Bow Wow has brought back his coveted Mr. 106 & Park title as he’s received the honor of being named Host of the House Of BET for the upcoming BET Awards.
On Friday (June 16), the rapper-turned-actor took to Twitter to announce the exciting news to his fans and supporters.
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“Yo it’s official! @bet is bringing the House of BET to LA in celebration of the BET Awards 2023 & you already know who they gave the keys to.. ME,” Bow Wow said.
“Im your official host for the entire weekend! Mr. 106&Park. We’re bringing back 106&Park Live, Rap City Karaoke, Rip the Runway, some lit parties and more. Hit the link to RSVP and pull up on me!!”
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Fans can now RSVP by going on BET’s website to reserve their spot for the festivities, which will take place from Thursday (June 22) to Sunday (June 25).
Bow Wow was one of four new people named to host 106 & Park in October 2012 until the show ended in November 2014. Prior to him becoming a host, the “Shortie Like Mine” rapper earned the title of Mr. 106 & Park after having the most retired music videos in the show’s history.
Yo it’s official! @bet is bringing the House of BET to LA in celebration of the BET Awards 2023. & you already know who they gave the keys to.. ME. Im your official host for the entire weekend! Mr. 106&Park.
We’re bringing back 106&Park Live, Rap City Karaoke, Rip the Runway,… pic.twitter.com/D1HM5UXGs9
— Bow Wow (@smoss) June 16, 2023
In December 2022, Bow Wow and Jermaine Dupri got into a war of words over JD’s claim that he created 106 & Park as a vehicle for his So So Def signee and protégé to counter MTV’s TRL.
In a previous interview with The Goats And Underdogs podcast, Jermaine Dupri explained that he presented the idea of a youth-oriented video countdown show to BET’s then President of Programming, Stephen G. Hill. The Atlanta mogul felt like Black artists, namely Bow Wow, were not getting the same love from TRL as some of their pop counterparts.
“106 & Park was created by me,” Jermaine Dupri said. “I created the show for Bow Wow. I was watching MTV, and MTV had TRL. And they were catering to NSYNC and they were catering to Backstreet Boys and anything white that was coming out that was Pop. They was allowing these kids to scream and holler at them. And I was like, ‘Yo, we don’t have nothing for Black people like that. Like, where’s the Black kids that love music, why don’t they have a show like that?’ ”
He continued: “So I called Stephen Hill and I said, ‘Yo, I got an artist, we need to make a show just like TRL.’ And he said, ‘What’s the artist?’ And I said Bow Wow. Everybody challenges what I’m saying. Mind you, they wasn’t gonna put Bow Wow on TRL like that because he was a rapper. He was a Black, little young boy rapping. But he also was 12 years old. Nobody on TV was 12 years old anywhere creating this type of pandemonium.”
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After the clip began circulating at that time, Bow Wow took to Twitter to refute JD’s 106 & Park origin story.
“JD aint create 106&Park stop the cap,” the show’s former co-host wrote. “Stephen hill Rick Ghrimes & all the great people in the BET OFFICE & staff created that show. All i did was capitalize off of what they created and made it mine. I would know…. I am mr 106! I would never take away from someones creativity.”
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Originally hosted by A.J Calloway and Marie “Free” Wright, 106 & Park premiered on BET on September 11, 2000, two weeks before the release of Bow Wow’s debut album Beware The Dog. Earlier that summer, the tween artist appeared on TRL with Jermaine Dupri to perform the album’s lead single, “Bounce With Me.”
Bow Wow would go on to make at least one more appearance on TRL in support of his 2006 platinum-selling single “Shortie Like Mine” featuring Chris Brown and Johnta Austin.
