I’ve been pretty absorbed the past couple days with MTV’s online presence celebrating the 20th anniversary of Yo! MTV Raps. And on Tuesday night, I saw an interview on MTV’s Sucker Free with De La Soul.

It’s always a tad hazardous to reminisce about hip-hop’s “golden age” of the late 80s/early 90s because it’s easy to overlook some of the great artists of today. But I certainly feel lucky to have developed a taste for hip-hop in that time. And there’s no doubt watching hours of Yo! MTV Raps can be thanked for that. (I feel sorry for you if you’ve never seen the Ed Lover Dance.) And I think you’ll notice a lot of the entries in the I Used to Love H.E.R. series reflect the importance of the time.

Without launching into some thesis on the Importance of Yo! (MTV has that handled), it’s fair to say that the show gave rap/hip-hop the mainstream outlet it deserved and offered suburban white kids (me) a bit of a voyeuristic view into the culture.

I’d highly recommend delving into the classic music videos page MTV has offered as a primer.

Below is one of my favorites, Buddy by De La Soul (and friends).