The VH1 Hip Hop Honors Bridges the Rap Gap

NEW YORK–The VH1 Hip Hop Honors will air tonight at 10 p.m. eastern on VH1 and you better believe the evening will be filled with entertaining moments. The show, now in its fifth year, has quickly become a benchmark for other hip-hop award shows. Mostly, the Hip Hop Honors is notable because it bridges the widening gap between new school artists and the pioneers that helped propel the genre to worldwide status.  Too Short“It’s important to acknowledge the history of hip-hop because a lot of times the hip-hop generation has some kind of contempt for history for fear of showing age or being irrelevant,” says ?uestlove. “I believe that we should honor it. We’ve been dreaming for a moment like this. People do it at the Grammy’s, at the Oscars and at other award shows, why not hip-hop?” This year’s Honors will pay homage to Cypress Hill, Too Short, Naughty By Nature, De La Soul and Slick Rick. The show also paid special tribute to legendary singer/composer/writer Isaac Hayes, with Scarface doing the performance honors. While some bloggers and critics have complained that as of yet, the show hasn’t paid proper attention to the south, mentioning artists like 2 Live Crew, Geto Boys and OutKast as deserving acts, Big Boi cleared up the misconception from the red carpet.“We were actually supposed to be honored last year but we
Scarefacecouldn’t really work it out,” he says, mentioning that his solo album will drop at the top of the year. “But after we put out these two solo albums and this OutKast album, it’s whatever they want to do.”California fans were happy to see well-respected veteran, Too Short and Cypress Hill honored. 
Cypress Hill
“It feels like after putting in a lot of work like I put in, it just feels good when somebody says ‘hey, we appreciate you’,” said Too Short. “The music is the secret to how I stayed in the game so long. I paid very close attention the beats that I selected [and] the producers I worked with—I really care about it every step of the way. I’d never say Too Short got the best ink pen or I’m the best lyricist but I am one of the greatest rappers that ever lived, no doubt about it.”Big BoiAs usual, the VH1 Hip Hop Honors has called on some of the top names in the business for performances, a few of which should surprise audiences. Q-Tip, Big Boi, MC Lyte, Ghostface and Bun B among others, will all grace the stage. “I spit rapid fire!” Big Boi said, when asked if he had a hard time learning and reciting Treat’s lyrics for the Naughty By Nature tribute, “Treach spits rapid fire [too], so I think I was the best man for the job.”
The show will be hosted by Tracy Morgan. For exclusive video and photos from the VH1 Hip Hop Honors visit ROs galleries.  -jacinta howard