106 & Park is a 90-minute countdown music video show that features popular hip hop and R&B music videos. 106 & Park was originally produced in Harlem, New York, and the title's namesake came from its studio location at East 106th Street and Park Avenue. When Viacom bought BET, the show was moved south to its present production site -- the CBS Broadcast Center at 524 West 57th Street, in the Hell's Kitchen section of Manhattan.
The program plays the top ten most requested videos of the day, as requested by viewers who can vote by telephone or online. In addition to the music video countdown, a typical show also airs one new music video known as the New Joint of the Day and a music video from the past known as the Flashback Joint of the Day. The flashback video is usually a no more than a few years old. The show usually has frequent guests as it is a popular promotion tool used by many musicians, actors, and other celebrities. It may also feature live performances by popular hip hop and R&B artists.
On March 30, 2007, Rocsi and Terrance announced that 106 & Park was the number 1 video show in the world. Also, on June 6, 2007, Terrence announced that the series will now begin airing in Japan. Photos from the press conference in Japan can be seen on the show's official website. It's the only video show to have their own fan club mobile number.
Every Friday, there is a special segment called Freestyle Friday. The format has two rappers compete in a freestyle battle before the studio audience and three celebrity judges (On certain cases the DJ was also the judge). Each rapper has two 30 second round to freestyle. The rappers are not allowed to use profanities or sexually suggestive lyrics (if they do, they get disqualified) which can prove hard for some of the more street orientated battle rappers such as Reed Dollarz who was disqualified in a battle for cursing in which he otherwise could have won. After the battle, the judges decide the winner. Any rapper who is able to win seven consecutive weeks is immortalized in the Freestyle Friday Hall of Fame. The first rapper to make it this far was Shaheed the Poster Boy. The popular segment has spawned the career of Jin and given a few other rappers the opportunity to get a record deal.
According to BET.com, 106 and Park has officially cancelled Freestyle Friday for two main reasons. One, Challengers would sometimes use curse words by accident and BET finds it inappropriate for the Challengers to make a mistake when Terrence J announces the rules out loud and Two, most Challengers pre-write their verses to quickly gain the Champion title. People such as Nickel-US F the recent Hall of Fame representative on 106 and Park served 7 weeks with 2 disqualifications and way before the induction, an unofficial edited AVI video shows Terrence J and Rocsi exposing Nickel-US F when it was a June 8, 2007 recording of exposing a desperate Challenger Lethal and highlighting a May 25, 2007 recording of Nickel-US F using non improvised performances on the stage with a background female imitating one of the verses that Nickel-US F has said that set the audience to an extraordinary outburst. “That must of gave the editor a reason to set the part when Terrence and Rocsi expose the Challenger Lethal first and further than added a Nickel-US F part where a female repeats Nickel-US Fs lines” the producer has said. The video was viewed by many Freestyle battling fans on Forums and on the MySpace pages, having most of them to criticize both Nickel-US F and Lethal for performing non improvised rap verses off of the head and most of all making their complaints out to BET and mentioning inappropriate things and harsh comments about 106 and Park not only to hurt the ratings of the show but to make other future contestants to improvise on the stage with original performances. So by that being said, the producers had an agreement to cancel Freestyle Friday and to not have anymore auditions for underground rappers who pre-write their verses and street orientated rappers who has a knack for using inappropriate unacceptable vulgar words that are not suitable for television and especially for children that hasn’t reached maturity.