Initially, ‘Miss Rap Supreme’ seemed to act as something of a purposeful contrast to that other show where a buncha crazy broads are stuck in a house- ‘Flavor of Love’- but Episode Two and then especially Episode Three, pretty much turned it into ‘Flavor of Love’ with lots of yelling and arguing and fighting only it was worse because it wasn’t even funny and sad, it was just sad.
The girls on ‘Flavor’ are competing for nothing really- they just get to act crazy on TV- but ‘Miss Rap’ still presents itself as a competition and so, the characters take it all way too seriously. Pretty much all of the girls can rap or at least deliver, so there’s not a lot of contrast here and when all that’s added to that is really insane drama- made dumber because the girls are taking themselves way too seriously- it’s hard for the show to be enjoyable. And so, this week the show wisely framed the end-competition around the issue of “drama”, a smart way to tell the girls to all chill-out without explicitly saying it or having MC Serch come in whoop-whooping with a real-serious look on his face and yelling at them like an old, dopey dad. The EgoTrip crew seems to have a set of ethics about how they manipulate the “reality” of the show and that’s pretty cool.
But still, the issue remains the cast and even hosts, especially Yo-Yo, taking it all a little too seriously and it ended with some real reality show bullshit: Lady Twist being kicked-off. The narrative that’s constructed about Twist in some ways, sort of giving-up is interesting but it actually feels a lot like the manipulation of reality I said in the previous paragraph, the show avoided. Twist is obviously the best rapper with the best personality on the show. Even if she’s derivative of many Midwest rappers, there’s you know, way worse things to be than highly-influenced by fucking Do or Die!
Twist also doesn’t fall-back on any of the conventional female rap stereotypes. She isn’t a big, fat, mannish thug-rapper and she’s not a big, fat, “I still fuck dudes even though I’m fat” female rapper either. By the time she’s pacing around the dance studio with a “fuck-this” look on her face, she’s more like a stand-in for a lot of ‘Miss Rap’ viewers in the sense that she’s pretty much thinking “this show’s outta control” and that’s she’s not too-good for this, but it’s just not really her thing. And even though she gets totally robbed by getting booted, Lady Twist will be alright. As she mentioned, she’s got an education to look into, and she’s confident but totally doesn’t take herself seriously and she’s not bat-shit crazy, so she probably does alright in life anywhere. If anything, her disinterest in the show at this point and her outside interests should make her more viable as a real rapper. It’s like stuff like the PTA in school or like any big job with a business: The person who’s not an asshole who should get the job is smart enough to know why the job’s a whole lot of bullshit and doesn’t want it.
Still, it reveals a big problem with the show: all that really matters in an episode is the final competition. How the show should be structured I don’t know, but there’s a weird sense that if you win the initial competition, it means you’ll end-up in elimination at the end. The show’s dependable structure. So, Lady Twist got fucked-over because she did really good at that totally retarded John Singleton/’Hood Shakespeare competition, which in a lot of ways, defines what’s wrong with this season versus last season anyyway.
Putting the show in LA seems to have eliminated a lot of the rap legends that are pre-90s and therefore, not too cool or “thug” to show up on a reality show and EgoTrip’s presumably got better connections in New York. There’s also the dichotomy of female rappers who are either once-famous now-nobodies, so it’s almost sad when they show up on the show or there’s those few “big-names” that would never, ever show up to talk to these potential Miss Rap Supremes. The ‘Hood Shakespeare event also highlights how the comedy’s not only more broad but just way more conventional and obvious. The contrast should’ve been something like the cast having to do a scene from ‘Boyz N the Hood’ or something in a straight-forward manner, but stick them in drama-fag black tights and make them hold a skull and have them deliver lines like, “Give me the motherfuckin’ gun, Tre”. Thug Shakespeare? That’s something that like Blue Collar Comedy audiences or Jay Leno fans would find funny…
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