Hip Hop Squares
television series
Hip Hop Squares is an American television game show originally hosted by Peter Rosenberg, which debuted on MTV2 on May 22, 2012. The show is a licensed format of CBS Television Distribution's Hollywood Squares (King World Productions, CBS Television Distribution's predecessor company, acquired the franchise in 1991 from Orion Television) featuring mostly rappers. The MTV2 version of the show was taped in Brooklyn, New York. The VH1 version was taped in Hollywood, California.
Because of the show's status as part of the Hollywood Squares franchise, the show marked the sixth decade that a version of the franchise has aired on television, joining Let's Make a Deal, Jeopardy!, and The Newlywed Game (later joined by Wheel of Fortune and Family Feud) as a game show that has aired in six different decades. (Only The Price Is Right and To Tell the Truth have been on longer; both have aired in eight decades.)
On July 28, 2016, VH1 announced a new version of Hip Hop Squares, which premiered on March 13, 2017. The series is executive produced by rapper and actor Ice Cube and hosted by DeRay Davis. Additionally, Davis was a semi-regular panelist on the original MTV2 version before becoming the host of the VH1 version. A fourth season (second for VH1) began on April 18, 2018. The fifth season (third for VH1) premiered on August 13, 2019.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Hip Hop Squares” as television series. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as television series. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5767936. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2012, 1991, 2016 and 2017.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Hip Hop Squares”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Hip Hop Squares primary sources, Hip Hop Squares archive and Squares research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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This entry incorporates text from “Hip Hop Squares” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.