Ralph McDaniels

Ralph McDaniels (born February 27, 1959) is an American music video director, DJ and VJ. He co-created and co-hosts the music video program Video Music Box with Lionel C. Martin.

McDaniels was born in Brooklyn, New York, and moved with his parents to Queens when he was 11 years old. McDaniels studied communications at LaGuardia Community College. He later started the video production company Classic Concepts with Video Music Box producer Lionel Martin.

In 1983, after interning at WNYC in New York City, and subsequently becoming a radio engineer, McDaniels created Studio 31 Dance Party, a television show revolving around recordings of music performances. This show would transform into Video Music Box, which was created and hosted by McDaniels and Martin.

In 1994, McDaniels who became known as "Uncle Ralph", directed Rapper Nas first solo video, for his second single, "It Ain't Hard to Tell". The video was aired on Video Music Box, which became the longest-running music video show in the world.

On December 3, 2021, Showtime premiered the documentary You're Watching Video Music Box, chronicling the longest-running music video show, Video Music Box, with never-before-seen footage from the vault of McDaniels. The documentary is written by Steve Rivo and Andre Wilkins and directed by rapper Nas, who is also featured in the documentary along with McDaniels.

He now works for the Queens Library for Outreach Services.