Ego Trip's The (White) Rapper Show
| Ego Trip's The (White) Rapper Show | |
|---|---|
| Created by | ego trip |
| Starring | MC Serch |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Producer | Ken Mok / 10x10 entertainment |
| Running time | 1 Hour |
| Original release | |
| Network | VH1 |
| Release | January 8, 2007 |
ego trip's The (White) Rapper Show is an American reality television series on the VH1 cable network. In the show, ten white rappers compete with each other for the chance at a $100,000 grand prize. The show is based in the South Bronx, with MC Serch from the group 3rd Bass serving as the host. At the end of each show, one rapper is eliminated. The winner will be announced on March 12, 2007.
Contestants
| Rapper | Eliminated |
|---|---|
| Dasit | Episode 1 |
| Misfit | Episode 2 |
| G-Child | Episode 3 |
| 100 Proof | Episode 4 |
| Sullee | Episode 5 |
| Jon Boy | Episode 5 |
| Persia | Episode 6 |
| John Brown | |
| $hamrock | |
| Jus Rhyme |
Episodes
Episode 1
The first episode details the casting audition; out of all of the rappers that show up, 10 are chosen: Dasit, Jon Boy, Misfit, Sullee, Persia, John Brown, 100 Proof, $hamrock, Jus Rhyme, and G-Child. The 10 chosen are then introduced to their new home in the South Bronx, "Tha White House," which has been designed and furnished to "keep the true essence of hip hop," as opposed to a typical, lavishly designed and furnished reality show house. Early on, trouble brews between John Brown and Persia. Due to John Brown's vague talk about a "ghetto revival" and his claims of his status as "King of the 'Burbs," and due to her pent up frustration, she challenges him to a freestyle battle, which John Brown seems hesitant to do. Sullee enters the fray, as well, but Persia restrains him. Next, she grabs her dildo and pushes it into his face, desperately trying to coax him into a battle.
The next day, because of her constant use of the "N-word" during the altercation, she has to wear an exceptionally large and heavy "N-word chain" for 24 hours, while the cast goes to a miniature golf course. While leaving the golf course, Persia breaks down, claiming that she "made herself look like an idiot," and she learned her lesson.
The next day, the cast is split into two teams: one group consists of Misfit, Dasit, 100 Proof, Jon Boy, and John Brown as captain; the other has $hamrock, Sullee, Jus Rhyme, G-Child, and Persia as captain. Persia's team receives good reviews on their rapping skills by their neighbors in the South Bronx, but John Brown's team does not.
The team who lost the "Meet the Neighbors" challenge is sent to elimination. At elimination, where contestants are supposed to write a verse about their experiences that day, Dasit is eliminated because he did not prepare a verse; when asked, he responded that he "couldn't write without hearing music." An infuriated MC Serch tells him off and announces his elimination. As Dasit leaves the house he is ambushed by a giant cockroach wielding a large can of "Step Off!" spray.
Episode 2
After Dasit's exit, the others wonder why he refused to write a rap for the previous elimination round. Meanwhile, Sullee and Misfit strike up a flirtation.
A jail bus arrives to take the white rappers to meet hip hop pioneers such as Fabel, from the Zulu Nation, and Kurtis Blow, one of the first mainstream rap artists. The rappers are offered the opportunity to dance, but only Jus Rhyme, G-Child, and Sullee dance; while none necessarily excels at their breakdance attempts, all of the rappers feel that Jus Rhyme did particularly bad, with one rapper noting he "looked like he was trying to dance bad on purpose." After they meet Fabel and Kurtis Blow, the rappers are brought to a church, where they are tested on their rap trivia knowledge, in a "Name That Tune" style competition called "U Betta Recognize." Persia, 100 Proof, and John Brown make it to the final round, but 100 Proof wins, which earns him a "ghetto pass", excusing him from elimination activities.
