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37-518: The show was created by former BET VJ/producer Alvin Jones, a.k.a. "The Unseen VJ". This was a spin-off of the "Rap Week" segment of Video Vibrations , also hosted by "The Unseen VJ". While its competitor Yo! MTV Raps , which is now discontinued, mainly focused on popular rappers, Rap City also included videos from up-and-coming underground rappers. In 1999, Stephen G. Hill, then-president of Music Programming, took Rap City from its original format,

74-734: A Rap City '21 special was aired with Big Tigger as a host, with Fat Joe as guest. In 2023, a documentary about this series, Welcome to Rap City , premiered on BET for three episodes. It also aired on VH1 and streamed on Paramount+ . Video Vibrations Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 260448396 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 11:05:31 GMT Black Entertainment Television Black Entertainment Television ( BET )

111-430: A joint venture with Starz (then-owned by John Malone's Liberty Media , but later acquired by Lionsgate years later) to launch a multiplex service of the premium channel featuring black American-oriented films called "BET Movies: Starz! 3" (later renamed "Black Starz" after BET dropped out of the venture following its purchase by Viacom, then-owner of Starz rival Showtime , and now known as "Starz InBlack"). In 2001,

148-526: A BET-branded channel was launched on Pluto TV (which was acquired by its parent company two months earlier). In June 2019, the launch of BET+ was announced, a premium streaming service targeting Black Americans. The service launched in the United States in Fall 2019 with First Wives Club (which was originally planned to launch on Paramount Network before being shifted to BET) announced as one of

185-503: A large variety of programming, but the problem is that then the video revolution started up... And then something started happening, and I didn't like it at all. And I remember during those days we would sit up and watch these videos and decide which ones were going on and which ones were not. We got a lot of backlash from recording artists...and we had to start showing them. I didn't like the way women were being portrayed in these videos." BET has launched several spin-off cable networks over

222-399: A new show to fit a studio format; Rap City was re-titled Rap City: Tha Basement and newly hosted by Big Tigger (a.k.a. Tigger), who succeeded Joe Clair and Big Lez. On August 28, 2000, BET moved the show to 4 p.m. On January 18, 2005, the show was repackaged and Big Tigger was replaced as host by Mad Linx, a DJ and radio personality. The transition was explained that Tigger's "mother" sold

259-566: A news program, BET News , in 1986, with Paul Berry as its first anchor. Berry was also a local anchor at WJLA-TV in Washington, DC at that time. Ed Gordon became anchor in 1988. Gordon later hosted other programs and specials on BET, such as For Black Men Only: The Aftermath , related to the 1992 Los Angeles riots , and a recurring interview show, Conversations with Ed Gordon . In 1996, the talk show BET Tonight started with Tavis Smiley as host; in 2001, Ed Gordon replaced Smiley as host of

296-440: A studio format renamed Rap City Tha Basement . Producer John Tucker is credited with creating the now iconic segment The Booth located in the basement bathroom, where the elements gave a grassroots, raw feel to the show. In these particular segments, the guests would lay exclusive new (or often recycled) vocals on the spot. This came to be around Big Tigger's tenure, which also included a guest DJ every week. Seemingly, this concept

333-577: A thrice-daily automated wheel schedule of eight hours outside of temporary "roadblock" closures during Paramount Global's awards events, with all of its programming currently denoted in hour blocks as BET Jams – Music Videos within electronic program guide listings. The channel launched on May 1, 2002, as MTV Jams, and carried that name until October 5, 2015, and was placed under BET's purview as MTV drifted away from music programming along with 106 & Park . The network space itself launched on August 1, 1998, as MTVX , carrying modern rock videos, and

370-573: A traveling show that went into the cities of the hottest rappers in the country, to an in studio format. Retitled Rap City: Tha Basement after meeting [at a DJ/Music Convention] DJ & radio personalities The Bassment Brothers: Trouble T & Phil the Thrill, who were doing a show called Friday Night in the Bassment on WKKV fm radio in Milwaukee, WI during this time. Big Tigger, the host chosen for

407-547: A weekday radio DJ for WHTA Hot 107.9 FM in Atlanta . On August 14, 2006, Q45 replaced Mad Linx on the show. On September 25, 2006, the time slot for Rap City changed to 4 p.m., and then flipped back to 5 p.m. in October 2006 . From that moment on, Q45 hosted the show on Weekdays. Mad Linx hosted Rap City Top 10 on Saturdays and Big Tigger hosted the show as Rap City Presents... specials. On September 17, 2007, BET changed

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444-486: Is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is currently owned by the BET Media Group , a subsidiary of Paramount Global 's CBS Entertainment Group . Originally launched as a program block on January 25, 1980, BET would eventually become a full-fledged channel on July 1, 1983. As of November 2023 , BET is available to approximately 67,000,000 pay television households in

481-596: Is available in Europe, Africa and the Middle East through satellite providers. BET launched on February 27, 2008, on Sky channel 191 and began to be carried by Freesat channel 140 on August 8, 2008. BET+1 is also available on Sky channel 198 and Freesat channel 141, and is free-to-air. BET International shows with a mix of content from the main BET channel and locally produced shows. An exclusive, but temporary, HD version of

