Are We A Top 50 Hip Hop Blog?

This came to my attention last week. Thomas, Kevin, and myself read it and we kinda scoffed… it really didn’t matter. After all, we all saw the “Vibe Best Rapper” Competition [view here]. Obviously, Joe Budden wasn’t impressed. After sitting back and thinking about it… I’m gonna have to go Joe Budden on this list myself, regardless of the repercussions. I mean, the logical answer would be that “no one knows about KevinNottingham.com,” but be real here, we get about 12,000-15,000 hits a day, plenty of new viewers each day… worldwide. Byron Crawford, who is a hugely amusing blogger (albeit, he hates just about everything, but eh, he’s good at what he does) knows about us, YN of Rap Radar knows about us, countless emcees and producers know about us, so why not? In retrospect, I just didn’t understand why we aren’t one of the better 50 blogs out there, and I have plenty of reasons to think why we should be on there. In case you didn’t see the list… here it is.

Ugh. I mean, I’m not gonna name names throughout this, so don’t expect that from me. I know a few of these blog runners and after being involved with blogging for the last 18 months or so, I have nothing but respect for each and every blog runner and contributor, it’s a hard job and frankly, there isn’t loads of money involved with it. 99% of what’s done on a blog is for the love of hip hop and for the fans of it despite the hate a writer, a poster, or even a fellow commenter may get. Another thing I wanted to get outta the way…what the fuck is up with Vibe these days? I mean, has EVERY Urban magazine lost credibility? I mean, if we were on the list, I’d still be saying this (if not about the blogs, then about the best rapper thing), but I mean, why on earth are they so damn bias and BET’ed? It’s upsetting. It’s not one writer doing it (most likely), it’s a team of writers. So you gotta think, not one person is messing up, a whole bunch of people are messing up. I mean, I love hip hop writers, as one myself, I understand the pain and struggle, but my God, I feel like the genre is in such upsetting and irresponsible hands when the head-uppers are either allowing all of this and contributing to it. Who the HELL puts Plies on a Best Rapper ever list? So with that out of the way, let me rant a little bit on this topic right here.

And let’s be serious… it’s impossible for there to be no backlash on this topic with Vibe, so that’s kind of impossible. But, whatever, I’ve already said their name like 5 times throughout the first 3 paragraphs, so they are doing their job, aren’t they?

We Do What No Other Site Dared to Do…

Isn’t our hip hop sample sets like that one special thing that sets us apart from everyone else though? I feel that they are kind of the powerful force that drives us at times. They get loads of hits, they start controversy, but more important, they expose people to great music that they probably would’ve never heard, and on top of that, expose something NEW. Even if that’s not it, what about our Reviews? As Head writer and Asst. Editor in Chief of the site, I make sure that every written piece put on this site is above the caliber that it would be sufficient for on any other site. We go beyond the normal, giving highly in depth and intensive reviews, giving analysis, shit, we even give you three tracks to listen to most of the time. We care about our viewers and make sure people spend their $ wisely. That should count for something. ALSO, we expose NEW artist, artists other sites wouldn’t care to “waste space” on. Even heard of Theo 3? You probably caught his most recent “50 Bars” thing on other sites; we featured him at least twice before any of that. Melanie Fiona? Pssssh, we had her ish here first before any blogs decided to hop on the bandwagon. Wax & EOM? We had the “Larry and Tina” video 5 months before other sites decided to give a damn. I really could care less about “getting stuff first,” but it’s not even about that, it’s just frustrating, because a lot of other sites are jumping on what’s hot, and we already know it is gonna be fire before it even hits the freaking shelves, but no one will listen to the little guy.

