JOSH O’KANE
Canadian University Press

TORONTO (CUP) — The music-video station’s survival is threatened in the age of instant gratification.

When you can stream online to your heart’s content, there is no more need to wait. But while you don’t need VJs to make a YouTube playlist, they’re certainly helpful in exposing you to something new.

So it makes sense that Canada’s beloved MuchMusic has breathed new life into two of its most beloved programs of old: RapCity and The Wedge. Each of these shows gave a generation of music fans a chance to hear the music they loved while inviting them to hear something new. This January, the shows were rebooted giving a whole new generation of fans the same exposure.

Tyrone “T-RexXx” Edwards, a Toronto entrepreneur and former NCAA basketball player, is the new host of RapCity. “We have an opportunity with this show, unlike any other show, to present rap music and everything that rap music has to offer,” he said.

He has a genuine love for hip-hop that knows no bounds. “In life, there’s so many different channels, so I think music should reflect that. Even within the one genre, there’s so many different types of music available internationally.”

Broadcast in front of a live audience, the program showcases a live DJ set, freestyling and as many different videos as they can pack in.

“D-Sisive can get played on the same show as Waka Flocka, which I just think is so dope,” he said.

The Wedge has a new life and new identity thanks to the exuberance of Damian Abraham — also known as Pink Eyes, the frontman of the critically acclaimed hardcore band Fucked Up. Both he and Edwards were approached for the show last year when the station was looking to better represent the hip-hop and alternative communities on air. Abraham’s show aims to showcase the many different sounds that fall under the giant umbrella of alternative music.

Damian Abraham of Fucked Up

It helps, at least, to bring music fans from across Canada together. “I don’t think The Wedge, by any stretch of the imagination, is the end-all and be-all of building a music scene. But it does help to have that national exposure of these types of music to hopefully build scenes and expose people to these types of bands.”

The music video, Abraham says, still carries an important role in exposing people to new sounds.

“At its best and most pure, it can be an extension of the art of the song. At its worst, it can do a disservice to a song you really like. But it does provide a commercial for the song ”¦ if someone sees a video by a band they’ve never heard of, hopefully that’ll inspire them to check out the band a little more.”

MuchMusic has a role not just in exposing people to music, but Canadian music. Its CRTC license requires it to both play and pay into Canadian programming. But that’s only a good thing for Canadians.

Getting airplay on Much, says Edwards, is “something to aspire to if you’re an artist. It’s something to connect to if you’re a Canadian and you’re watching Canadian [music]”¦ The collaborations between Much and different bands and artists and whatnot, those things can be the reason why someone’s career goes from zero to 100 in like 60 seconds.”

The Wedge airs Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. Eastern on Much; RapCity is on at 10 p.m. on Thursdays.

– –
image: Wikimedia Commons