinctly]

You know who this lady is?

She goes by name

of Keyshia Cole.

You know, I prepare

for the worst and wish

for the best, you know?

[indistinct singing]

Can you introduce

yourselves, real quick?

-I'm Beyonce.

-I'm Kelly.

-Hello, I'm Michelle.

-And we're Destiny's Child.

It's getting hard for me

And I don't wanna leave

[indistinct rapping]

[Ralph] I said

you're the only guy

that I haven't seen

before live.

And when,

when you got on stage I said,

"This is incredible, man."

That'll be the same day

I give the game back

You know the next question

dog "Yo, where Dame at?"

This track the Indian dance

to bring our reign back

[Ralph]

Yo, go to the studio right now.

I got the legendary

cats out of Houston, Texas.

They go by the name

of the Geto Boyz. Check it out.

When these people's mind stop

playing tricks on them.

-You got that right.

-[laughs]

Every time you're think

you notice something, you know

no matter what your endeavor,

it is that you do.

I hated going on radio.

I hated the radio.

We played the same music over,

and over, and over again.

We're doing

the-- the radio show right now

for my people out there

that's listening.

But at the same time,

I got my video cameras

in here for my video show.

Yeah, coast-to-coast

hip hop countdown.

Your uncle Ralph--

DJ Ralph McDaniels.

Westside connection

in the building.

[cheering]

[Ralph] You needed rotation.

And people only listen

for a certain amount of time.

They wanna hear hit records,

and that whole concept.

I understood

what they were saying,

but I felt like people

still wanted more variety.

And we could throw

in and make the playlist

a little bit bigger,

and they go, "Nope.

It's only these songs

and that's it."

[dramatic music playing]

And I just felt

like I was trapped

in that space.

That's when the-- the whole

hip hop world shifted.

[man] Pioneering music retailer,

Tower Records,

one of several chains

closing its doors nationwide.

The internet destroyed,

the computer destroyed

the music business to me,

I think--

[man] The main culprit

in the decline of the brick

and mortar record store,

online music.

I watched how it destroyed first

of all the recording studios,

a lot of them all went out

of business,

ain't too many left.

The quality of music

got horrible,

you know what I mean?

The record stores dwindled,

and the people that I knew

that was getting those

six figure jobs lost their jobs.

There's a new artist

every time you turn on

your phone and you really

can't get into anyone.

Okay. So, we'll put up

some information,

uh, as well as online

information, so people--

'Cause everybody is online

right now. The game--

the game

changed a little bit, right?

Yeah, yeah, for sure. A lot.

Well, it-- it changed

because now,

we are part of the entertainment

exploitive monster.

In my day, I had to give

out flyers that said,

"Hey, I'm Fat Joe,"

at the train station.

I'm on the thug,

but never the drugs though

When all the kids said

that they hated me, Fat Joe

At night, we would

put up paste posters, glue.

I would go to the clubs

and give the DJ the vinyl.

It was just a real process

to really promote yourself

and get out there.

Now, you just press send

and it's in the air,

and whoever likes it likes it.

In one way, the internet

is a fantasy for a lot of us

because we get worldwide

recognition in minutes.

So, yes,

there's some bad that came out

of the internet into hip hop,

but there's some damn good

that came out of it

and went into hip hop.

Man, The Boogie Down Bronx

is in the house.

Brooklyn's in the house,

Queens is in the house.

We got it going on.

It gave Video Music Box

a different life because

Video Music Box has what,

30,000 hours of footage.

[cheering]

Video Music Box ,

I won't say it lost

its audience.

Its audience shifted...

Yup, come on.

It's Video Music Box.

We out here at Webster Hall

right now, for the launch party.

It's really, really,

really packed, turned up here...

[screaming]

We're in punk Brooklyn!

Brooklyn!

We're from the Bronx.

-Cali!

-Commack, Long Island.

Victor from Jersey!

[indistinct rapping]

[Lance] Ralph was dedicated

and focused on his goals

and his main objectives.

That's where the love

of what I'm doing,

not knowing where it's gonna go

played a major role.

Yeah, Video Music Box

backstage, Summer Jam '06.

I mean,

this is real exclusive.

And I mean, for, like,

six weeks we've been talking

about how this guy

was coming to New York,

and then he did it tonight.

-Jamie Foxx, come on, man.

-Oh, man, I had a blast.

You know, ultimately,

it's a family business

and we just like love

to contribute to it

and see it grow and prosper.

And I think,

when we talk about family,

we're talking

about the fans as well,

because they've been on this

ride with us the whole time.

[Biggie] Check it out

[man] ATL make some

motherfucking noise

B-I-G-G-I-E

AKA B-I-G

Get it, Biggie

[Hakeem]

It's the 20th anniversary

of Christopher Wallace's

passing,

and I said I'm going

to the floor of the house

and I'm going to give

a tribute to Biggie Smalls.

It was all a dream.

I used to read Word Up!

magazine.

Salt-N-Pepa

and Heavy D up in the limousine.