518-709: The King funeral live. On the evening of the funeral, February 7, 2006, BET broadcast the tribute special Coretta Scott King: Married to the Mission , and repeated it the following Sunday, February 12. Showell hosted the program featuring highlights of the funeral, Coretta Scott King: Celebrating Her Spirit , that broadcast that same day. In its 2007 convention, the National Association of Black Journalists gave BET its "Thumbs Down Award" for not broadcasting King's funeral live. The New York Times reported that

555-593: The Reverend Delman L. Coates and his organization Enough is Enough led protests every weekend outside the residences of BET executives against what they claim are negative stereotypes of black people perpetuated by BET music videos. Enough is Enough backed an April 2008 report titled The Rap on Rap by the Parents Television Council that criticized BET's rap programming, suggesting that the gratuitous sexual, violent and profane content

592-474: The United States-down from its 2011 peak of 92,000,000 households. After stepping down as a lobbyist for the cable industry, Freeport , Illinois native Robert L. Johnson decided to launch his own cable television network. Johnson acquired a loan for $ 15,000 (equivalent to $ 55,648 in 2023) and a $ 500,000 (equivalent to $ 1,854,921 in 2023) investment from media executive John Malone to start

629-519: The basement and forced him out to live with his father. On October 3, 2005, Mad Linx went on hiatus to host BET Road Show; for the following several months, the show was hosted by J-Nicks, a native of St. Louis . Occasionally, special guests (such as a hip hop star) would host Rap City . The show's runtime was also shortened from two to one hour. On December 28, 2005, BET returned the show to its original 5 p.m. time slot. Mad Linx returned to his weekday routine on February 2, 2006. J-Nicks left to work as

666-685: The channel was made to show the 2009 BET Awards on Freesat EPG 142. BET is additionally an associate member of the Caribbean Cable Cooperative. BET launched an app called BET Play allowing international access to BET content in over 100 countries in June 2016. The channel was shut down on April 8, 2021, with its content moved to My5 and Pluto TV . BET became available through most Canadian pay television providers on October 17, 1997, though with select programming substituted and blacked out due to domestic broadcast groups owning

703-456: The channel). As a result, BET heavily censors suggestive content from the videos that it airs, often with entire verses and scenes removed from certain rap videos. Many scholars within the black American community maintain that BET perpetuates and justifies racism by affecting the stereotypes held about black Americans, and also by affecting the psyche of its young viewers through its bombardment of negative images of black Americans. Following

740-405: The death of civil rights leader Coretta Scott King in 2006, BET broadcast its regularly scheduled music video programming, rather than covering King's funeral live, as was done by TV One and Black Family Channel , and by cable news channels such as CNN , Fox News Channel , and MSNBC . The network's website streamed the funeral live, while it periodically broadcast taped, 60-second reports from

777-407: The funeral by senior news correspondent Andre Showell. Michael Lewellen, BET's senior vice president for corporate communications, defended the decision: "We weighed a number of different options. In the end, we chose to offer a different kind of experience for BET viewers." Lewellen also explained that BET received around "two dozen" phone calls and "a handful" of emails criticizing BET for not showing

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814-646: The iconic performance in the bathroom that became "The Booth". Among notable previous hosts of the show are Chris Thomas (the first host of the show from 1989 – 1991 ). Throughout his run, Thomas was also known as "The Mayor of Rap City ", or simply "The Mayor". Other hosts included Hans Dobson aka Prime (1989–1993), Prince DaJour (1991–1994), Joe Clair (1994–1999), Leslie Segar (a.k.a. Big Lez) (1994–1999), Big Tigger (1998–2005), DJ Mad Linx (2005–2006), J-Nicks (2005–2006) and Q-45 (2006–2008). On September 13, 1999, Stephen G. Hill, BET's President of Music Programming, Senior Producer Craig Henry and Producer John Tucker

851-539: The network on September 11, 2008. He was then replaced by Stephen Hill, who is also executive vice president of music programming and talent. BET announced in March 2010 that Ed Gordon would return to the network to host "a variety of news programs and specials". In March 2017, president of programming Stephen Hill and executive vice president of original programming Zola Mashariki both stepped down. Connie Orlando, senior vice president of Specials, Music Programming, and News

888-709: The network was bought by media conglomerate Viacom (later to become part of Paramount Global ) for $ 3 billion. In 2005, Johnson retired from the network, turning over his titles of president and chief executive officer to former BET vice president Debra L. Lee . In 2002, the network had launched two more music-oriented networks: BET Hip-Hop and BET Gospel . BET also launched a series of original programming by this time, including reality shows Baldwin Hills and Hell Date , competition show Sunday Best , and town hall-style discussion show Hip Hop vs. America . BET's president of entertainment Reginald Hudlin resigned from

