Wake Up Show Sells Out
Original premise of Wake Up Show:
1. Sway, Tech, DJ Revolution, and Carmelita
2. Focus on independent artists
3. Freestyles galore
4. Exclusive tracks, mixing, scratching, and juggling.
Premise behind new Wake Up MTV Show:
1. Sway, Tech... and Khool-Aid?!?! (Rev is barely audible)
2. Focus on movie stars, models, and overexposed rappers
3. 8 and 16 bar freestyles ONLY, preferably written by someone else
4. No music whatsoever... "Alright people... look good for the camera!"
You know, what most disappoints me is not that MTV's version of the Wake Up Show has almost no hip hop content. What disappoints me is the realization that, over the past eight months, the Wake Up Show's radio broadcasts were actually taping sessions for the MTV show. They were taping for MTV and didn't even mention it once. That is just plain dishonest. They should have said something. They were taping the fucking show and didn't even bother to tell the listeners. Gee, thanks... I guess it's more important to look good for the cameras than tell your loyal, diehard audience that the entire broadcast has been scripted for MTV.
Obviously, the reason they didn't mention the taping was the potential for a backlash (not to mention a jinx). You know, I'll bet they even told the guests not to say anything about the cameras. And I guess, from here on out we can assume that most -- if not all -- Wake Up Show broadcasts are being taped for MTV. And now we will know why all these movie stars and non-hiphop guests like Farnsworth Bentley, Mekhai Pfeiffer, and Meagan Good (qualifications: appeared in a 50 Cent video) are on the show.
You know what... I challenge Sway and Tech to come clean like Jeru. Tell us why you didn't say anything about the taping on the show. Will the show ever return to its original guiding principles? On MTV? On the radio? Please... say it ain't so. Oh, and... is the show taped during the day? I coulda swore I saw sunlight coming in through the windows.
Posted by Eric on January 12, 2004 11:36 PM
it's hard to expand your horizons yet still please your core audience. I haven't seen the show but I like Sway and I think he has a lot of integrity. I HOPE the show is not as bad as you say it is.
This is what I was afraid of and hinting at in my comment on the previous entry.
I saw one edition of the show on Mon. AM and, while I didn't think it was as bad you probably did, it really couldn't hold a candle to the Wake Up radio shows I remember listening to during my trips to the West Coast back in early-mid 90's.
Frankly though, I never really understood how you could translate a radio show like that to TV in the first place. That's about as boring as watching (if you're completely out of your mind) the TV broadcasts of Imus or Limbaugh's radio shows.
It is pretty horrible. I'll give credit were credit is due (and I've always always loved Sway and Tech and acknowledge that he's done a lot of good over the years) but I think that this was pretty much a bitch move. It would be one thing to focus more on mainstream hip hop artist (and I'd love to hear some freestyles from Freeway, David Banner, Cam, etc...) but it's another to totally change your format is unforgivable.
Come on guys! I'm all for artistic integrity as well however, lets not get carried away and critizie those who are brave enough to venture out of their comfort zone or, comprise so as to be exposed to a wider audience and cash in a bit in the process. I use the word comprosive above with no negative connotation.
Martin
TheBurly.com
Maybe you need to be reminded of where you are posting... this is the Stink Zone.
Come on guys, you acn't expect them to announce that they are working on a show with mtv. there are things like "non disclousure agreements" (sp) in contracts that prevent that sort of thing prior to a promotional blitz.
pz!
Oh, well if it is part of a big legal contract... then it's OK.
You "come on" yourself. I am a religious fan of the Wake Up Show on the radio. But after two episodes of the TV show, I couldn't watch it anymore cuz it was just another celebrity worship show.
To me, the Wake Up Show is synonymous with dope hip hop, and anything else is beside the point.
ANYBODY WHO TAPES SHOWS SHOULD POST A COMMENT OR SEND ME AN EMAIL.
WE ARE STARTING A TAPER EXCHANGE GROUP!!
its a freaggin' show. they dont owe you anything, if you dont like it, change the channel or make up your own show. on the other hand, in these big companies there are always rules by the execs who ditate what to do for the money. its always a gamble. im sure they want to be real and all that, but you gotta let the show grow. give it time.
To all of the true heads who grew up listening to KDAY 1580am in L.A....
The Wake Up Show was a great rebirth of true, yes true hip hop for the radio. Since it's existance, I'm sure we can all respect the talent, integrity, and weight that DJ Rev,Tech & Sway along with Carmelita posses. I must agree however that the MTV gig is horrible. I hate when $money$ starts to corrupt true art forms.
Keep Vinyl Alive!
DJ Wreck
Who cares really? How could you be so into something like the wake up show that you created a web site dedicated to dissing the show just becuz the shit's not going the way YOU'D like it to go? Of all the IMPORTANT things you could've created a site around, why choose the Fake Up Show? it just aint that serious, fool! Real hip hop lives with the individual. Stop expecting someone else to maintain what your idea of hip hop should be and just represent that shit for yourself. What the fuck is REAL hip hop anyway? What's real to you may still be wack to someone else. So again, WHO CARES?
the wake up show is too tight and I love it big time
this show, when it started was the sickiest thing that i personaly have heard!i think it was three o four yrs ago and i was locked up at c.c.a.
8 months of 23 hr lockdown!the time i had at the yard i spent practicin my b-boy shit so i wont rust up. everybody thought i was crazy or a fag. i had to represent who i am and what im about many times.
in short the wake up show was my only modivation.when my sentance was done. i came out a stronger b-boy.not because i was locked up, but because the wake up show helped me realize that i reflect "real hip hop" in the sickest way ipossibly can. ANOTHER MANS DEFINITION OF HIP HOP WONT FUCK WITH MINE!!!
ps : how many radio shows put m.c that think they are the real shit on the spot?
plus the show is put on the spot all the time! personaly they handle all the critics just like anyone rep'n hiphop would!!!
one more : matha fuckas got bills too....SHIT!
I agree with Eric and his original posting. I am disappointed as well with the constant perpetual degradation of Hip-Hop. The purists lose one staple at a time until the entire industry is controlled by the musical urges of the lemming population. It's been said, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".....so who the hell thought the show was broke and needed to be fixed? Changes are not always necessarily improvements. I used to listen to the wake up show, just like I used to watch BET and Rap City. The original target audiences of all these shows is now WAY out of range. Hip-Hop used to be about the new cat you haven't heard of, like the individual listener had a responsibility to pay attention and keep up. But now it seems that all these shows take extra effort to do the opposite of their original intended mission. I have come to accept that there is no way to stop the degradation of our music (and all the people that defend these changes) so I do my best to teach my kids and all around me about the true Hip-Hop. Remember.....leaders are ALWAYS out-numbered by the followers! Anybody that wants to holla at a real connoisseur and collector of fine and rare Hip-Hop.......holla atcha boy! (virtu1@netzero.net)