I think in many ways,

you know, hip hop's journey

has been the journey of

the African American community

over the last 50 years.

And as a result,

I think, you know,

the journey of this country,

because the African-American

community

is so intimately connected.

And President Obama's

rise and his election,

his cultural fluency,

his engagement with artists,

it was just an indication

for me as to how deeply

his election had penetrated

into the streets.

Because of what it represented,

not just in the suites.

But who would've ever thought,

whereas Christopher Wallace

said,

"You never thought that hip

hop would take it this far."

Now I'm in the limelight

'cause I rhyme tight

Time to get paid

Blow up like the World Trade

I like to give a shoutout

to my fellow nominees.

Shoutout

to a very special visitor.

Shoutout to team USA...

[Hakeem] And again,

it's how hip hop brings

to you parts

of, you know, civic life

in ways that you may not

have even had any understanding.

With that, I just have two

more words to say...

"Obama out."

[Daymond John] I think

that for the first time,

kids of all colors

revolted within the system.

I think because they understood

that this was a true

president of the people,

this was a hip hop president.

It's undeniable that

hip hop culture changed the lens

for a lot of people in this

country of who we look at,

who we see, who we listen to,

and to understand the cultures,

to understand the challenges,

to understand the triumphs,

and the heartbreak.

And to me Video Music Box

and Ralph McDaniels

were pioneers in, sort of,

planting this seed

of hip hop culture

that is so ubiquitous now.

[laughs]

We're back in Coney Island.

This is Brooklyn

right here.

[man] Boss shit,

your Lordship

Niggas talkin' yachts

since I'm on shit

I used to run the block,

now I'm corporate

Hoppin' out, you know

it's Son when the doors lift

Whole squad hide the burners

Mets hats in the sky like...

[indistinct chatters]

Put your face on the TV screen.

Put your ear on the speaker.

He gonna tell you what it is.

I love my brother

right here, yo.

Peace and love.

If you love hip hop music,

if you love R&B music,

make some noise up

in the piece right now.

[cheers and applause]

I grew up in,

uh, projects

in Brooklyn

and we didn't have outlets

where we really got to see

our own community perform

or have videos.

And Ralph McDaniels Video

Music Box provided that for us

and let us know

that we have the opportunity

to go out there

and do these same things.

[indistinct rapping]

He made us take

a look at our superheroes.

-Yeah.

-And really understand

who they are,

and what they bring to us,

and with what they was bringing

to us was knowledge, wisdom,

you know what I mean?

Understanding,

everything, just--

-The culture.

-It's an honor.

This is Killah Chuck,

right here.

I think Chuck got

a couple of bars, too.

He might have

some bars for us.

Ralph knows this,

the history of hip hop

started in the Bronx,

now it's all over

the whole world!

[cheering]

[DJ Chuck Chillout]

He's got the Mary J Blige

when she started.

Heavy D when he started.

LL Cool J when he started.

The number one rap song,

Video Music Box .

[DJ Chuck Chillout] He was there

when they were nobodies.

[chuckles] So, he--

so, he ate, drank

and slept it, still to this day.

I started

working at the library maybe

like five years ago,

as a Hip Hop Coordinator

and I wanted to see, like,

hip hop in institutions.

In Queens,

there's 65 different libraries.

-Right.

-And I was like,

if we can get

in these communities

and do something,

and put hip hop in there

just like they have

other cultures,

that would be kinda dope.

[Kev] We have events

in the libraries

where we actually bring in

some of the people

that were involved in hip hop,

and not just musically,

people that are writing books,

documentaries, and we show

that to the kids there.

So, in the last five years, I've

done over three hundred programs

with all types

of different people here.

We still keep our core

of what we've been doing,

because it's been working

since 1983.

We also have evolved

with things.

We're on social media.

New York's number one

video show, Video Music Box.

I'm DJ Ralph McDaniels.

Yeah. I gonna have Money Love.

She's gonna check in with us.

My girl from across the river.

First of all,

thank you for taking the time.

I know

you was on the radio today.

Oh, please, that's nothing, man.

Like, you're just--

who can say no to you?

The hardest working man

in hip hop.

Like, who can say no?

Like--

We're in the Smithsonian.

In Washington, DC,

where our mic is in the museum.

So, it's like an artifact.

[Ralph] I think that

young people need to see

this is all part of us

and this is where we came from.

That's amazing, man.

I love what you're doing,

Ralph, like,

this is what it's all about.

The next generation,

them having a better chance.

We have Video

Music Box Collection,

which is the digitizing

of videos of artists

from when they first began

that have been

in our basement

for so many years.

Man, Brooklyn.

Oh, yeah. Sup?

Okay.

Coming in our woods

Say rhymes that I invent

I'm about to recollect,

and inject

And knock you

out your socks

This is full

classic concept

Video Music Box

We're trying to put them

in schools and colleges.

They can see, "Okay,

this was what was happening

in the '80s."

or "This was happening

in the '90s."

Man, I would love to see

a Video Music Box

educational curriculum

that's been placed

in different junior colleges,

colleges, or high schools.

