Chicago-based podcast series The Andy Derer Show speaks with founder of HipHopSite.Com / WeAllHitPlay.Com / Hellafine Records, DJ Pizzo (that’s me). We talk about the year in hip-hop, the house music club scene, MCA, Chris Lighty, and much more.

UPDATE 2: Forums are live now. And, if you are registered as a commenter on HipHopSite.Com already, you are also registered for the forums. So, we brought them back by popular demand, it’s now up to you guys to get them poppin’. Post away, HHS massive…. Go to HHS Forum

UPDATE: We’ve put in some major work this past 24 hours, getting the site up-to-date from the last two weeks, busting out over 100+ posts in the last day or so. Next up, getting the Forum up to speed. We expect to have that ready to roll by the weekend, if not sooner. Then, We All Hit Play…..

9/11: We had been thinking about a redesign for HipHopSite.Com for a while now, because we thought the last iteration was becoming a bit too “bloggy”. Earlier this year I was almost ready to throw the towel in on HHS, but let’s just chalk that up as a moment of temporary insanity. Instead what we’ve done is revamped the whole thing, giving it a more streamlined design, so you aren’t endlessly scrolling past 500 pixel images. We’ve also got everything a bit better organized, so when you’re searching through our archive of album reviews or interviews that date back to 1996, you can find exactly what you want. We’ve also brought back the forum – set to launch tomorrow – integrating it right into the site, to be moderated by old MFDoomSite board-leader Machiventa. So, in a nutshell, think of this as a better looking, easier-to-navigate version of the HHS you all know and love.

Our next project will be the launch of our sister site, WeAllHitPlay.com, which will focus on house / electronic dance music. Being here in Las Vegas, the current epicenter of the movement (at least within the U.S.), I’ve had the opportunity to literally become a small part of the scene, spinning next to genre greats like Calvin Harris, Dada Life, Steve Aoki, A-Trak, Sharam, Afrojack, R3hab, and others, and felt it was the time to share my knowledge and experience within this scene with the rest of you. Our love for hip-hop hasn’t changed, but we felt like we were neglecting house music by not reporting on it, especially given our location. We hope to have WeAllHitPlay live by mid-September.

Finally, the thing that will tie these two sites together will be my new label, Hellafine. This is in it’s infantile stages at the moment, but the focus of the label will be to release my own tracks (because who else in their right mind would), as well as spotlight a diverse portfolio of artists we respect in both the hip-hop and electronic music scenes. For a taste of what kind of things we’re working on, check Manik and I’s remix of Outkast’s “SpottieOttieDopaliscious” via Soundcloud.

So back to HHS, as you can see, we are still working out the kinks, but should have everything sewn up by the end of the week. Added to start are the latest batch of IN THE DECK album reviews that we’ve been depriving you of over the last week or so. Regular updates (and catch up) will resume later tonight.

We hope you like the new site and everything else we’ve got planned for the future. Thank you for your support.

- dj pizzo
President
HipHopSite.Com
WeAllHitPlay.Com
HellafineRecords.Com

Here it is a little sooner than expected, Blog So Hard, my new mixtape built around the HHS 2011 Year-In-Review: The 25 Greatest Mixtape Bangers list. All of the tracks included were not included on any album in 2011, making them the digital equivalent to the indie 12″‘s of our earlier vinyl era. Includes blog-only bangers from Nas, MF Doom, Ghostface Killah, Wu-Block, Eminem, Slaughterhouse, Yelawolf, El-P, DJ Premier, Slick Rick, Bumpy Knuckles, Apathy,  Demigodz, Blu, Pete Rock, Madlib, Freddie Gibbs, Jay Electronica, Mobb Deep, Jon Connor, J. Cole, Rick Ross, T.I., Busta Rhymes, Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj, David Banner, Lupe Fiasco, Alchemist, Meek Mill, Black Star, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Gucci Mane.

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.

So, I have been in deep thought about what direction to take HipHopSite.Com in the future. I have to be honest, my heart is not in the site anymore. Mostly because I don’t like the direction that hip-hop music has taken. Don’t get me wrong, the underground has always produced great music, but after 17 years of running HipHopSite.Com, it’s hard for me to get excited about this stuff anymore. Let’s face it, I’m jaded.

I’ve been wanting to take some time off from HHS to produce and start a label, but the time I put into the site each day is not allowing that to happen. My first inkling was to throw in the towel and retire HipHopSite for good. Hang up my mic, so to speak.

But I still enjoy reviewing albums; it’s innate in me to listen to a record and critique it. So then I thought I could just run those reviews on DJPizzo.Com, but that would probably confuse people. Someone suggested to me that I should sell it, and the another person suggested I hand it over to the community. I like the second idea better.