50% of these Blogs do the same thing…

If these sites aren’t about Gossip, then they are about leaks. Who’s got it first?! I’ve studied early media history, and one of the most talked about things then (and even now) was “who got it first?” Some sites build their popularity because they get a song 5 minutes before someone else does? Are you kidding me? In Toronto, we have three major Sport Network shows, during the NHL Trade Deadline, it’s ALL about who gets it first, and it’s hilarious. I’m gonna find out from somebody in the next 5 minutes aren’t I? Does it matter who? Regardless if it’s the new-ish for the 5-minute late-ish, aren’t you gonna hear the tracks? Why do blogs get so many daps for being first? Looking like HHDX.com commenters…. And it’s hilarious, watching that battle. All that time spending, waiting on who gets it first could’ve been spent writing an in depth piece on the new Eminem album…instead of leaking 5 tracks for everyone to download. Yeah, that’s good for hip hop. For the record, we stream and if we don’t stream, it’s because we’ve been given permission by the PR or whomever to post liberally. But yeah, being in the blog game, you kinda get sucked into it, “being first.” It’s like a disease; so I guess this point can be taken in a few ways. But I mean, some of the listed blogs, just post consistent links…yeah? That’s what it takes? While 50% of these blogs do the same thing, we are in the 3% that do what we do, whether it’s sample sets, or an in depth year end list, or a week dedication… seriously, where else are you gonna get that?

Our Site IS the Culture

The site design gets better every update. Kev does an outstanding job and truly deserves just about all the credit for that. There isn’t much to say about this because the visuals speak for themselves. The site screams hip hop, but more so, we’ve developed into a wide array of elements surrounding the culture of hip hop. We’ve expanded to R&B and even portions of Rock and Reggae. The site screams hip hop at its purist and finest form. For a “Top 50 Hip Hop Blogs” list to include a site that is so essentially ALL about the culture, it’s kind of upsetting to not be included, especially since we just don’t post up Youtube videos and Zshare links to be all about the culture… we show it in our staff, our affiliations, our acknowledgements, our work, and our commitment to our readers and aspiring musicians/artists.

Contests!

And what about our Contest?! Sure, we aren’t world wide yet. Toronto gets lucky every now and then, NYC, and Seattle have some dope opportunities to win. If it’s not about giving up free tickets to some of the biggest shows, including Drake show in Toronto the last week (with a ticket price of over $40 and a strict ticket-giving-away policy), winning free gear, or winning vinyl, KevinNottingham.com hooks our viewers up whenever we can, and frankly we love it. But damn, if that’s not it, what about the producer contests?! The Illtravis project is something that could be added to the resume, so could this current Blueprint contest. The Classified contest sparked some outstanding beats and this recent JD Era contest is another one that only got more heads turning in some heat. I mean, as someone closely affiliated with another who got their start winning a few contest, I know the importance of these things… they could literally change lives. Surely, that should count for something.

Our Viewers/ Posters / Fans

I’ve been on a LOT of hip hop sites in my time around the net, never have I seen such concerned, intrigued, and devoted readers who actually care about the site, the music, and the product being published. Sometimes when I read other sites, I feel like the people could care less about a) what other posters have said, b) what the actual topic is about, and c) what the poster said prior to the post. On KevinNottingham.com, it’s not like that, for the most part anyways. Some GREAT discussions have gone down; see the ATLiens review, the Untitled review, the Top 25 Dr. Dre Productions post, the Drake article. I mean, I could go on. If you find a really dope topic in here, the discussion is 50 comments of bitching… it’s usually 50 comments of true in depth discussion, similar to that of a message board. It’s a real homey feel, very comfortable, and loving. Holy shit, that’s hard to find in the hip hop community these days, isn’t it? Love? Yeah, but you wouldn’t want something like LOVE reigning in on the Top 50 Blogs now would you? Perhaps we are too nice? Kev, should stop being such a philanthropist.

I could go on, I really can. I have loads of school work to do, but this has been eating me up for about a week now. I’d love for others to TRULY read this and comment. What other reasons do you think we should be put on? Should we NOT be put on? Isn’t it great for hip hop to notice us, though? I mean, if we made that list, think about all the extra hits we’d get. Then, think about all the people who could actually tell you what the original Bobby Bland sample was for the all too similar Kanye produced Jigga track. Isn’t that a much better discussion then “Yo, Kanye murked that beat”? I feel that putting us on the list and giving us recognition around the hip hop society is only a positive thing for hip hop, considering the masses that we could educate, evolve, teach, and breed. It would be a beautiful thing, but, this is not a perfect world.

*I haven’t even proof read this, so excuse any grammatical errors or slip ups. It was a type-on-the-mind thing*

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