Ralph McDaniels popularized shouting.
His performance Video Music Box It debuted on New York TV WNYC-TV in 1983 and has been aired on WNYE-TV today, making it the longest music video show ever. This is also the first person to play hip-hop videos on TV. McDaniels said of the aired yell, “Nobody said that except when I said on TV, except me.” “People were like, ‘How is that possible?’ I thought, “Because that’s a hip-hop term, I just said it on TV. ”
The legendary VJ, DJ, music video director and hip-hop archivist have been ahead of the curve, and even his latest effort has turned a portion of his 20,000-hour footage reserve into a YouTube channel. He launched the VideoMusicbox1 channel in 2010, which features classic performances, interviews and documentary footage, including videos about the groundbreaking "Self-Destroy" video, a star-studded "Stop Violence" track. The most viewed videos on the channel are ODB and GZA freestyles in the mid-90s, and the man called "Uncle Ralph" might be part of rap history.
"The crazy part about it is not a song," he said on Zoom. "It's ODB doing a beat freestyle. I don't think GZA said (on the song). It's a freestyle, that's all." He said he randomly recorded both in the club bathroom. The clip is a feature of McDaniels’ work capturing hip-hop history, which he says has been focusing on documenting the surroundings. "I want to tell this story. I'm hip-hop guy. I'm there," he said. "All of these videos I have, I know it's important to tell a New York hip-hop story at least from my perspective."
For 20 years, YouTube has been used as the default digital archive for hip-hop in place of physical space. The platform’s freedom of access means that anyone can upload content (as long as it fits in terms of service), which means viewers can explore music video reserves that have not been aired for decades, mixtapes that aren’t available anywhere else, programming of old music-oriented TV shows, and other rare content.
In 2022, digital archivist Claudio Abreu uploaded the footage of Jay-Z's iconic 2001 Hot 97 Summer Jam, set on his Hiphopvcr platform, delivering the visuals to a moment that was previously only word-of-mouthed (although McDaniels has a classic Zone Jay-Z jay-Z post-Z Post-Z Performance). A YouTube-based Internet platform created by Chicagoan Zach Stoner, such as Zachtv, is a valuable chronicle in the first chapter of the Chicago drill scene. Many of the people Stoner talks to are no longer alive or interviewing for free. The recently released former drug king Demetrius "Big Meech" Flenory has a myth that inspired Rick Ross's "BMF" song, multiple documentaries and TV shows. Much of the halo is attributed to the infamous appearance on the New York Smack DVD, which has been uploaded to YouTube and has received millions of views.
Hip-hop fans can be eliminated through the service to introduce or remind the previous hip-hop era. Nowhere else can be heard from famous radio DJ Magic of 1986 telling Jay-Z fans: "You may be checking for future stars" or having a 1989 interview with Tupac during his tenure as NU Afrikan Panther. TV and radio stations often don’t replay old content often, meaning past interviews and television broadcasts are in the vault – if they exist.
McDaniels, 66, has a life that matches hip-hop’s birth and global expansion. He grew up in Brooklyn and moved to Queens at the age of 11, where he studied communications at LaGuardia Community College and began working at WNYC radio station in 1983. Soon after, he created Studio 31 dance partyhe eventually became Video Music Box With co-host Lionel Martin.
exist Video Music Boxthe two tried to show hip-hop videos and performances. “I would go to places to see these group shows, record them professionally, and put them on TV,” he said. “The artist is like, ‘Yes. We didn’t know that would be like that,’” refers to the quality of the video. “I was like, ‘Yes. I work for a real TV station.’” His reputation as a photographer has come with the reserves of lenses over the years.
His genre cross-lens library is “You are watching the video music box,” 2023’s Showtime documentary documented his influence on hip-hop culture. The documentary was written by Steve Rivo and Andre Wilkins and directed by Nas. Something is wrong, Directed by McDaniels. ("I work with NAS sometimes, and Nas is like, 'Yo, how do you know that's important?' I said, 'I just know.'") McDaniels also directed videos for Roxanne Shante and Mc Lyte.
Sometime in the early 1990s, McDaniels began working on the ancient New York radio station Hot 97, and since 1994 he recorded every 97 summer jams. He said he was still trying to figure out what to do with the lens. It was at Hot 97 that when he realized the shift to digital content was happening - the radio created a YouTube page in September 2006 - he realized that he wanted to be on the platform, too.
McDaniels said all his archive work is about teaching, adding: "Young people will find shit alone. They will look for it, and they will find it." Currently, the account is instinctive, he said. His daughter and brother helped him coordinate the page. They also serve as partners in his video music box nonprofit. "We're just putting things randomly now, and for whatever reason, I'm going to go some big puns, or 'let's build some big professors.' It could be a stimulant interview," he said. Copyright issues and the people who refreshed his content have slowed down his recent output, and he's still developing strategies for how to upload new content.
Recently, he supported his tape library during the Covid-19 quarantine, raising funds for "high-end archivists" through his nonprofit, who browsed through VHS tapes and created digital copies. Now, he is considering the next step, including working with YouTube executives Lyor Cohen and Tuma Basa to expand his footage reserves.
No matter which platform McDaniels cooperates with, he is determined to continue the video music box mission. "We have a story to tell," he said. "There isn't a lot of stories yet, I have the lens. When you tell a story, someone wants to see it. It's very likely, I get it."