So now the question is how to do this. One way is to simply open the site up and let all of you take control of it. This could get messy with double posts, old posts, piracy, etc, but then again, if we had someone moderating the site, it wouldn’t be a problem at all. Sites like Reddit and Wikipedia have proven this. In short, we could probably get it under control pretty quickly.

With that off my chest, I’d like to hear your thoughts. I hate to see sites disappear completely, and I would hate to have the legacy of HHS thrown away just because I’m tired of doing it. I know you guys love the site and visit it every day, so perhaps there’s a way to keep this thing alive that involves all of you. Feel free to chime in with your ideas in the comments section or email me directly at mistapizzo@gmail.com.

Interview yours truly just did with Stereogrid, about HipHopSite.Com.

For this week’s Blogger Q+A we talk to DJ Pizzo of HipHopSite.  We discuss the history of HipHopSite, what catches his ear as a blogger/DJ & the advantages of being a genre specific blog.

Stereogrid: Where, How & Why did you start HipHopSite?

DJ Pizzo: I started HipHopSite.Com in 1997 – it was one of the first, pioneering rap websites to deliver up-to-date news, reviews, and new music on a regular basis.

Stereogrid: What do you think uniquely defines HipHopSite?

DJ Pizzo: Pretty much our long history, as a site that had helped jumpstart the indie hip-hop movement of the late 90′s and early 00′s. We’ve been responsible for introducing countless artists to the internet audience, long before they we’re popular, such as Eminem, RJD2, Little Brother, DJ Danger Mouse, and tons more. We also still write album reviews regularly, and have an archive of about 3000 full-length reviews written over the last 15 years.

Stereogrid: Which albums/mixtapes have caught your attention in 2011?

DJ Pizzo: Mixtapes, definitely Kendrick Lamar’s “Section 80” and Big Krit’s “Return of 4Eva”. On the album tip, there have been a ton of great releases from everyone. On the indies, I’m loving Action Bronson and Statik Selektah’s “Well Done”, People Under The Stairs “Highlighter”, Evidence “Cats and Dogs”, Apathy “Honkey Kong”. Major label LP’s that have been good this year include Drake, DJ Shadow, Bed Meets Evil, and Raekwon.

Stereogrid: What are your methods for discovering new artists?

DJ Pizzo: As a DJ, I listen to everything. A lot of being a great DJ – and blogger – is introducing your audience to new music and new artists, so I give everything a fair shake. I like to always be ahead of the curve.

Stereogrid: Do you think theres any disadvantages for being a genre specific blog? Why/Why not?

DJ Pizzo: Yeah, there are. I feel hip-hop is pretty stale right now, so it’s nice to use the site to help introduce people to stuff that would otherwise fly under the radar. However, I listen to other forms of music as well. I’m heavily into House Music right now, and have considered starting a secondary blog for House… only time will tell.

Read more: http://blog.stereogrid.com/qa-hiphopsite/#ixzz1e1NGoT9K
]]> http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/11/18/stereogrid-interview-w-dj-pizzo/feed/ 0 http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/04/15/exclusive-vinnie-paz-on-the-secret-history-of-jedi-mind-tricks-hhs/ http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/04/15/exclusive-vinnie-paz-on-the-secret-history-of-jedi-mind-tricks-hhs/#comments Fri, 15 Apr 2011 07:06:52 +0000 http://www.hiphopsite.com/?p=32955

Untitled from HipHopSite.Com on Vimeo.

DJ Pizzo caught up with Vinnie Paz at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. In part one of our exclusive interview, he speaks on how HipHopSite.Com and Jedi Mind Tricks came up in the same era.

1. 1 Pair of Steel Series Siberia V/2 Pro Gaming Headphones
2. 1 Steel Series 4HD Pro Gaming Mouse Pad
3. 1 Stones Throw / J. Dilla “Turn It Up” T-Shirt Box Set
4. Original Sealed Copies of Pre-Emptive Hype Vol. 1-5 on CD
5. 1 Original Pressing of J-Live – “The Day I Fell Off / Schools In” 7″ single, limited to 500 copies.

Didn’t win this month? Looking to clean up next month? The contest officially starts over immediately. Anyone is eligible to win, all you have to do is comment on the site, and the most active commenter after the 30 day period wins the HHS Swag Bag.

2/17: We’ve given it some thought, and we’ve come to the conclusion that we are going to put out the old HHS promos for your consumption – where we can, at least. Obviously, in some cases, we will not be able to upload certain releases, so we’ll stay away from those. But, there’s a ton of things we can give back out digitally, including Preemptive Hypes, 7-inch singles, bonus CD rips and more. We’re not going to do some gimmicky #doucheytuesdays thing – we’re just going to put them out at random, little by little, until (virtually) everything is out there for you guys.

