Hip Hop Squares (partially found MTV2 spin-off of Heatter-Quigley game show; 2012)

The show's poster for its premiere.

Status: Partially Found

Hip Hop Squares was a spin-off of the Heatter-Quigley game show Hollywood Squares that first aired on MTV2 from May 22^[1] to December 18th, 2012, airing 20 episodes and was the first iteration of the Hollywood Squares format since the original show's end in 2004. While the show would end up being short-lived, it would become the highest-rated program on MTV2 with its series premiere bringing in 329,000 viewers^[2]. The show was hosted by wrestling personality Peter Rosenberg during it's run on MTV2 and was announced by actress Nichole Lyn (under the moniker "DJ Ms. Nix"). The show would be brought back on VH1 five years after it ended with comedian DeRay Davis hosting and rap icon Ice Cube (who produced the VH1 version) announcing^[3] and would last two seasons, ending in 2019. Episodes from the VH1 version are readily available online, but episodes from the show's MTV2 run are surprisingly very hard to find.

Format

The format of the show is the same as the 1980s run of Hollywood Squares, which is tic-tac-toe with a square being claimed by the current player by agreeing or disagreeing correctly with the answer the celebrity in the square gives to a question given by the show's host. A win in the first two rounds awards the player $500 and a win in the third round awards the player $1,000. Round two is referred to as the "G-Spot" (originally named the Secret Square) and agreeing or disagreeing correctly with the answer the celebrity in the square that is the "G-Spot" awards the player a $1,000 bonus but does not affect the game's scores. The player with the most money goes onto the bonus round. The winning player selects a row of three celebrities from the board and the host asks the celebrities a question and they give three separate answers. If the player selects the correct answer, they win $2,500.

Episodes

#	Celebrities	Contestants	Airdate	Status
1	Mac Miller, Childish Gambino, Kat Graham, Machine Gun Kelly, Tech N9NE, Donnell Rawlings, Khaled, Fat Joe, Ghostface Killah	Alejandro vs. Inqu	May 22nd, 2012	Found
2	JB Smoove, Bam Margera, Maino, Donnell Rawlings, Ghostface Killah, DJ Khaled, Fat Joe, Miss Info, Ralphie May	Justin vs. Joya	May 29th, 2012	Found
3	Fat Joe, Angie Martinez, DJ Khaled, Owen Smith, Biz Markie, DeRay Davis, The Mix, Donnell Rawlings, Nick Cannon	Kevin vs. Faven	Jun 5th, 2012	Found
4	Fat Joe, Draya Michele, DJ Khaled, Andrew Schulz, Dev, Rachel Feinstein, Biz Markie, Lil Duval, Common	Francois vs. Daniela	Jun 12, 2012	Found
5	Fat Joe, Amber Rose, DJ Khaled, Chiddy Bang, Lamarr Woodley, Vinny, Biz Markie, Damien Lemon, Method Man	Nick vs. Jessica	Jun 19th, 2012	Found
6	Fat Joe, Miss Info, DJ Khaled, Far East Movement, Bam Margera, Dov Davidoff, Ghostface Killah, Donnell Rawlings, JB Smoove	Marco vs. Annie	Jun 26th, 2012	Found
7	DJ Khaled, DeRay Davis, Drita D'avanzo, Asher Roth, 2chainz, Lil Duval, Biz Markie, Sway, Fat Joe	Unknown	Jul 3rd, 2012	Partially Lost
8	Nick Cannon, Jessica White, DeRay, Angie Martinez, Lil Duval, Sway, Ghostface Killah, Khaled, Fat Joe	Talli vs. Janee	Jul 10th, 2012	Found
9	J.B. Smoove, Questlove, Miss Info, Maino, Bam Margera, Donnell Rawlings, Ghostface Killah, DJ Khaled	Unknown	Oct 17th, 2012	Partially Found
10	Mac Miller, Owen Smith, Kat Graham, Machine Gun Kelly, Tech N9ne, Donnell Rawlings, Ghostface Killah, DJ Khaled, Fat Joe	Unknown	Oct 23rd, 2012	Lost
11	Method Man, Vinny, Amber Rose, Hannibal Buress, Chiddy Bang, Damien Lemon, Biz Markie, DJ Khaled, Fat Joe	Unknown	Oct 23rd, 2012	Partially Found
12	Common, Rachel Feinstein, Draya Michele, Dev, Andrew Schulz, Lil Duval, Biz Markie, DJ Khaled, Fat Joe	Unknown	Oct 30th, 2012	Lost
13	Nick Cannon, DeRay Davis, Jessica White, Angie Martinez, Owen Smith, Lil Duval, Ghostface Killah, DJ Khaled, Fat Joe	Unknown	Oct 30th, 2012	Lost
14	Fat Joe, DeRay Davis, Drita D'avanzo, Asher Roth, DJ Ms. Nix, Lil Duval, Biz Markie, DJ Khaled, Sway	Unknown	Nov 6th, 2012	Lost
15	J.B. Smoove, Dov Davidoff, Miss Info, Far East Movement, Bam Margera, Donnell Rawlings, Ghostface Killah, Fat Joe, Nick Cannon	Unknown	Nov 20th, 2012	Lost
16	Common, Rachel Feinstein, Draya Michele, Dev, Andrew Schulz, Lil Duval, Biz Markie, DJ Khaled, Fat Joe	Christian vs. Sandy	Nov 27th, 2012	Partially Lost
17	Method Man, Vinny, Amber Rose, Lamarr Woodley, Chiddy Bang, Lil Duval, Biz Markie, DJ Khaled, Fat Joe	Unknown	Dec 4th, 2012	Partially Found
18	Mac Miller, Childish Gambino, Kat Graham, Machine Gun Kelly, Tech N9ne, Donnell Rawlings, Ghostface Killah, DJ Khaled, DeRay Davis	Unknown	Dec 11th, 2012	Lost
19	J.B. Smoove, Owen Smith, Miss Info, Maino, Bam Margera, Donnell Rawlings, Ghostface Killah, DJ Khaled	Unknown	Dec 18th, 2012	Lost
20	Biz Markie, DeRay Davis, Drita D'avanzo, Asher Roth, 2chainz, Lil Duval, Sherrod Small, DJ Khaled	Unknown	Dec 18th, 2012	Lost

^[4]

Avaliblity

All 20 episodes of the MTV2 version of the show were available on MTV2's website until 2015 when the show's episodes were moved to MTV's website. The show became available on the site until 2016 and the show was removed from MTV's website entirely when the VH1 version started airing. One episode featuring game show journalist Christian Carrion as a contestant was available on YouTube for a short time but has since vanished, and Carrion revealed in a Facebook post on July 28th, 2021, that he is no longer in possession of his episode^[5]. Despite that, clips from the episode have resurfaced. Various clips from the show were used in promos for the show, but only one can be found today.

On March 24th, 2023, LMW user, YoshiKiller2S uploaded the first six episodes to the Internet Archive after getting them from Racelympics, making it the first time any full episode of the show has been seen since 2016. Then, on June 11th, 2023, Racelympics also recovered Episode 8 and sent it to Fish of the Bulb, who would upload it to the Internet Archive.