MTV Cribs began airing in the year 2000 and has featured tours of hundreds of celebrity homes, yet none have quite measured up to the spectacle put on by rapper Redman in 2001. While most of the episodes highlighted pop stars lavish, often ostentatious living quarters, Redman’s “crib” was just a messy home, closer to the living environment you’d expect out of college kids rather than a successful musician. Some people even thought it was fake.
Now, Thrillist has put together an oral history of the episode, giving a behind-the-scenes look that is almost as amazing as the actual episode. Turns out, the whole thing was real.
The piece rounds up members of the MTV crew that worked on the five-minute segment, including Dawn Reinholtz, the unit manager and camera operator that offers up this memory of her first impression:
It was definitely different. Usually we’ll set up in a garage or something, because you have all the audio equipment as well. I think we set up in the kitchen, though, because I don’t believe he had a garage. And you couldn’t even ring the doorbell.
Also included in the article are both Redman and his cousin, Mr. Cream (formerly known as Sugar Bear) who was memorably seen asleep on the floor during the filming. Turns out, he was really asleep. Mr. Cream explains:
I actually was sleeping, and I remember waking up and it was just cameras and shit in my face and they were like, “Sign this for me.” It was some kind of release, and I was like, “Oh, there’s some shit going on?” I was out, but I woke up to sign the release paper.
The rest of the oral history is at Thrillist. It’s almost as good as that one about Mad Men.