''The Cut'' is a 1998

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

talent series, hosted by

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member

Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes Lisa Nicole Lopes (May 27, 1971 – April 25, 2002), better known by her stage name Left Eye, was an American rapper and singer. She was a member of the R&B girl group TLC, alongside Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas. Besides ...

. It was the first in a line of televised song contests that later included ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

''. A handful of would-be pop stars, rappers, and rock bands competed against each other and were judged. The prizes were a record deal and MTV's funding to produce a music video, which would enter MTV's heavy rotation. The season was won by a male-female rap duo named Silk-E, with rapper Lil' Noah taking second place.

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, a then unknown singer-dancer, also made the finale, but did not win. Other notable contestants include R&B singer and songwriter

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(then a member of R&B group Envy) and hip-hop duo

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, which featured a little-known

Aloe Blacc Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III (born January 7, 1979), known professionally by his stage name Aloe Blacc (), is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. He is best known for his singles "I Need a Dollar", " The Man", which topped the charts in th ...

Premise

Episodes were around 30 minutes long (commercials included). There were four separate acts per episode, and vary from individual singers to groups. Artists performed in no particular order, and after the performances, a panel of alternating judges rated the performance from a scale of one to ten. Half-points, such as 7.5, were allowed. Whoever had the highest score at the end of the episode advanced to the finals.

Judges

Episodes

''(Names in bold indicate the winner of the episode)''

Episode 1

''Original airdate'': September 28, 1998

Episode 2

''Original airdate'': September 29, 1998

References

External links

* Cut, The MTV weekday shows 1998 American television series debuts 1998 American television series endings 1990s American reality television series English-language television shows {{US-reality-tv-stub