When I started Revolt,

I had called,

you know,

Ralph to tell him, you know,

thank you for just being

such an inspiration.

I wanted to be Video Music Box.

I want to be unapologetically

Black, do whatever we wanna do,

say whatever we wanna say,

be whoever we wanna be.

-[indistinct rapping]

-Oh, yeah. Yeah.

But it started

with Video Music Box .

[Ralph] The Ave has always

been important, you know,

because that's where

we got our gear.

You know, Shirt Kings

was down there.

[Nas] Yes.

The Shirt Kings,

the mighty Shirt Kings.

Um, Eddie Gold Caps.

-Yes.

-Barbershop.

-Uh, Benny the Jeweler.

-[Ralph] Yup.

You know what

the beauty of Ralph is,

Ralph doesn't demand respect.

He commands respect.

And that's truly respect.

Love, man.

Everybody grew up

on you, Ralph.

I know.

One of the things

that brought us together,

honestly, was hip hop.

We're right here

at the Coliseum.

Jamaica Coliseum.

You know,

hip hop was the culture

that allowed us a space

to communicate with each other

without being

extremely judgmental.

[indistinct chatters]

[Ralph] What store is it?

Which one?

I'll be back.

We'll come back.

-We'll come back.

-Yeah.

-This is a vibe, though.

-Right.

I'm Mike Tyson.

I'm kicking everybody's ass.

I'm the world's greatest.

But I wouldn't be who I am now.

It will be a little

different without hip hop.

Different cultures.

This is what--

-[woman] What's up, Nas?

-Hey.

--everything is all about.

And I love the fact that we are

able to reach these heights.

Now, we're looking beyond that.

You know, how you feel

about the effects

of these systems

that kept us from the money.

And create systems that's gonna

bring us to the money

because we're gonna need

that money

to build our communities.

-Yes, sir.

-[man] Peace to The God.

-Peace, peace.

-I love you...

And I think hip hop

culture has been incredible

in contributing

to the Black community.

Ralph McDaniels,

Video Music Box ,

this is what it's all about.

We're with the people

right here on Jamaica Avenue,

Queens, New York.

You dig me?

Turn around

and see the people, man.

-All right.

-[man] Oh, wait, wait,

-[indistinct chatters]

-Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like, like Uncle Ralph's joint.

Shout out...

You wanna give some shout outs?

[laughing]

I give a shout out to my mom.

I wanna give

a shout out little thing.

Shout out to...

Yo, shout out my first wife,

shout out my second wife.

I wanna shout out--

All you beautiful people

out there.

Oh, shout out everybody

from hip hop in Queens.

-I wanna give a shout out--

-Well, let me give a shout out.

Fredro used to cut my hair.

And the pioneers of hip hop

that made this possible.

Shout out to Kool Herc.

Yeah, yeah.

I wanna give

a shout out to Lauryn Hill.

I'm in the gym.

-I wanna give a shout out--

-[laughs] Shout out

I give a shout out to my family

that have been supportive of me

since day one.

I'm the nut that'd be standing

on the side of the stage...

Lauryn, I love you.

I'm sorry.

Did I make a confession?

-Um, okay. Yes, I did.

-All to Brooklyn.

My partners in FUBU.

Big shout out to my moms.

-LL.

-Buy my first turned tables.

-The Rock.

-And for keeping me

off the street.

-Onyx and Mr. Cheeks--

-Alala.

Alala. What's up, Alala?

Shout out to Ralph McDaniels.

Word, and the Vid Kid.

And the whole squad. Crazy Sam.

My man Tuffy.

All-- All the whole crew

that helped Video Music Box

And us down

all these years, man.

All right.

I'm sorry about the baby shower.

For what's-her-name, 'cause

I didn't give her the 10,000.

'Cause I don't think no baby

should get $10,000

for baby shower.

Unless he's my own baby.

To my husband.

To my mom.

To the fans

that have devoted themselves

to Video Music Box.

I wanna give

a shout out to my dad.

You are awesome.

I love you and

I'm forever proud of you.

I wanna give a shout out

to you, Ralph.

-Love.

-A shout out to Ralph.

Thank you for pushing

the culture forward

and preserving the culture, man.

To my husband Ralph McDaniels.

You have done an amazing,

amazing job.

I'm going to spiritually say it,

it's for me,

and I want to give

a shout out to Biz Markie.

We love you, Biz.

Forever.

Alicia Keys.

Um, God, I'm so proud of you.

Shout out to Alicia Keys.

Okay. Shout out

to her crazy husband

for giving us DMX and all

the other shit that he did.

And the new thing

that they doing

with the DJ thing

and all that shit is awesome.

And Marky D, of course,

and Spider D, and all the D's.

Big shout out to my wife.

You know, she holds me down.

You know, this is not easy,

this is a family business.

This is what we do.

Video Music Box for Life.

Thank you, honey.

Mwah. Love you.

I wanna give out

a shout out to Ralph.

Thank you for everything

you've done for me.

And for the hip hop community,

for the culture.

For New York City,

for the world.

Um, thank you, man.

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