Any analysis of The Lyricist Lounge show is basically going to depend on perspective. I say this because one must keep in mind when watching Lyricist Lounge that the show exists as two things. In one sense, it exists as a catalyst of prejudice and stereotypes in the form of bad comedy. However, in another sense, it represents another small step towards vindication for hip-hop.
Now, if you are a “true head” or merely someone blessed with an intelligent sense of humor, and you have seen The Lyricist Lounge Show airing on MTV (it occupies the coveted post Tom Green Show slot on Tuesdays) you might be wondering what the implications of my opening paragraph could possibly be. And your ponderance would be justified. The step I speak of is what I see through my rose colored glasses when I watch the Lyricist Lounge show. The step is small and naïve, but a step nonetheless.
What I see is talented underground emcees like Master Fuol, Wordsworth, and Baby Power. I see these emcees expressing the art form through rhymes in satiric skits, which at times cleverly lambaste the commercial hip-hop world. I also see guest emcees weekly, including thus far Mos Def, Slick Rick, Snoop Dogg, and MC Lyte. I see at 10:55 weekly, they throw on a beat and let the regular emcees and the guests spit unrehearsed verses (most of the established emcees have thrown in a written). It’s only for 5 minutes, and some times the guest emcee hogs the mike with writtens 
and with their crews (MC Lyte and Da Brat come to mind). But it’s right there; hip-hop at the grassroots, just beats and rhymes.
When speaking of the step this show represents I ignore certain factors, hence the naivete. There is more to the show than I have mentioned. For example, there are the skits that don’t have rhyming and are played out by both the emcees and a small team of other actors. The skits play like a pale version of In Living Color, and serve to reinforce negative stereotypes for humor that mostly just aren’t funny. Most of the skits involve an image of geeky white people and Ebonics spitting African Americans. Basically, most of the Black characters act “thugged out” or “ghetto” and the white people act inept and have small penises. I may be alone on this one, but I didn’t laugh when they had two black men walk into a jewelry store and the worker said “Don’t hurt me! My father went to high school with black people!” Now, I’m not a prude. Racial tension can be played for laughter - see In Living Color for examples, but the material is old here. Another skit, with no racial implications has a woman going to the dentist only to find that the dentist has a penis on his face. That’s the comic nucleus of the skit, a dentist with a dick on his face. It’s so unfunny that it’s nearly funny, but not quite.
So, what’s my angle? Why don’t I just label this show as the comic piece of trash it is? I could feel betrayed that the name Lyricist Lounge, which I have always associated with pure hip-hop, will now be forever stained with it’s certain to be short-lived run as an awkward and mostly unentertaining half-hour sketch show. Well, I could, but I don’t because in the long battle that we face as “true hip-hop heads” you have to take what you can get. So I’m gonna smile to myself when I see a young emcee like Wordsworth up on MTV spittin’ for all these people who have no idea who he is. And then when one of my friends asks me who this guy is, I’ll throw on some verses for ‘em, and that’s why The Lyricist Lounge Show isn’t a complete loss. Either that, or I’m just really optimistic.
-Colin O’Dell
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