The other eight participants are split into two groups and told to create a group rap on the topic of respect. One group consists of G-Child, Jon Boy, Jus Rhyme, and $hamrock; the other group consists of Persia, Misfit, John Brown, and Sullee. G-Child's group encourages her to feel confident and participate. In the other group, Misfit disappears for a while, while the other three write lyrics. Grandmaster Caz helps MC Serch judge the competition. While the judges agree that both presentations are good, Grandmaster Caz voices his objections over the first group's use of profanity, which he deems "not necessary", and G-Child, Jon Boy, Jus Rhyme, and $hamrock win the competition.
In the morning, the competitors receive a "Mayo" message from MC Serch, hinting that they will battle their own worst enemy — themselves. The rappers facing elimination begin thinking about what they can say to make fun of themselves, with the exception of Misfit, who says she has "plenty of stuff" to say about herself, but none of it bad.
At the elimination competition, Persia, Misfit, John Brown, and Sullee are put in the "Ice Ice Chamber" to write their self-deprecating raps. After 30 minutes, they emerge. Sullee goes first and delivers a light-hearted self-attack, even poking fun at how he "slept with Misfit for three nights but didn't seal the deal." John Brown mentions each of his catch phrases — "ghetto revival," "hallelujah hollaback," etc., and makes fun of it. Persia's rap starts off well, but she forgets the end and gives up. Misfit's rap is not actually self-deprecating, and contains many of the same ideas as her other raps.
MC Serch and Prince Paul deliberate. They agree that Sullee's rap was excellent and clever, John Brown's rap was unexpectedly self-deprecating, but not that interesting otherwise, Persia started well, but lost points by giving up, and that Misfit seemed to be resting on her laurels and not really following the rules. For that reason, they decide to eliminate Misfit, a decision which MC Serch says "hurts [his] heart a little."
Misfit hands over her sneakers and MC Serch throws them over the clothesline, saying, "Sorry, Sullee, [but] you're not gonna get to close the deal."
As Misfit leaves the house, she is stopped by a popsicle vendor and is given a popsicle by a group of girls, who tell her to "Step off!" Then, Misfit bites into the popsicle and the screen shatters into frozen pieces.
Episode 3
After Misfit's departure, John Brown pokes fun at the fact that two members of his original team have been eliminated, while all of Persia's are still in the game. Meanwhile, the others discuss G-Child's Vanilla Ice fixation in greater detail.
MC Serch arrives with two members of Brand Nubian, Sadat X and Lord Jamar, who Serch says will give them advice on breath control, since today's challenge "involves going to a real studio." Sadat gives helpful advice to the rappers, who appear to appreciate it and ask questions. Jamar is silent, finally speaking up to ask why the rappers deserve advice. The show's editors emphasize how long the pause is by mixing in scenes of the sun rising and setting. Finally, G-Child says she's an "O.G." and really wants to be a rapper. Jamar asks who is the one who's into "ghetto revival." John Brown says that it's him, and attempts to defend it, saying it's a company he has started. Jamar says, "The ghetto represents pain for black people. Why would y'all want to revive it?" MC Serch finally steps in and defends the white rappers, saying he "cherry picked" them, and has a few of them rap for the visiting rappers. He also allows Persia to show off her love for Brand Nubian; she says she wore out their cassette as a girl.
MC Serch says he's splitting them up into two teams for their time in "the studio," where they will be working with Prince Paul. Team 1 (Red Team) is Persia, John Brown, Jon Boy, and Jus Rhyme. Persia confesses displeasure in an interview segment, saying her team is lyrically weak. Team 2 (Blue team) is $hamrock, G-Child, Sullee, and 100 Proof. They ride over in their vans, only to find out that by "studio," Serch had meant a TV studio, where the white rappers to have to participate in a game show.
The game show is called "Affirmative Reaction," which $hamrock describes as "a ghetto form of Family Feud" about the black experience in America. Prince Paul explains that it's important for MCs to be able to make a connection with their audience, and reveals that the prize is a night out on the town with an important mystery guest. There are five rounds, five questions total. The first three questions are, "Top term of endearment for African-American women," "African-American icons often seen in black barbershops," "Name a black stereotype that blacks secretly believe is true." The fourth round, "A word best used to describe OJ," is skipped, because Jon Boy guesses "innocent," while $hamrock guesses "nutritious," stating that that's all he could think of. Neither answer is there, so they move on to "Products most commonly advertised on Soul Train." The Red Team wins, but the Blue Team wins a consolation prize, "White privilege." Prince Paul concludes, "Remember, if you're white, you're all winners."
