Literally the only image I could find of The Box logo
Noz' post today about Common included the video for "One-Nine-Nine-Nine", one of my favorite videos and songs from my childhood. That song still has a strong resonance with me, remaining one of the only Common songs I've ever really liked, and one of the few tracks from the Rawkus discography I listen to with any regularity. There is a frustratingly scattershot revue of rap songs I remember playing a formative role in my childhood, and which I still cherish to this day, all of which came via the holy grail of bootleg television channels, The Box.
When I was growing up, up until my freshmen year of high school, I did not have cable television in my house. We were a strictly network TV family, which means I had access to CBS, ABC, NBC, two PBS channels, Fox, and sometimes UPN. The only real access I had to MTV or BET was when I was hanging out at a friend's house or something like that. Instead, most of the music I heard outside of the radio came from channel 14, the scratchy, grainy, might-have-been-pirated channel known as The Box. Except for maybe The Simpsons, The Box is the favorite thing I remember from my childhood experience with television.
According to its Wikipedia page, The Box started in 1985 as a byproduct of the Miami Bass scene, and by the early 90s has spread to a number of different locales around the country. The "catch" about The Box, which I still think is a great look, is that they offered a constantly rotating list of videos which were like a really good radio playlist that were tailored to the region each channel was broadcasting in, which meant it was possible to see huge hit videos and obscure local videos. Richmond's list was almost entirely (though as you'll see in a second, not completely) rap; the only other Box channel I ever experienced was the in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and the playlist for that was virtually all nu-metal bands- I distinctly remember seeing videos for Good Charlotte and Kittie on there (it was also vastly clearer than The Box in Richmond, which was sometimes unable to be picked up by my TV).
On top of that, viewers could call in, and for 99 cents a pop, choose whichever video they wanted to see on the channel. This was kind of a gift and a curse for a small network. On the one hand, viewers had almost total control over the programming for the channel; it was possible to watch the "Can I Get A..." video 50 times in a row if you wanted to. However, The Box was a small channel, and at least in Richmond it would sometimes sit desolate for hours. However, there were at least a few other people watching, as I never called in since I was like 10 and had no credit rating, and videos were playing on there at least semi-regularly.
Given the grainy video I was watching constantly, which was oftentimes punctuated by the surreal, low budget violence and sex so often seen in low-budget rap videos from the 90s, The Box has left me with a Videodrome-esque memory of a lot of rap music: many images and melodies etched into my brain, which I sometimes recall for no reason at all, but are often mostly lost to me. I distinctly remember loving a video by the Okayplayer-associated French duo Les Nubianes, but I don't remember anything about it other than I thought they were really attractive sisters (were they sisters?). There was also a commercial that aired for a Richmond-area rapper (I think) that was sepia-toned that included the lyric "try to find the key so I can open up the door", but that's all I can recall about it.
However, there were many, many videos which I was first exposed to there which I have come to love and cherish. Common feat. Talib Kweli and Sadat X- "One-Nine-Nine-Nine" was definitely one of them. I remember Common sitting in the wicker chair with the staff, as well as DJ Babu randomly showing up:
There were a lot of Cash Money videos that appeared on there, but the two that I remember the most were, obviously, Juvenile's "Ha" and, less obviously, Tear Da Club Up Thugs feat. the Hot Boys- "Playa Why U Hatin'":
Two of the craziest and weirdest rap videos ever, Wu-Tang's "Triumph" and Missy Elliott's "The Rain" (which has disabled embedding but you can see here):
Three random stray shots: JT Money's "Who Dat", E-40's "Earl, That's Yo Life" and Craig Mack's "Jockin' My Style"
Remember how I said there were a couple videos that were non-rap? I definitely remember Limp Bizkit's "Break Stuff" inexplicably being in heavy rotation:
These two were probably two of my favorites on the channel, and the two which sparked a casual interest in backpack rap around the turn of the milennium- Jurassic 5's "Quality Control", and Dilated People's "Worse Comes to Worst" (again, embedding disabled but available here):
The two best East Coast videos I remember, Gang Starr's "Full Clip" and Nas' "Nas Is Like":
Finally, the two videos which really unknowingly got me into Texas rap, as I would remember these songs the most after The Box was absorbed by MTV2 in 2001, DJ DMD's deathless "25 Lighters" and UGK's "Wood Wheel":
There are about a hundred more videos I could put up here, but I'm gonna stop here for now.
