LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥 鈥淩ap City.鈥 鈥106 & Park.鈥 鈥淯ncut.鈥
From innovative to provocative, BET has played a crucial role in creating several influential programs that helped spread hip-hop to millions of homes across the globe. Other than its rival 鈥淵o! MTV Raps,鈥 the network known as Black Entertainment Television took up the mantle 鈥 despite some reluctance 鈥 to showcase a misunderstood rap culture. Today, hip-hip remains music's most popular genre.
For many, BET became a safe place for those within hip-hop to express their artistry, although not without criticism. Through it all, the network has been a mainstay for established and emerging rap artists.
It will all come together during the BET Awards on Sunday. Show officials plan to celebrate the genre鈥檚 50th anniversary during the telecast dubbed as a 鈥渘on-stop Hip-Hop Party.鈥 It also comes at a pivotal time for the network, which will be soon be sold by Paramount. Several Black entrepreneurs and celebrities, including Tyler Perry, media executive Byron Allen and rapper-entrepreneur Diddy, are interested in purchasing the network.
The new owner will acquire an important cultural fixture, one whose success was partially built on how it elevated hip-hop.
鈥淏ET was a big platform for hip-hop and urban music overall,鈥 said E-40. His song 鈥淭ired of Being Stepped On鈥 with the rap group The Click appeared on BET鈥檚 鈥淰ideo Soul,鈥 which was created in 1981 at a time when MTV refused to play videos by most African Americans.
鈥淭he network really stepped up. We needed that,鈥 said E-40, who also made a few appearances on another BET show called 鈥淩ap City,鈥 which featured hip-hop music videos, interviews and freestyle booth sessions. The show, which highlighted popular and up-and-coming rappers, became the longest-running hip-hop show in TV history.
E-40 credited BET founder Robert Johnson for giving hip-hop a chance. Johnson built the brand into the leading TV network for Black Americans in hopes of creating content geared toward jazz, comedy and gospel. But at the time, he and other founders were unsure about featuring a rap show, believing the genre would be short lived.
Rival MTV鈥檚 鈥淵o! MTV Raps,鈥 however, showed hip-hop had staying power.
鈥淎fter kind of a brief initial hesitancy, the founders of BET really understood how hip-hop was transforming culture overall and specifically Black entertainment,鈥 said Scott M. Mills, BET鈥檚 president and CEO.
鈥淵ou went from BET having shows with no hip-hop artists or music to artists and music starting to trickle through shows to this full evolution of creating dedicated shows, celebrating hip-hop music, artists and culture," he said.
BET鈥檚 decision to embrace hip-hop literally paid off: Johnson and his then-wife, Sheila, sold the network to Viacom in 2000 for $3 billion 鈥 which made them the nation鈥檚 first Black billionaires. He remained CEO until 2006.
After the sale, BET continued to beef up its content with reality shows and the network鈥檚 flagship program 鈥106 & Park,鈥 a weekday show that started in 2000 and lasted for more than a decade. The show thrived with a video countdown, interviews and performances. A year later, the network started the BET Awards then the BET Hip-Hop Awards.
For Lil Jon, he certainly benefitted from appearing on 鈥106 & Park.鈥 One day, the rapper-producer joined the show's audience during a time when he had a hard time getting music on BET.
Lil Jon had no clue 鈥106 & Park鈥 co-host A.J. Calloway would notice him sitting in the crowd before he shouted out his name. The exposure helped him become more recognizable, particularly to the BET brass 鈥 who he says initially struggled to grasp the concept of his crunk music, which eventually gained mainstream appeal.
鈥淲e strived to be on 鈥楻ap City.鈥 We strived to be on 鈥106 & Park,鈥欌 Lil Jon said. 鈥淎.J. knew who I was, because he would go to the South and host things. He knew the power of my music. 鈥 They started to see and get familiar with me, and they wanted to look out for me. BET was just a place where we would get support from our community.鈥
But in the early-2000s, the network shifted and several popular figures 鈥 from filmmaker Spike Lee to Public Enemy鈥檚 Chuck D 鈥 heavily criticized the channel for depicting African Americans negatively.
Many took aim at the now-defunct 鈥淏ET: Uncut,鈥 a late-night mature program that contained highly sexual content such as Ludacris鈥 鈥淏ooty Poppin鈥 music video. The tipping point came after Nelly鈥檚 鈥淭ip Drill鈥 video featured women simulating sex acts with themselves while men fondled them.
鈥淯ncut鈥 normally finished airing early Sunday just hours before the network鈥檚 faith-based programs began.
At the time, Big Boi of Outkast was taken aback by some of the raunchy content, calling it 鈥渄istasteful鈥 and 鈥渟oft porn.鈥 Co-founder Sheila Johnson even said in a 2010 interview that she was ashamed of BET, suggesting that no one, including her own children, should watch the channel.
After the backlash, BET took a new approach. The company researched what their viewers wanted to see and created a lineup of more family-oriented shows such as 鈥淩eed Between the Lines鈥 and 鈥淟et鈥檚 Stay Together.鈥
Despite the controversy, Mills said a symbolic relationship was kept between BET and the hip-hop community. He said the network has a chance to break new artists through the BET Hip-Hop Awards while showcasing the more popular ones at the BET Awards. He said BET is exploring ways to bring back 鈥106 & Park鈥 as a possible residency live show.
鈥淲hen you look at artists today, they鈥檙e profoundly talented,鈥 he said. 鈥淭he evolution of people deciding how they want to show up to the world is something that ultimately, I think we have to embrace. One thing about hip-hop, it鈥檚 always changing. We鈥檙e in the moment today, and that moment will evolve to whatever comes next.鈥
