A Tribute To BET Uncut


Oh Uncut, you are missed! I didn’t do a proper eulogy for you when you first went off the air, but now I am finally ready to give you the tribute you so rightly deserve. For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, Uncut was BET’s very late night music video program that featured a host of unknown artists with sex driven music videos and even a few well known artists who, in the end, made a video or two specifically for the program (thank you Luda and Nelly!). It was on from 3AM – 4AM Thursday / Friday / Saturday and could be considered successful being that it became quite the underground phenomenon despite its late night time slot (Nielsen ratings had 300,000 a night watching it). The videos, which had extremely small budgets but booties large enough to fill a high-def big screen (man, Uncut in high-def, a dream that will never be realized) were the hook and now that the show is no longer airing (its last episode was over the summer. I nearly threw my TV out the window the first time I turned to BET at 3AM and saw they were airing Girlfriends instead) we can officially call those videos LEGENDARY.

My BET Uncut experiences started in 2002 when my friend Dyalekt and I started going to concerts in Hartford on the regular and not getting back home until, you guessed it, 3AM. One night when we were watching he turned to me and said “you should do an article about these guys.” I did just that. Contacting the artists was a bit of a challenge. I found one artist on his fraternity’s alumni message board. I found a few others in equally random spots. The great thing about Uncut artists, however, was that they were all hungry and everyone was down to do an interview. I called up BET and got someone from the network to speak with me, as well. The article turned out to be great and I made quite a few friends from it that I still speak with and work with today. But just because the article was over didn’t mean I stopped watching. Oh no. One couldn’t help but stay glued to BET Uncut.

I had already spoken with Black Jesus, who created, in most people’s opinion, the quintessential BET Uncut song / video with “What That Thing Smell Like,” as well as Contraband (“Wiggle It”), DaNoiz (“Freak Of Nature”) and The Wild Pair (“I Want It All”) for my article, but I also sought, and landed, interviews with Stagga Lee (“Roll Wit MVP”), Mighty Casey (“White Girls”) and Joker The Bailbondsman (“Let Me See That Ass Drop”). I have still yet to find Waxamillion, whose “No Panties On The Dance Floor” still ranks as an all-time Uncut classic. What makes a video an Uncut classic? Well, in a word: ASS!

The low budget videos featured sometimes good, oftentimes awful, footage of strippers doing their best to act like video hoes (no I will not call you women “vixens” or some other such nonsense) while rappers attempted to show the lifestyles they were striving for. There was the occasional really well done video, like DaNoiz’s “Freak Of Nature,” Stagga Lee’s “Roll Wit MVP” and later videos by Contraband, but for the most part these clips weren’t breaking the budget. Ludacris jumped into the Uncut act when he made an Uncut only video for “P Poppin.” The video was tremendous and when I asked him about it he said he did it specifically for the show and the fans he knew were watching it. Nelly did something similar with “Tip Drill,” which clocked in at around six minutes and had a video that featured the now infamous scene of him swiping a credit card down a woman’s ass and then having it shake (brilliant!). Uncut can also be credited as being the launching pad for Lil’ Jon, whose video for “I Don’t Give A Fuck” helped put him in the national limelight, and was also the only video show that ever gave Benzino any kind of airplay.

Overall Uncut was all about the ass. One artist even told me he first submitted a video for a non-booty song but was told that he’d have a much better chance at getting airplay with a more traditional Uncut joint. And that’s why we miss the show so much. They knew what they were about, low budget booty videos that we could watch after coming home from the club. When you were tired there was nothing better than flipping on BET and seeing Mighty Casey in a dorm room full of white chicks saying “don’t tell Minister Farrakhan / he don’t wanna know what’s goin on / cuz white girls won’t go awaaaay.” Uncut at 3AM was like Mom’s apple pie. Well, if your mom served it while shaking her ass in a thong. And guess what, when you’re not home that’s exactly what your mom does.

God bless BET Uncut and the many many artists it helped. It is, and will continue to be, sorely missed.

Comments

Anonymous said…
what a fitting eulogy!!!! I loved it!

instead of roses, can we throw our crusty tube socks of pleasure down upon the coffin instead of roses and dirt clumps??
Anonymous said…
see, i'm so excited, i amateur-typed!


"instead of roses, can we throw our crusty tube socks of pleasure down upon the coffin?"....

there. that's better.
braden said…
adam, I love the eulogy!!! I too was a big uncut fan. i am constantly looking for information on if there are places to download the songs from uncut, or better yet the videos. any information that you have for me would be greatly appreciated!!!
Unknown said…
Someone please tell me what the name of the artist/video is at the top of this story. The pic shows a girl in a red outfit (on her knees)and the rapper is some dude with dreds and glasses. I LOVED THAT VIDEO but can't remember his name!!! Please send to depaul@cox.net.

God Bless

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