With historical excitement, I’m proud to premiere the first two episodes of Funkee Phlavaz, the greatest video show that no one ever saw. To my knowledge, I am one of seven people who watched the 17 episodes that aired during its 93-94 run on KBEV, channel 6, a station that featured programming from the students of Beverly Hills High School. It was essentially the Beverly Hills High version of Yo! MTV Raps or Rap City.
A Whooliganz-era Alchemist hosts the first few episodes, but eventually, Funkee Phlavaz recruited guest hosts that included Guru, Pharcyde, Masta Ace, KRS-One and more. It’s safe that say that this blog might not exist if not for Funkee Phlavaz. When it began airing, I already loved rap music, but this was my first real education to the culture and music that extended beyond the radio. As you can see from the first episode, the program produced by Adam Weissman (now art director at Stussy and a founding member of Pollyn) and Harlan Toplitzky, played everything from Kool G Rap to Chaka Demus to Boss to early Common to the Pharcyde and King Tee.
If you’re in college now, this will provide you with a 90s Rap 101 crash course. If you’re old enough to remember when people spelled words phonetically because it was “hip-hop,” this will take you back like Raiders hats and Starter Jackets The second episode of Funkee Phlavaz is below the jump. You can read the stories about each episode up at the online sanctuary that Adam Weissman built. New episodes will appear every Tuesday starting May 27th. I’ll have an article in the LA Weekly about it coming soon too. In the meantime, check the flavor.
