Way back in the day, when MtV was almost exclusively devoted to rock and their lineup of artists was just as white as a 20-watt light bulb, there weren't a whole lot of outlets for hip hop videos. TBS, a station that these days is primarily of note for keeping spectacularly unfunny sitcoms in perpetual syndication, was one of the very first channels to play any sort of hip hop during their weekly show Night Tracks. For those of us in New Jersey who didn't have cable, though, there were only two options for televised rap: Ralph McDaniel's show Video Music Box, which aired on Channel 31, and UHF's U68, a channel devoted entirely to playing videos.
U68's lineup consisted of 30 minute blocks of videos that were decidedly outside of the mainstream, and, at the time, hip hop fell well within that category. The video above features the Beastie Boys recording a series of promos for the station and their video She's On It, with a very young-looking Rick Rubin making a cameo around the :25 mark. This is from 1985, before License To Ill came out, when the group was still transitioning from punk rock to rap. It's easy to forget that the Beasties were, at one point, considered an "edgy" group, far more controversial than whatever it is they've become in 2009. I don't think the "Don't Be a Faggot" line or the multiple references to using Dust would play well with their current image as political activists, though with twenty years passed I suppose it can be dismissed as youthful indiscretion.
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