My biggest impressions of the show, sadly, came after it was taken off the air in 2001. After two seasons, the shift from rag-tag operation to full-blown sitcom proved too costly and forced the Lyricist Lounge Show to close its doors for good (though the original Lyricist Lounge is still alive and kicking in New York). With the newest brand of sitcom television that we’re subjected to nowadays, the Show is most certainly missed.

It was one of the last pieces of original sitcom production to come from the early 2000s and remains completely original. It ushered in such shows as Def Poetry Jam and the short-lived and not quite fully realised (or original) Wild n’ Out –a show which, I’m guessing, paid open homage to The Lyricist Lounge Show in its attempts to meld passable comedy sketches with wholly uninspiring hip-hop.

What we can take away from the short-lived success of The Lyricist Lounge Show is that there’s still a desire to see something real and original in the world. MTV has completely lost its way in that regard, choosing to get rid of music all together (resulting in nothing more than an extended and less attractive version of E! Television), negating the network’s original intent entirely. But, I digress. Somewhere in this universe of housewives and teen mothers we can find a way to get back to creating work that’s equal parts inspiring and entertaining. Until then, I’ll have to relegate myself to the likes of YouTube and hope that someone comes up with another brilliant idea in the near future.