925-505: The network would not arrive at all until as late as the early 2010s and Viacom considered it compulsory in retransmission consent negotiations to carry the BET-branded networks with Viacom Media Networks , due to some providers claiming that there was an overall lack of demand for the channel, or excused their lack of interest in BET due to an alleged low to non-existent Black American population within their service area. BET launched

962-424: The network's lineup was composed of music videos and reruns of popular black sitcoms . In 1983, BET became a full-fledged entity, independent of any other channel or programming block, though continuing to share channel space with other cable networks on local cable systems due to lack of channel room for their 24-hour schedule until the time of digital cable allowed for larger channel capacity. In some markets,

999-531: The network. The network, which was named Black Entertainment Television (BET), launched on January 25, 1980. Cheryl D. Miller designed the logo that would represent the network, which featured a star to symbolize "Black Star Power". Initially, broadcasting for two hours a week as a block of programming on the Madison Square Garden Sports Network (which would change their name to USA Network three months after BET launched),

1036-584: The program. In 1991, the network became the first black-controlled television company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange . Starting the late 1990s, the network expanded with the launch of digital cable networks: what is now the general interest channel BET Her was initially launched as "BET on Jazz" (later known as "BET Jazz", "BET J", and "Centric"), created initially to showcase jazz music-related programming, especially that of black American jazz musicians. In 1997, BET entered into

1073-401: The service's original series. BET Gospel is a television network in the United States that launched on July 1, 2002. The network provides gospel and religious-related programming, and much of its time is paid for by religious organizations to carry their programming and services. BET Jams is an American pay television network airing hip-hop and urban contemporary music videos on

1110-400: The show, even resembled one of the brothers: Trouble T. So much so that his grandmother reached out to him to congratulate him about the show after mistaking Tigger for her grandson! Hill, Senior Producer Craig Henry and Producer John Tucker were credited with creating the studio format. Henry created a 360° basement set that gave the illusion of a real basement, and Tucker was noted for creating

1147-415: The time slot of Rap City to 1 a.m. ET, a time slot previously held by syndicated programming. In October 2007, due to series-low ratings, Rap City returned to its previous time slot at 5 p.m. In September 2008, Rap City obtained a new time of 3 p.m. One of the most prominent and most popular segments of the show has been the freestyle booth. The booth was a segment that was added when Rap City becomes

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1184-455: The wall. On October 1, 2008, BET officially canceled Rap City . Its last airing was Saturday, November 8, 2008, and was replaced by now-cancelled The Deal on November 10, 2008. On Friday, June 12, 2009, a Rap City: Relapse special was aired on BET hosted by Big Tigger with guest Eminem . On November 6, 2013, Rap City returned with another special called EM360 with guest Eminem to promote his album The Marshall Mathers LP 2 . In 2021,

1221-496: The years, including BET Her (formerly known as "BET on Jazz", then "BET J" and later "Centric"), BET Hip-Hop, and BET Gospel. Overtime, spin-offs from sibling channels would be realigned under the BET branding; such as BET Jams (formerly known as " MTV Jams"), BET Soul (formerly known as "VH1 Soul"), SHO×BET, a premium Showtime multiplex network, and VH1 (an older-skewing spin-off of MTV that drifted into reality shows and, later, Black American-centric programming). In May 2019,

1258-934: Was named the interim president of programming. In July 2017, Viacom signed new film and television development deals with Tyler Perry following the expiration of his existing pact with Discovery Inc. in 2019. As part of this deal, Perry would produce The Oval and Sistas for BET and co-own the network's newly launched streaming service, BET+ . A wide range of people have protested elements of BET's programming and actions, including Public Enemy rapper Chuck D , journalist George Curry , writer Keith Boykin , comic book creator Christopher Priest , filmmaker Spike Lee , Syracuse University professor of finance Dr. Boyce Watkins , former NFL player Burgess Owens , and cartoonist Aaron McGruder (who, in addition to numerous critical references throughout his series The Boondocks , made two particular episodes, " The Hunger Strike " and " The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show ", criticizing

1295-526: Was re-focused around hip-hop music on that date, to some controversy from MTVX's former viewers. BET UK first transmitted on Videotron (now known as Virgin Media) and several other subscription providers from 1993 until 1996. In May 2007 by Ofcom , BET International Inc. was given a license to rebroadcast in the United Kingdom. BET International is the first international version of the channel and

1332-453: Was scrapped when "Tha Basement" concept left but it has since returned. This is now seen as a major staple of Rap City , although no hosts other than Joe Clair and Big Tigger have joined in during the freestyle sessions. When Rap City premiered in 2005, the show featured a different studio, which replaced the basement. Instead of the basement bathroom, artists would freestyle in an elevator room, where artists would often leave their signatures on

1369-461: Was targeting children and teens. In a 2010 interview, BET co-founder Sheila Johnson explained that she herself is "ashamed" of what the network has become. "I don't watch it. I suggest to my kids that they don't watch it," she said. "When we started BET, it was going to be the Ebony magazine on television. We had public affairs programming. We had news... I had a show called Teen Summit , we had

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