BET alum DJ Mad Linx spoke with AllHipHop.com in Miami recently about the question that many die-hard, seasoned Hip-Hop fans have been wondering for years – “What happened to Rap City?”
The former host explained, “My personal opinion – technology happened. When you look back to the last seven or eight years of what’s happened, you’ve got YouTube, MySpace, Facebook; even the street DVDs took a lot of steam out of what people once had to go home to and watch on TV.
“You could think back to a period in time where if you wanted to know what was happening in the world of Hip-Hop, you only had a few options of what to check out – The Source, later on XXL, at one point, “YoMTV Raps”, and of course, “Rap City”.
Mad Linx offered some of his personal highlights from working on the show: “There was definitely a lot of people that came through ‘Rap City’ while I was there, a lot of people I wish had come through that didn’t. The most ironic thing of the time I was there, Game had just come out at the time; he was the newest signee to G-Unit. Right around the time he was supposed to appear, the whole Hot 97 thing popped off.”
Regarding some of his favorite freestyles: “Cassidy was a high point; Kanye West was great to have – at that point in time, he was just coming into his own; he was ascending. Late Registration had just dropped. We had Talib Kweli, Xzibit, and the Strong Arm Steady crew.”
In the meantime, in 2012, fans who are still holding onto the nostalgia of shows like “Rap City” can tap into the show-inspired, artist mash-up Mad Linx is promoting via a new mixtape entitled What Happened to Rap City? Vol. 1.
Download What Happened to Rap City Vol. 1 here
Follow Mad Linx on Twitter (@MadLinx).
Follow Mikey T The Movie Star on Twitter (@MTMovieStar).