Nov 22 2008
Guilty Pleasure: 106 & Park
Yo MTV Raps has been dead long enough they’ve already started making nostalgia shows about it. RapCity was canceled this year as well, and if you needed any more signs that the old generation in Hip Hop has officially retired, you need only watch a single episode of BET’s video request show 106 & Park.
It’s not just the teens and sometimes tweens screaming and carrying on over corny boy band stuff like Pretty Ricky, or even worse, 40 something R&B pervs grinding on stage, it’s the whole culture that they document. It’s not my culture anymore. It’s not Hip Hop, it’s something new. Today they had a segment on skinny jeans. What in the God Rakim’s name is going on in the hood? They had another segment where they talked about The Secret Life of Bees for 15 minutes. That was the type of thing that could catch you a serious beat down when I was a teenager.
But even though I feel this disconnect with the culture, I can’t help but watch every once in a while. I don’t know. I guess I just keep expecting dope Hip Hop to come back in style. And when it does, 106 & Park will finally stop making me feel guilty when I watch it. Until then, everytime I hear Terrance J drop the newest “it” slang, or Rocsi fake interest in some wanna-be Yung Joc, I can’t help but think, “that is 15 minutes of my life I will never get back.”
