YO! MTV Raps Is Back In A Big Way

YO! MTV Raps is back. Thirty years soon following the influential show brought hip-hop into millions of households across the nation, it's being revived for a new generation. The iconic series will be reinvented on MTV and its digital platforms. To celebrate, the YO! MTV Raps: 30th Anniversary Experience will touch down at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on June 1.


The live show will feature a legendary lineup of artists who helped make the series iconic, including Big Daddy Kane and the Juice Crew, Eric B & Rakim, Doug E. Fresh, KRS-One and Boogie Down Productions, EPMD, Flavor Flav and several more. The celebration also wouldn't be possible without featuring past hosts and DJs who helped shepherd the series like Fab 5 Freddy, Ed Lover, Doctor Dré, T-Money, Skribble, Red Alert, and Chuck Chillout. Tribute videos from artists like Eminem, Method Man, and Redman will also commemorate the occasion.


YO! MTV Raps debuted on August 6, 1988, and seismically changed the way people around the world viewed the nascent genre. The bright, bombastic, and some days tense interviews and performances from artists like Tupac, Wu-Tang Clan, and Notorious B.I.G. helped the series become a must-stop destination for an entire generation of artists.


In a Rolling Stone interview with Doctor Dré, the YO! MTV Raps weekday co-host described what the show meant.


"YO! MTV Raps … actually put hip-hop on the map around the globe," Dré mentioned. "From southeast Asia … to Peru, Argentina. Antarctica even used to watch YO! MTV Raps. I used to get mail from several different African nations – including Wakanda."


Tickets go on sale Friday (April 20) at 10 a.M. ET and can be paid for on the Ticketmaster website or Barclays Center website. MTV will also live-stream the event on June 1.