Music, Moments, and Legacy Makers: Ralph McDaniels
Hip-hop is a long way from the little genre that could. It’s no longer niche music exclusive to the parks and apartments in the South Bronx and is now, according to Billboard, “the most dominant musical genre in the United States.” The herculean task of creating such a major force was clearly the work of many hands; however, it can be argued that Ralph McDaniels, one of the most powerful gatekeepers in hip-hop culture, clearly had bigger hands.
As the host and creator of Video Music Box, the first television show to exclusively air hip-hop videos in the early 80’s, McDaniels was tasked with deciding which artist was worthy of celebration and visibility. As someone who also loved Black people and our culture, hip-hop was better because of his efforts.
Long before the days of YouTube and social media, our favorite artists connected to their fanbase through radio and television interviews. If they were white pop stars with pictures hanging on the walls of teenagers’ bedrooms across America, then their videos had a great chance of landing a highly coveted feature on MTV. Rappers, however, stood no chance of being on MTV, which limited their reach and entail limited their careers. This means that back when Nas still rocked a chipped tooth and Jay-Z was still that guy from Brooklyn who we “sorta kinda” knew, we didn’t see their art outside of Video Music Box.
Ralph McDaniels used his platform to not only shine a light on Black artists, but on issues pertinent to us. He would conduct interviews in Black communities and delve into subjects like the dangers of media manipulation and how stories were influenced to make Black men appear more violent. He also talked about gun violence in the Black community among a host of subjects, and he ensuredart form that young Black people were given a voice as to how they felt about these matters. He magnified the stories mainstream media wouldn’t touch and made sure they were told with grace, love, and authenticity.
Uncle Ralph, as he affectionally became known in hip-hop, was in the streets and on the scene. He would record interviews with artists like Big Daddy Kane and Rakim right in the middle of a loud club. Of course, the crowd was a part of the show’s charm and Uncle Ralph was famous for allowing people to share the spotlight. He would often pass the mic to random folks, eliciting excited screams followed by, “I’D LIKE TO GIVE A SHOUTOUT TO ALL MY GIRLS ON THE BLOCK AND MY BABY DADDY!” These “shout-outs” combined with live performances from dope “underground” artists and videos that would never air anywhere else, made Video Music Box a cultural staple.
Uncle Ralph not only showcased our favorite artists when white powerhouses refused to even acknowledge their artform, but he modeled what it meant to care about the culture beyond profit margins. Admittedly, I was too young to recognize the brilliance in his journalism when the show premiered in 1984, but I see traces of his career in my own. I do my best to honor what he started by amplifying muted voices and honoring journalism as an important part of hip-hop history. I’ll never be an “MC,” but I’ll always aim to move the crowd with my actions like Uncle Ralph.
If the gatekeepers of hip-hop exclusively consisted of people who loved Black people as much as they loved the profitability of Black culture, hip-hop would have been an even greater force of change. Nonetheless, when we talk about the hands that created the powerhouse that is hip-hop today, it’s clear that Ralph McDaniels understood the assignment on both ends, and the impact and legacy of his work will live on in hip-hop history. Bigger hands indeed...
