Straight from the heart, they represent hip hop.
Twenty four hours a day, three hundred sixty-five days a year, the heart and sound of New York City exudes through speakers, headphones, and apps by way of 97.1 FM WQHT. Better known to the world as Hot 97.
Now, decades after their impact on hip hop music and culture has made history, they’ve decided to add another lane; television. This should be nothing new to you. In a world saturated with dramatic and often embarrassing depictions of hip hop reality TV, the channel responsible, Vh1, has found the solution in Hot 97. Thankfully, we were able to catch up with the lovely Laura Stylez, Peter “PMD” Rosenberg, the legendary Cipha Sounds, and the ‘Old Man’ Ebro Darden of the coveted “Morning Show” as they give us what we need to know about “This Is Hot 97.”
First of all, congrats on the show.
All: Thanks!
What’s the message, or overall goal for you guys’ show? Like, the message you guys want to get out, despite it being a “reality show” and having that enigma attached to it.
Ebro: Actually, our goal is to not do a reality show because this isn’t a reality show, it’s an unscripted comedy. And then our next goal is to show that, as a hip hop radio station people who love the culture of hip hop, that we’re a hard-working family that loves each other and can have a good time and make people laugh or, you know, make people feel good. So, that’s really all we wanted to do with the show is — just how diverse and how much fun we have as people who work together and love hip hop.
How tasking is it now with the camera crews around? Do you find it a little more taxing with the cameras rolling?
Ebro: Well, there are cameras out all the time because we’re always making stuff for the uh the web and all of that. You know, we put out probably 3-4 videos every day, anyway. It wasn’t nothing for us.
Nice, nice. Now despite being unscripted, it’s still Vh1 and you know what they’re synonymous with when it comes to unscripted hip hop.
Rosenberg: Ratchet!!
Exactly, so do you guys have creative control over the record button on the camera?
Ebro: We don’t have control over the record button – no. But we are an active participant in the creative process. And, nothing’s getting recorded if we don’t like it.
OK Great! So, are there any pros and cons of the production team being around?
Ebro: Um, I would say the cons were our days were longer. Usually we’d leave work by noon when we do our morning show but, if we were taping something with Angie [Martinez] or [Funk] Flex, we might need to stay at the station ‘til 5, 6 o’clock. And vice versa for Angie and Flex, they might have to come in at like 10 am to start doing hair and makeup and –it’s just are days are longer. Because most reality people like, they don’t have jobs or lives [laughs].
All: [Laughs]
So can we expect to see the Mr. Cee’s mixes at noon recorded and on TV now?
Ebro: Nah, it’s not well—I mean, we make videos of Cee’s mixes – everything that we already do on the web, and everything we do for the station, the TV show is completely different. We didn’t feel like it was special for us to take what we already do on the web and just put it on a cable channel – that’s corny. We wanted to showcase the people in the backseat.
I’m glad you said that. So this wouldn’t be a direct response to the competition, then?
Ebro: No, our show’s been in place for a really long time. We’ve been in the works for over a year.
Ok, great! Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Ebro: I will say that I hope that people have a good time and see that we’re trying to bring something different and entertaining to the table. It’s like a sociology experiment for me to see if all the complaints that hip hop makes about how it’s represented on television. When somebody tries to offer something else, let’s see if people embrace it.
Well, you guys are solidified with the brand as is, so I’m sure it’ll go far.
Ebro: As long as people just enjoy it, that’s what we set out to do — have some fun.
-Jamaal Fisher (@jamaalfisher)
Check “This Is Hot 97” HERE
