I am sure many of you have seen or at least heard of the The White Rapper Show by now. The show is hosted by MC Serch, a prominent figure in the Hip Hop community best known from being a member of 3rd Bass, a Hip Hop group from the 80� s and 90’s.

The show auditioned white rappers for the opportunity to compete on the show for $100,000 and of course, lots of exposure. The contestants who made it on the show were Dasit, Misfit Dior,G-Child,100 Proof, Sullee, Jon Boy, Persia, Jus Rhyme, John Brown and Shamrock.

There has been quite an uproar about the show within the hip hop community and interestingly enough, white rappers were especially upset with the show since it’s conception. I must admit, being a white Hip Hop artist myself, that when I first saw the commercials for the White Rapper Show, I was disgusted! I felt as though it was making a mockery out of white artists who were seriously trying to make it in the business. I would expect something like this from VH1, but I was actually quite surprised that Mc Serch would attach his name to something so obviously a gimmick! Especially being that he is also a white hip hop artist and knows how hard it is for white artists to gain respect and to be taken seriously. I don’t know…maybe it’s been so long he forgot. Maybe I got it all wrong. Who knows? I just know that there was no way I would ever have anything to do with a show like that. But, in spite of that, I watched the entire season.

As the season began, I started seeing a lot of posts from angry white rappers and other hip hop artists dissing the show and anyone down with it. Well, we are all entitled to our own opinion and I was highly amused by all of this. See, I knew exactly where they were coming from and why they were so upset about it. Like I said, I felt the same way, but as with any other show that has to do with music of any kind, I watched it. I have learned that no matter how ridiculous some of these shows are, you can still learn a few things by watching them.

Some of the outrageous things about the show were all the ‘white’ references attached to everything. They were staying in ‘Tha White House’. They had to ride around in a vehicle that had a “White Rappers on Board” sign in the window. They had “I love White Rappers” T-shirts they had to wear and pass out….I mean come on! What self respecting MC of any race would be down for that? Talking about clichés! I rolled my eyes so much during the course of the season I’m surprised they didn’t get stuck !

On a higher note, the writing challenges on the show were pretty good. I’ve watched a lot of reality music shows and contests and most of it is B.S or just for TV. To the credit of MC Serch and The White Rapper Show, instead of freestyles and battles, they had the contestants write verses and complete songs. Now, I love freestyles and battles as much as the next person, but we all know that writing songs is what sells records and it was refreshing to see a Hip Hop reality show where the majority of the music-related challenges focused on their skills with the pen and their delivery of their verse or song.
Now the verses and songs spit on the show were not always as refreshing as the challenges, but it made for great entertainment! Most of the contestants were…well, let’s just say they were definitely not ready for the big time. But, if I am completely honest with myself here, there were a couple of them that actually did have some skills, such as Sullee, Persia and John Brown. (Personal feelings aside here) The most disheartening thing about the show was the finale. The moment of truth was here. The two finalists, Shamrock and John Brown had to spit a verse each and an original song to perform live in front of the TV audience. Here’s where it really got messy. For their verses, John Brown went first and immediately had the crowd rockin’ with him. His flow was on point and his lyrics were cool. We can agree to disagree here, but I’m just calling it how I see it. Shamrock went next and honestly, I thought he was a little off. When it came to their song performances, lyric and flow wise, John Brown was on point once again. The hook was kinda weak but the concept was interesting. Either way, regardless of what I think, he can rhyme. Shamrock’s song left a lot more to be desired. His sound wasn’t as good and creatively, his song did nothing for me. Shamrock’s style is obviously not for my personal tastes, but he did have great energy and there is an audience out there for him. Even still, bar for bar, flow for flow, Shamrock was the lesser talented of the two, just maybe more commercial than John Brown.

In the end, as it usually goes in the music industry, the most commercial sounding artist won, instead of the one with the most talent, which is what led me to write this byte in the first place! Even Dante Ross, former A&R for 3rd Bass, out of his own mouth said “It’s not about the lyrics anymore", now adays it’s about what sells. WHAT?? So in other words, I guess timeless music means nothing…you can’t honestly say that you’ll be wanting to hear most of the stuff on the radio today 10 years from now. And be real honest with yourself when you think about that. Compared to the old music you used to love and the music you love now, will it really stand the test of time? It’s sad that Hip Hop is moving toward doing music solely for “the now” and what is trendy instead of music with substance that you will enjoy forever. I can’t be mad at Shamrock. Don’t hate the player, hate the game. But – it is frustrating as a Hip Hop fan and MC to see this kind of thing happen time and time again. And on top of that, being white, I am disappointed with the show as a whole because of the representation of white artists in the game…it’s almost embarrassing. In the end, music has no color and if you’re hot you’re hot…if you feel the need to rely on your skin color or some kind of a gimmick to get you on – you shouldn’t be doing this anyway. And yet, there are talks of a second season…but the show is called “The White Rapper Show”…need I say more?

Mz Nokz
OnOurGame Entertainment
www.onourgame.com