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When I was younger, around my junior
high and high school years, hip-hop was my life. I spent my hard earned money on tapes and
tried to watch every show that my favorite rappers were on. I had stacks of VHS tapes that I had recorded
countless videos and television appearances on.
Besides the music videos, I loved seeing my favorite rappers perform on
shows like Yo! MTV Raps, Soul Train, In Living Color and any other show they
popped up on. This was before hip-hop
went mainstream, so there weren’t a lot of shows for rappers to appear on like
there is today. This was especially true
for the late night shows, but that all changed in 1989 when The Arsenio Hall
Show hit the airwaves.
The Arsenio Hall Show only lasted
for five years, but those five years were the bulk of my junior high and high
school years, so it felt like a lifetime to me.
Before The Arsenio Hall Show came on the air, there wasn’t a late night
talk show for rappers to appear on, but Arsenio had no problem embracing
rappers and the hip-hop community.
During his first run Arsenio would give a host of rappers a chance to
shine such as 2Pac, Queen Latifah, Snoop and Pete Rock and CL Smooth. I was checking out TV.com (click here) for some of his
past guests and he had a lot of entertainers on before they got big and the
list isn’t limited to just rappers.
Jamie Foxx and Chris Rock both appeared when they were in the early
stages of their careers and there’s a ridiculous amount of NBA stars that
appeared on the show that probably wouldn’t have appeared on any other late
night show. He also had Christian
Laettner on his show and I’m not sure why he would have a Duke player on his
show. I considered nixing this blog post
after I found this out, but I’m going to take the stance that the positives
outweigh the negatives. Anyway, I have
no idea why I woke up thinking about the original Arsenio Hall Show this
morning, but as a tribute, I’m going to give you five of the most memorable
performances from rappers.
2Pac – I Get Around
Pac was actually on Arsenio twice as
a solo artist from what I remember. He also performed Pain from the Above the Rim soundtrack which is
Snoop Doggy Dogg – Tha Shiznit
This is probably from late ’93 or
early ’94. I swear this was on like a
Friday night and I remember waiting all night for Arsenio to come on. I might be confused, but I believe Snoop
performed What’s My Name? first and then Arsenio brought him back out to do Tha
Shiznit. I remember I had this on a VHS
tape and I taped over it by mistake. I
still cry on the inside about it, but luckily we have YouTube now.
A Tribe Called Quest and Leaders of the New School – Scenario
I feel like this shouldn’t even need
an introduction. I mean this is
Scenario, probably one of the dopest posse cuts of all-time and they performed
it on Arsenio.
N.W.A. – 100 Miles and Runnin’
This video is longer because it
includes an interview with N.W.A. before they performed. This performance is significant because I
can’t think of any other late night TV show host that would’ve had N.W.A. on
their show in 1990. There was controversy
over the group name and lyrics and they even got the attention of the FBI. However, that didn’t stop Arsenio from
bringing the group on his show and giving them a platform to express
themselves.
Hip-Hop for Arsenio
This was from Arsenio’s last show in
1994. I remember watching this episode
and I probably have it on VHS tape somewhere in my mom’s house. He’s doing his opening monologue and the
curtain lifts up and a bunch of rappers come out to pay tribute to
Arsenio. Yo-Yo and MC Lyte start it off
followed by the likes of A Tribe Called Quest, Guru, CL Smooth and
KRS-One. It was a fitting tribute to a
man who gave a voice to the hip-hop community for five years on the late night
talk show circuit.
