Could Rap City Have Been Saved?

By now I'm sure all you heard about BET's Rap City being canceled.

I mean, the signs were there. Ratings were down, the show got shoved around the network's schedule and perhaps more importantly the hosts had a hard time connecting with the audience. I actually got a chance to work with the Rap City guys during my brief stint at BET, so I got to see a bit of the internal struggle as the show tried staying afloat.

I won't flat out tell you all these folks' business, but I'll tell you one thing. They tried their damndest to save the show. There was an long-standing fight to give the 21-year running program a lifeline. Obviously, it failed. They were contemplating new hosts and segments, but in the end the revised version just was not meant to be.

A lot of folks think bring Tigger back was the answer, but I'm not too sure. I think the show had already reached an unsavable point. Even Tigg probably couldn't have done much. Had they never replaced him, it could have been a different story, though. I understand that hip-hop is a youthful culture, but allegedly replacing Tigger because he was getting older just wasn't the answer. Q 45 and Mad Linx couldn't have been much younger than them anyway. You don't just go and replace a host who has the ability to connect with folks the way Tigg did. As corny as the Momma Tigg and that damn mascot were, it just worked.

My question is...Was there anything that could have been done to save Rap City. I mean, they'll surely replace it with something in a similar vein, but it's just sad to see that institution go. --Jackpot