Judges!

So it's the early 90's...

A teenage Diggedy rushes home from Ryan Junior High School. He immediately puts on channel 31.

Ralph McDaniels video music box. Greatest show on earth. Video comes on. Camera shooting up a girls skirt as she walks up stairs. The Black Sheep "Choice Is Yours" video. He loves this song more than he can explain.

Video music box ends. Young Diggedy heads upstairs to his room. He throws in a dub cassette tape of "De La Soul is Dead". He didn't know it then, but 17 years later he'd be calling it his favorite album ever. One of his favorite songs on the album is a mellow track called "Pass the Peas", where the producer of the album stepped out from behind the boards to lend a verse: "Fourth pea is passed, I am known as (*scratches* Prince Paul), yo thanks mase".

A day many of us can relate to, right? So with that said...

Meet the Judges for the First Annual Hip Hop Karaoke Championship:

PRINCE PAUL


One of hip-hop’s most legendary producers, Prince Paul began his career as the DJ for Stetsasonic, the first hip-hop group to employ a live band, before delving full-on into production. As the man behind the boards for De La Soul’s first three albums, Paul’s kitchen-sink mentality for sampling and hilarious interludes set the blueprint for generations of up-and-coming hip-hop producers. Under the name Handsome Boy Modeling School (with Dan the Automator), the duo released two forward-thinking and innovative albums featuring everyone from Mike D to Cat Power to Mike Patton. On the solo tip, in 1999, he released the critically-acclaimed hip-hopera Prince Among Thieves, featuring Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie and Xzibit and returned with 2003’s Politics of the Business. Paul’s latest project is Baby Elephant, a collaboration with Don Newkirk and P-Funk’s Bernie Worrell.

RALPH MCDANIELS


Before Yo! MTV Raps, before Rap City, there was “Uncle” Ralph McDaniels’ Video Music Box, the first television show to feature hip-hop videos. Still going strong after more than 20 years, the show became a springboard for countless rappers including Jay-Z, Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, Black Sheep and De La Soul. Chances are, whoever your favorite rapper is, they made their debut on VMB. McDaniels is also the host and creator of The Bridge, a weekly show focusing on classic 90s hip-hop videos. An active member of the hip-hop community since it began, McDaniels can be credited for breaking some of hip-hop’s biggest names. An accomplished director as well, Ralph was behind the lens for some of hip-hop’s most unforgettable videos, including Nas’s “It Ain’t Hard To Tell,” Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M.,” Black Moon’s “Who Got Da Props?,” and Raekwon’s “Ice Cream.” Ralph can be heard every Saturday afternoon as a DJ for New York’s Hot 97.

DRES (OF BLACK SHEEP)


As a founding member of Black Sheep, Dres helped pioneer the witty, clever side of emceeing in hip-hop. The group’s debut album, 1991’s A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, has long been in the canon of hip-hop’s favorite albums, with tracks like “Strobelite Honey,” “Similak Child, “Flavor of the Month” and the classic “The Choice is Yours” fixtures of countless compilations and DJ sets. As part of 90s hip-hop collective Native Tongues (with De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest and Queen Latifah among others), Black Sheep’s eclectic samples and concepts helped foster in a new era of hip-hop that continues to influence to this day. Most recently, Dres can be heard on Handsome Boy Modeling School’s “First…and Then” and 2007’s 90s remix of Nas’s “Where Are They Now?”.

Wooooord!

- Wex.