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FlashBack Friday: Channel U part 1

Haven't done a FlashBack Friday (click for previous episodes) in a while still. I'm generally in a good vibe on a Friday, "have you got that Friday feeling?" And to help boost my mood, I love reminiscing about old days so what better way then dedicating posts every now and again?

This past week we had the MOBO Awards (you HAVE to read this MOBO review post) which for the past couple of years has been in a position to celebrate UK talent. Who remembers the days (before YouTube) when UK rappers had an American accent, we rarely saw UK urban videos on TV and the only ones we did see were of a good standard? Yes, I'm talking those grim days before the groundbreaking Channel U! Video quality ranged from man dem on the block in ends with dogs wearing A9 tracksuits filmed on alright cameras to man dem on the block in ends with dogs wearing A9 tracksuits filmed on what could pass as CCTV images.

Channel U brought all kinds of catchy, gritty and shitty UK tracks into our homes via the Sky Digital box. Many tracks became Channel U Gold for a variety of reasons; the good, the great, the bad, the grime and the "Rah they're actually showing that?" Many men must still wear disguises on road to avoid "I swear that's that youth from Channel U". Like every channel they had their fair share of legal trouble. But they did give back to the viewers through competition prizes...

Loads of artists have to pay dues to Channel U, from N-Dubz to Boo Kroo. Not only artists though, "models" too. They got a bit of fame in the ends (yeah I'm talking the wobbly girl in Aggro's 'Free Yard' video).

Channel U RIP'd last year, morphing into Channel AKA... Without Channel U spearheading the UK thing on TV forcing mainstream avenues like MTV Base to show UK videos and getting a lot of us to pay more attention to what was happening on the underground, would we be in this position? Shouts to 1Xtra too.

Obviously this will be a series of posts over however long. They may or may not run concurrent, in fact I'll try to do one a month.

So starting off with the video that inspired this:

Pound Sterling 'For My Dawgs'



A performer from Wednesday night's MOBO Awards. Hold tight my late night crew, Nelly 'Tip Drill'



This kid had and still has one of the memorable videos ever!!! If you don't remember this your life isn't complete



And ending on a positive, one of the best songs to have a big hype for good reason, Lethal B 'POW!'. Another song featured on this blog this past week. Pow for Xmas #1

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