It's a little-known fact that before MTV hires anyone to serve as the house band at the Video Music Awards, they must pass a rigid, Kurt Loder-proctored VMA quiz (just kidding). And this year was no exception.

And while we were all huge fans of up-and-coming Washington, D.C., MC Wale (and his cracking live band, UCB), we weren't about to just let them serve as the 2009 house band without first making the grade.

So, we had Tim Kash give Wale a grilling, hitting him with a host of VMA questions that would test his knowledge and see if he really was worthy. Oh, and for added pressure we decided to quiz him right in the heart of Times Square.

Clearly, the pressure was on ... and, as it turned out, Wale was more than up for the challenge. You can watch his full VMA quiz in the video that accompanies this story, but let's just say he aced it, nailing questions like, "What comedian earned a lifetime ban after his 1989 VMA performance?" (Andrew Dice Clay) and "Who was the first hip-hop artist to win the Video Vanguard Award?" (LL Cool J) with, as he put it, "the smoothness of Mark Price on free throws."

And since he passed with flying colors, we're happy to announce that Wale and UCB will officially serve as the house band at the 2009 VMAs (you know, even though we already announced it last week). They'll collaborate on versions of today's biggest hits with the likes of the All-American Rejects, Pitbull and 3OH!3, and Wale promises that there's also gonna be a few surprises too.

"We're gonna bring a lot of that funk, we're gonna bring a lot of that D.C. go-go," he laughed. "We're gonna wild-out and have some fun. It's gonna be huge."

The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards will take place September 13 at 9 p.m. ET. Additional celebrity presenters and performers will be announced in the coming weeks. To be the first to find out the inside scoop, follow the Inside MTV Twitter account at Twitter.com/InsideMTV.