The Red Team later learns that their reward is to meet rapper Juelz Santana at a soul-food restaurant. In the meantime, the Blue Team is forced to wash the others' laundry. Since the others are clueless on how to wash the clothes at the laundromat, $hamrock helps them out.
In the morning, the rappers get a Mayo-mail, in which Serch tells them that they look terrible and so he's arranged for them to go a barber shop to get cleaned up. G-Child claims that she's been feeling sick, vomiting and feverish, and decides to stay home. At the barber shop, the white rappers attempt to win over the black customers, with varying degrees of success.
$hamrock, G-Child, Sullee, and 100 Proof now face elimination. For the elimination challenge, each rapper selects a slice of bread from the "white loaf," each with a somewhat different topic: Sullee gets "white power"; G-Child gets "white trash"; 100 Proof gets "whitewash," and $hamrock gets "white guilt." They go to the Ice Ice Chamber to write their raps, and return 30 minutes later to perform them.
Afterwards, Serch and Prince Paul confer to discuss the performance and who should be cut. They agree that 100 Proof's flow and energy was great (though his rhymes are too simple); that G-Child's performance was too halting, reminiscent of Vanilla Ice's style; that $hamrock was intense, heart-felt and "tremendous"; and that Sullee very much let them down because he completely forgot half his rap for several moments. It comes down to Sullee and G-Child. Sullee says he should stay in the house because he's "hungry," even though he made some mistakes. G-Child says that whatever will be, will be — but that she thinks she can win and wants to win. MC Serch tells Sullee that he was a disappointment, but then reveals that G-Child is eliminated. She hands in her sneakers, hugging Serch before she leaves. Serch tosses her shoes up on the clothesline, saying, "Alright, G-Child, be easy."
The show fades out with a shot of G-Child on a milk box (labeled with "Sour Milk" and "You Ain't Fresh"), as if she's a lost child.
Episode 4
This episode starts with a closer view into Jus Rhyme's white-deprecating personality.
The first challenge starts with the rappers split into two teams, The red team consists of Jus Rhyme, Persia, Jon Boy, and John Brown; and the blue team consists of $hamrock, 100 Proof, and Sullee. The teams are to come up with some lyrics to record in a professional studio. While planning their performance, Sullee and 100 Proof break out the liquor to loosen their nerves. They later travel to the studio in Manhattan where the audio will be mastered by producer Just Blaze and his associates, DJ Nastee and Ryan West. Each team is allocated two hours to record a song. During the recording session, the white rappers are continuing to show their disinterest in Jus Rhyme's unique perspective on things. Persia later describes him as "an odd soul." During the recording, $hamrock hears himself on a sour note and appears surprised at himself. The red team ends their record with a shout-out from Just Blaze. The results of the competition will determined later when the recordings are played at a local club.
After the recording session, the members of La Coka Nostra and House of Pain, Everlast, ADM, Danny Boy, and Ill Bill come by Tha White House to chill out with the white rappers. They share experiences of being white rappers with the competitors.
The white rappers awaken and are soon met by MC Serch to take the white rappers to a local New York strip club called Sin City. The winner of the recording competition will be determined by how well two strippers dance to each team's song. Kool Keith, whose songs usually pertain to strippers and strip clubs, is there to help in the judging of the competition. When the dancing starts to the blue team's song, Sullee and $hamrock begin tossing dollar bills at the strippers. The red team was criticized for "rapping separately" and lacking unison. The blue team was criticized for being too choppy. The red team wins and they were awarded with lap dances.
