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by
16 February, 2012@6:28 pm
35 comments

Update: This was originally posted at 10 PM pst last night. Since then, 65 posts have gone up in an effort to get caught up from the last few days. Here it is up top for those that missed it last evening.


Dear heads,


First off, I want to say thanks for the overwhelming response to my last post, about moving on from the site. I thought about this a lot over the last few days, and am happy to say that HipHopSite.Com is here to stay. And I’m still involved 100%.


No, there’s no big financial backer to come in and save the day, and no, I didn’t change my mind about getting the users more involved. I think it’s just time to rethink a few things about how the site is run, and what we can all do to improve upon it.


My passion for hip-hop has not disappeared, it’s still there – and I know this sounds crazy – but a big part of me wanting to stick around has to do with the Gangrene LP. Listening to this album made me realize that I do still care deeply for this art form (when it’s good!), and judging from your comments, it’s clear that sites like HHS are needed to give albums like Gangrene the proper shine. Keep in mind I wrote that last article after watching Nicki Minaj at The Grammy’s, which was enough to make anyone in the music industry throw their hands up like “fuck it, I quit.” Heh.


In all seriousness, I started this site because I was tired of watching The Source try to sell me what hip-hop was, while my favorite acts were getting shit on month after month. I didn’t care if it made money, but after a while, it did. And then it became a full-fledged business, allowing me to quit my job and take control of my destiny. I kind of got used to that. Now, I make my living as DJ, but in all honesty I’d love it if I could give my full attention to running HHS, and of course be compensated for doing so. But even if I don’t, I know that my feelings for the site are too strong to let it go. And how could we quit 16 years in, without even reaching a full 20 year run?


So, a couple of things we gotta do to make this happen. First, I’m going to look into possibly turning this into a donation based model. That might allow us to get rid of ads completely, and fund the site purely on user donations. I’m not sure if this is a pipe dream or what, but it is something we will look into over the coming weeks.


Secondly, we’re going to keep this thing alive by getting more of you involved. The dream is to get 10+ daily bloggers posting all day long – basically everyone doing a little bit – so that the workload is lightened and we can focus more time and energy on improving the site and building into a strong, unstoppable model. So, step up front, aspiring bloggers. Anyone interested in joining up, email me at mistapizzo@gmail.com.


Finally, we need to increase the numbers. So get out there and starting reposting stuff on Facebook, re-tweeting links, liking our FB fan page, and spreading the word. Because if this does stay as a ad-based business model, we will need the traffic to keep it strong. So the first step is right here.


My next order of business will be to finish that Blog So Hard: The 25 Greatest Mixtape Bangers of 2011 mix for you guys that have been waiting for it, which I hope to have ready by the end of next week. This project almost got cancelled with the dissolution of the site.


But first, I have a few days of blog posts to get caught up on.


Let’s go to work.


P.S. – And I’m still trying to get this damn label off.

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35 Responses to "Rap Is Here To Stay"
  • roy bogart says:

    thank you. Thank You. THANK YOU!!! You know we all got your back Pizz, let us know whatever you need. Yeah that Nikki Minaj performance was a special kind of wack. But you know what? Fuck them!! Who I mean by them is all of those wack ass rappers and wack ass major labels who has continued to milk our music dry and shit on the culture for the sake of making $$$. We all should just ignore them and focus on peeps like Gangrene, Action B, Doom, and all of our beloved Real hip hop heros. Forget the Mainstream!!! What have they done for us? Notta Damn Thing. HHS 4EVER!!!

    RIP source & xxl

  • Bronson72 says:

    That’s wassup!!! Count me in. Leave it to Gangrene to save the day! Shout out to Alan the Chemist and OhNo. Big ups to Pizzo as well for staying on board and keeping the fam together. Hopefully you realize that your services are not only needed for our culture, they are much appreciated. It’s refreshing to hear that the only changes to the site will be for the better. Looking forward to the future of HHS. Thanks again Pizzo, I got your back.

  • Skins says:

    This is glorious. Slap up a Donate button, and I will push that button.

  • DNPMONK25 says:

    I agree with Sir Goodwater. You need to stop posting the crap thats out there and start getting back to what grabbed the majority of us in the 1st place. Keep the site more on the starving UG artists. A ton of new Mcs have surfaced but get no media on this site? I understand that the big labels are were the masses are at but maybe have a section for us that support those that they say the already got!

  • Sanchez says:

    Good, HHS is apart of my everyday life. Keep it up Pizzo

  • Comments (35)

    mello

    February 16th, 2012 at 11:47 am