Everything seemed to be going smooth in the first episode of VH1’s Egotrip The White Rapper Show, save for the beef going down between John Brown, the self-promoting “King of the Burbs” and loud-mouthed BBW “Persia,” the latter of which actually comes out sounding a bit too polished in the P.R. area-if you know what to listen for.
Other than that, she waived a giant brown dildo in John Brown’s face-and you thought that the girl, as she had done the whole episode, would steal the show.
But that didn’t happen.
You could sense that there were other rifts already starting in the house. Some seemed contrived, as in the five-person rap teams assigned to scour the South Bronx neighborhood in which they’re staying (ironically, not far from Grandmaster Flash) and spit rhymes as they go door-to-door, vying to become safe, if only for one episode.
In the end Persia’s team got the job accomplished and were saved from elimination-but one player on John Brown’s team stayed surprisingly silent-and didn’t show too much, as reported on several blogs from those close to the rapper.
During the elimination round in which players from the losing team were asked to take 30 minutes to write some rhymes about their experience in their new house (“Tha White House”) and neighborhood, one player decided to not write anything.
But his actions may speak volumes to the success of the new VH1 reality show Egotrip The White Rapper Show, because 29-year old Dasit (as in “that’s it”) of Toledo, Ohio basically came in and stole all of the credibility and the spotlight by walking away from it.
From all indications Dasit’s actions were well-received, with some even going as far as calling him a folk hero and an inspiration to the rap community on insider blog sites. In a world where you really are only as good as your word, Dasit (real name: David Shinavar) proved something-though it may take some time-and the actions of others–to decipher what that something is.
When Dasit refused to participate in the elimination round as ordered by show host MC Serch at the end of the first episode, he did something that has not been done in reality TV history-and may have actually helped his cause to get a huge record contract.
He told Serch that he needed “16 beats and music” to be able to write out rhymes, which was obviously a dis aimed at the show, since the contestants were given 30 minutes to write rhymes about their new South Bronx home and environment.
And Dasit was no stranger to writing things on a notepad; one need only look at his bio, in which he claims to have started writing rhymes at age 15 on a notepad as a result of a lightning storm in his hometown.
Obviously the host (real name: Michael Berrin) and no stranger to rap (he was part of the legendary white rap group 3rd Bass) took this clowning as an insult-and Dasit was booted off the show forthwith.
Though some are going to look at this as a stunt that Dasit pulled to gain street cred on a show that has not been well-received everywhere, the word on insider blogs is that several contestants are actually more inclined to spoken-word poetry, for which there has been a long-standing battle between rap purists and the spoken-word community.
For Dasit to refuse to write out some rhymes at the end of episode one-and then disrespect MC Serch by refusing to sit down as ordered-that very action sent out a signal to the show and the world that rap purists may be having a hard time with the show’s strange and somewhat phony format.
And Dasit, though he looks like a cross between Dilbert and Rivers Cuomo of Weezer, is no rap newcomer-he has put out several rap albums on his own coin and in 2004 came out with the critically acclaimed “No More, No Less.”
He’s also friends with MC Hammer-and in fact the rap star attended the protégé’s wedding in Dasit’s hometown of Toledo. Dasit has also toured with the Kotton Mouth Kingz and it sounds like he will have plenty more to say very soon.
In Dasit’s case actions may have spoken louder than words.
