A History of Rap Videos Banned From TV

 •  News  •  by Adam Fleischer  •  8 Comments

Public Enemy “By the Time I Get to Arizona” (1991)
Hostile Party: MTV
History: PE’s politically-charged song criticizing Arizona’s refusal to recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was banned by the MTV Standards Department for its portrayal of the assassination of a White supremacist governor.
Outcome: Despite the pushback, the album that the single was featured on, Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black, reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top R&B/hip-hop albums charts. Two decades later, Arizona is still confused.

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  • Lord Maximus

    White America’s off Eminem show. Good one.

  • Fix up look sharp

    In no way did the Eminem Show do 5 million copies, World Wide it sold 19 million, and in the U.S. it is now at just over 9.9 million. It will pass the 10 million mark in the next 6 months making it eligible for Diamond certification like The Marshall Mathers LP which is at 10.4 million in the U.S. Get your facts straight.

  • upgrayedd

    Brand Nubian – Wake Up, featuring a Black man in white-face makeup, was also banned from MTV

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  • timebomb

    yall should go to youtube and search “Big phella dec”

    He from detroit and he cold!

    I think he should be on here

  • Xavier

    Man fuck MTV bunch of racist, conformist bastards