The collection
of hip-hop journalists who penned the best selling "ego trip’s Big Book
of Racism!," are looking to turn their tome into television through a partnership
with VH1.
According to Chairman
Mao, a member of the editorial team behind the defunct ego trip magazine, they
are developing a "spin-off television program" titled "TV Race
Riot!."
The program will
examine the trials and tribulations of minorities on television. Backed with
the irreverent wit which ego trip was known to deliver, the show will provide
an acerbic tone to the sensitive subject of race and the visual medium of television.
Chairman Mao, a
founder of ego trip, has said the country has an obsessive fixation for all
things race and his team simply is bringing that idea to the forefront, much
to the chagrin of conservative talk-show host Bill O’Reilly who denounced their
book as "a big mistake."
"We presented
the idea that race is the new pornography," the scribe told Fortune magazine.
"[It’s] a fascinating taboo that America still has problems talking about
openly."
The five-man ego
trip collective-Elliot Wilson of XXL magazine, Sacha Jenkins, Gabriel Alvarez,
Chairman Mao, and photographer Brent Rollins-also released "ego trip’s
Book of Rap Lists," in November of 1999. There is no
word when "TV Race Riot!," will air.
Another television
project put together by ego trip alumni is the XXL & MTV2 presentation of
the most anticipated hip-hop albums of 2004. The show is slated to his airwaves
January 25 at 2 p.m. ET.