The next day starts out with a scene of 100 Proof peeing in the sink after a long night of drinking. The rappers have "Mayo" — the blue team is facing elimination. Prince Paul is assisting in judging the elimination challenge. The blue team blindly grabs objects from the Mayo jar and is asked to put them on their heads. The objects are G-strings with a word on them. $hamrock's word is "Ballers", Sullee's is "Booze", and 100 Proof's is "Broads". The contestants are to make a verse about their words in the Ice Ice Chamber. Sullee stumbles again with a blank. The suspense continues when 100 Proof also hits a blank. 100 Proof is given criticism for being redundant and not modern. Sullee is criticized for stumbling again. In the end, 100 Proof is asked to step off.
The exit scene contains the same "step off" roach from the first episode as well as a damsel in distress hiding behind 100 Proof while the roach is chasing her. During the episode, the same roach (someone in a costume) can be seen enjoying the club, as a young woman smiles at it graciously and counts a large amount of money in her hands.
Episode 5
This episode gets started right away with a fashion-themed challenge. The contestants are asked to go shopping and put together the most stylish look. The contestants are split into two teams. Team 1 is $hamrock, Jus Rhyme, and Persia. Team 2 is Jon Boy, John Brown, and Sullee. The contest will be judged by fashion legend, Marc Ecko.
Again, Jus Rhyme annoys his team-mates with his incompatible style. Team 1 names their theme "Gangsta's Paradise". Team 2 names themselves "Grown-Ass Men". After all of the shopping is done, Jon Boy puts on a gratuitous exhibition of his rhymes in front of a seemingly unimpressed crowd.
Later, over dinner, the contestants discuss their disapproval of Jon Boy's "public appearance" on the street.
The teams gets in "Tha Vans" and go to the fashion show. Upon arrival, they see that Kwamé is there to help judge. The contestants are surprised to see that they won't be modeling their clothes, but a bunch of well-behaved dogs — as in a dog show. Persia wins the contest for her team with her use of matching red pumps on her dog. Sullee is immediately faced with a realization that he'll be up for elimination for the third time in a row. He's not at all happy about the situation.
Upon returning to Tha White House, the contestants are presented with a second challenge. The teams are given some CDs and asked to study and plan that night, and shoot a music video with some stylish and some not so stylish props. After the teams select their props, MC Serch rolls out an enormous, rattling animal cage with a red sheet covering it. When the cage is revealed, we see dwarf rapper Bushwick Bill in a Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter mask. MC Serch announces that Bushwick Bill will be helping Team 1 to make their video.
Some candid footage shows that Team 2 is not working well together and are having some trouble showing their creativity with each other. The teams begin recording the audio of their videos with sound engineer, Frankyee. In the studio, Team 2 is again showing their creative differences. Meanwhile, Team 1 is having a great time making their recording.
For the video recording phase, Choke shows up to direct Team 1 and Israel shows up to direct the Team 2. Team 1 has the advantage of making the video with Bushwick Bill, but also has to have old ladies instead of hot, young ladies in their video. Team 2 is taking full advantage of the young ladies in their video.
After the teams finish the videos, they get a “Mayo” message about the judging of the videos. Little X is coming to judge. Team 2 presents their video called “She's a Stunner”, and Team 1 presents their video called “Old School Music”. Little X criticizes Team 2 for using typical elements and falling into the hip hop "trap". MC Serch criticizes Team 1 for being “too cheesy” and criticizes Team 2 for putting together a mediocre video. Team 1 is declared the winner.
The challenge for the losing team is go in the Ice Ice Chamber and write 16 bars about the flaws of their other team members. MC Serch warns them that he will eliminate all of them if they all come out "soft." While sentencing the team, MC Serch becomes furious that John Brown is giggling. The interviews show that none of the team is happy about the latest challenge: None of them want to be a “snitch.”
For the elimination challenge, Sullee insists on reading his rhymes, during which he concedes and kicks off his sneakers mid-verse. After giving him a second chance, MC Serch politely shows Sullee the door. Jon Boy raps but his verses are about taking personal responsibility for the team's loss and refusing to criticize his team members. John Brown is the only one who raps about his team members' flaws. Despite Sullee quitting, Jon Boy is also eliminated for not fulfilling the challenge.
After seeing two pairs of shoes being hanged, the exit scene shows the roach directing a scene as a bikini-clad girl yells, “Step off!” and smacks a clapper-board shut.