From the time the first rhymes flowed at the park jams of New York's South Bronx, rap's most important emcees have been of the African-American persuasion.
Yes, there've been a few notable exceptions: in the mid-'80s the Beastie Boys rowdily bridged rap's racial divide to great commercial $ucce$$. Over a dozen years later, Marshall "Eminem" Mathers secured his spot amongst hip-hop's pantheon of rhyme titans, dressing in drag and exorcising personal demons along the way. Thanks to these pale trailblazers today there are more vanilla-hued rap contenders, and pretenders, than ever before. But who, pray tell, will be hip-hop's next great white hope?

The quest for this very-special-spawn-of-Yacub commences with VH1's new sixty-minute, eight-episode reality series ego trip's The (White) Rapper Show...premiering January 08, 2007. White rap legend Michael "MC Serch" Berrin (of the group 3rd Bass -- the missing link between the Beasties and Em) serves as the guide through this exhaustive search for the lyrical Larry Bird. Living together in a house in the hallowed birthplace of hip-hop -- the South Bronx -- ten contestants from across America must battle their way through challenges designed to test their rhyme skills, knowledge of hip-hop history, street savvy, and preconceptions about race.

Over the course of eight weeks our Caucasian contestants will be fully immersed in all things hip-hop. But will they have what it takes to lead the culture? Or will they bleed the culture? Along with Serch and his co-host, legendary producer Prince Paul (De La Soul; Gravediggaz; Handsome Boy Modeling School), a rainbow coalition of the music's pioneers and industry heavyweights will help school and critique our eager competitors. Ultimately, ego trip's The (White) Rapper Show will leave one last (white) man, or (white) woman, standing -- victorious in the original 'hood of hip-hop with a $100,000 cash prize and a nation of millions of new fans (or at least several additional views to his/her myspace page).

It is not a game, people.