MTV Sets Week-Long Retro Hip-Hop Programming

MTV will offer a week-long restrospective of Hip Hop music interstitals beginning Jan. 27.

The network’s Retromania: Hip Hop Week, will include interstitials featuring celebrities and hip hop musicans reminiscing about their favorite hip hop culture moments from the late 1990s through the mid 2000s, according to network officials. The interstitials will run during a week-long, four-hour afternoon block of programming that will feature hip hop-themed reality series Run’s House, and culminate with a one-hour special, Retromania: Hip Hop on Feb. 1.

As part of the interstitals, celebrities and hip hop musicians, including Eve, Kevin Hart, Kat Graham, Travie McCoy, MGK, Backstreet Boys, Mac Miller, Aubrey O’Day, Ed Sheeran, 2 Chainz, the Teen Wolf cast and One Direction, the cast of MTV’s “Teen Wolf,” Fifth Harmony, Icona Pop and more, will discuss their personal favorite retro moments with hip hop remixes of classic films and TV shows such as Mean Girls, American Pie and Baywatch.

The week-long special comes on the heels of recent MTV throwback marathons of some of its most popular past shows, including the likes of Daria, Laguna Beach and The Hills, said network officials.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.