MTV Makes Celebrity Rap Stars

If you thought VH1's "White Rapper Show" was a mockery of hip-hop, then you might say MTV is 1-upping it with "Celebrity Rap Superstar". The latest reality talent show features various "celebrities" (the term can be used loosely with some of the contestants) as they try to perform popular rap songs in front of 3 judges and a crowd. Each celeb is paired up with a real life rapper such as Redman, Tone Loc, Bubba Sparxxx, Warren G and Too Short. The judging panel of 3 consists of the likes of Da Brat and DMC from RUN-DMC. Viewers of the show are able to vote on who stays or goes, which may be a big part of the reason some celebs have lasted. The contestants for Celebrity Rap Superstar are Jamal Anderson (NFL), Kendra Wilkinson (Playboy), Jason Wahler (MTV's "The Hills" and "Laguna Beach"), actress/singer Countess Vaughn, Efren Ramirez (Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite), Perez Hilton (celebrity blogger) and Shar Jackson (actress). In week 1, Jason of "The Hills" stumbled through "Ridin Dirty" by Chamillionaire. In fact, he completely butchered the song and began to adlib with jibberish. Bubba Sparxxx was truly humiliated by the performance. Jason slightly redeemed himself in the following week with his performance of LL Cool J's "Goin Back to Cali". So far the best talents of the show have been Shar Jackson and Countess Vaughn, who the judges seem to favor. They have delivered solid performances of most of their material and work the crowd well. Jamal Anderson has already been axed from the show, but then again Deion Sanders didn't excel when trying to make a music career either. Celebrity Rap Superstar airs on MTV, Thursday at 10PM. Check out MTV.com's Celebrity Rap Superstar section for more on the cast, episodes and blogs about the show.