When I was growing up, up until my freshmen year of high school, I did not have cable television in my house. We were a strictly network TV family, which means I had access to CBS, ABC, NBC, two PBS channels, Fox, and sometimes UPN. The only real access I had to MTV or BET was when I was hanging out at a friend's house or something like that. Instead, most of the music I heard outside of the radio came from channel 14, the scratchy, grainy, might-have-been-pirated channel known as The Box. Except for maybe The Simpsons, The Box is the favorite thing I remember from my childhood experience with television.
According to its Wikipedia page, The Box started in 1985 as a byproduct of the Miami Bass scene, and by the early 90s has spread to a number of different locales around the country. The "catch" about The Box, which I still think is a great look, is that they offered a constantly rotating list of videos which were like a really good radio playlist that were tailored to the region each channel was broadcasting in, which meant it was possible to see huge hit videos and obscure local videos. Richmond's list was almost entirely (though as you'll see in a second, not completely) rap; the only other Box channel I ever experienced was the in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and the playlist for that was virtually all nu-metal bands- I distinctly remember seeing videos for Good Charlotte and Kittie on there (it was also vastly clearer than The Box in Richmond, which was sometimes unable to be picked up by my TV).
On top of that, viewers could call in, and for 99 cents a pop, choose whichever video they wanted to see on the channel. This was kind of a gift and a curse for a small network. On the one hand, viewers had almost total control over the programming for the channel; it was possible to watch the "Can I Get A..." video 50 times in a row if you wanted to. However, The Box was a small channel, and at least in Richmond it would sometimes sit desolate for hours. However, there were at least a few other people watching, as I never called in since I was like 10 and had no credit rating, and videos were playing on there at least semi-regularly.
Given the grainy video I was watching constantly, which was oftentimes punctuated by the surreal, low budget violence and sex so often seen in low-budget rap videos from the 90s, The Box has left me with a Videodrome-esque memory of a lot of rap music: many images and melodies etched into my brain, which I sometimes recall for no reason at all, but are often mostly lost to me. I distinctly remember loving a video by the Okayplayer-associated French duo Les Nubianes, but I don't remember anything about it other than I thought they were really attractive sisters (were they sisters?). There was also a commercial that aired for a Richmond-area rapper (I think) that was sepia-toned that included the lyric "try to find the key so I can open up the door", but that's all I can recall about it.
However, there were many, many videos which I was first exposed to there which I have come to love and cherish. Common feat. Talib Kweli and Sadat X- "One-Nine-Nine-Nine" was definitely one of them. I remember Common sitting in the wicker chair with the staff, as well as DJ Babu randomly showing up:
There were a lot of Cash Money videos that appeared on there, but the two that I remember the most were, obviously, Juvenile's "Ha" and, less obviously, Tear Da Club Up Thugs feat. the Hot Boys- "Playa Why U Hatin'":
Two of the craziest and weirdest rap videos ever, Wu-Tang's "Triumph" and Missy Elliott's "The Rain" (which has disabled embedding but you can see here):
Three random stray shots: JT Money's "Who Dat", E-40's "Earl, That's Yo Life" and Craig Mack's "Jockin' My Style"
Remember how I said there were a couple videos that were non-rap? I definitely remember Limp Bizkit's "Break Stuff" inexplicably being in heavy rotation:
These two were probably two of my favorites on the channel, and the two which sparked a casual interest in backpack rap around the turn of the milennium- Jurassic 5's "Quality Control", and Dilated People's "Worse Comes to Worst" (again, embedding disabled but available here):
The two best East Coast videos I remember, Gang Starr's "Full Clip" and Nas' "Nas Is Like":
Finally, the two videos which really unknowingly got me into Texas rap, as I would remember these songs the most after The Box was absorbed by MTV2 in 2001, DJ DMD's deathless "25 Lighters" and UGK's "Wood Wheel":
There are about a hundred more videos I could put up here, but I'm gonna stop here for now.
Thoroughly enjoyed this post. I've always considered myself a bit of a dork for 90s rap. Good to know I'm not alone.
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