Now, we want to produce NEW projects in the vein of what we did in the past with all of our favorite labels and artists. Maybe even get Preemptive Hype back off the ground. You’ve seen what we’re capable of, but the only way that’s going to happen is if we get the traffic back in place. So we’re asking for some help on your end with a new contest called “WHO IS TOP SHOTTA?”. Each month, we will award a special HHS Schwag Bag (that’s “schwag”, not “swag”), filled with many of the old, leftover promos from the retail giveaway era, along with some other treats like headphones, computer gear, t-shirts, etc. And let it be known, this is not just leftover junk, there are seriously some crazy promos in here, like test pressings of the 45′s, picture discs, sealed Preemeptive Hype CD’s etc.

That award will go to HHS’s “Top Shotta” of the month. The Top Shotta is the person that commented on the most posts on HHS. We want to rebuild this community and have you guys more involved. And we want quality posts on the comments sections. Not “First” or “Bitch!” ignorance. If you think something is wack, it’s okay to say it (chances are, we probably agree with you). It isn’t going to hurt your chances of being Top Shotta. A lot of you guys chime in with some pretty hilarious shit about the posts and even when it’s negatively slanted, we’re sitting here laughing. But obviously, the same can be said for something that is great – ultimately your comments on sites like this have tremendous power and swaying the direction of the music industry. We’ve seen a paradigm shift in the industry over the last few years, with tons of “internet rappers” signing with major labels / artists. And I’d go as far as to say we wrote the fuckin’ book on internet rap during the indie hip-hop movement. So sound off and be heard!

So we’ll get to ripping for you. To start, you can grab The Professor Meets The Supervillain EP, which we uploaded a few months back. We have a lot of work to do….

Want to help save the internet from people like the person pictured above? Tired of seeing Gucci Mane posts? Want to see more Gucci Mane posts? You can make a difference. HipHopSite.Com is looking for a handful of new freelance contributors to help out on the day to day blogging of new content that is coming down the pipeline. What does this entail? Scouring the internet for new music, videos, or news stories and posting them on the site for all to see. Email mistapizzo@gmail.com if you are interested….

There’s been lots of speculation as to what exactly is going on with this company lately. As the one of the internet’s longest running, pioneering hip-hop websites, we’ve had a long, great history as one of the first online news and information sources for hip-hop since our birth in 1996. The site was started by two KUNV deejays, myself (DJ Pizzo) and Warren Peace, who prior to building HipHopSite would meet every single Friday night for the “#1 show in your area”, Word Up (yes, this show originated in the 1980’s). This show found us in the two of the most important eras of hip-hop music, the golden era (1988-1994) and the birth of the indie hip-hop movement (1995-2004). When I came aboard the show in 1995, I was bringing news updates from rec.music.hip-hop usenet boards, as well as exclusive songs that I got through prehistoric file-sharing methods – that being, trading audio cassettes of unreleased music through the U.S. mail service to other hungry backpackers. Warren then had the idea to turn it around, and instead of just exposing our radio show audience to all of this great information and new music, why not spit it back out to the rest of the web? And thus, HipHopWeb.Com was born…and thankfully, that domain name was taken…and instead, HipHopSite.com was born. Holla.

Back in that era, our original business model was to act as a content based website that would generate revenue through advertising. We had a little bit different of an idea though about how the site should be run editorially. We were fed up with the way hip-hop print magazines were selling out to their advertisers, essentially selling positive album reviews, five page features, and cover spots to whoever had the biggest album budget. In this era of shamelessness, we attempted to provide brutally honest record reviews (i.e. “Cam’ron sounds wack as fuck on his verse on KRS’s “5 Borough’s”…”), and then attempted to – yes, in 1996 – ask those same labels to advertise on our website. It didn’t take. I remember Kevin Black was head at A&M at the time, and we were in his office, pitching this revolutionary idea of advertising on our website to him, and he bugged the fuck out. “Yo, how are you gonna give the Centipedes (he meant Cenobites) four stars and then turn around and say the Players Club Soundtrack is wack!?!?!”. It didn’t take.

At the same time, the world of indie hip-hop was blossoming, with labels like ABB, Rawkus and Stones Throw putting out cutting edge new music from artists that wouldn’t “work” on major labels anymore. The new renaissance was here, and authentic hip-hop music would live on through the sale of underground 12” singles and eventually CD’s. We needed some way to keep the editorial end of the site alive since internet advertising was too new of a concept for people to understand at that time. From there, we birthed our online mail order service, which helped launch the careers of then unsigned artists like Eminem, Talib Kweli, RJD2, Jedi Mind Tricks, Kardinal Offishall, Demigodz, Madlib, and the list goes on. When these guys were coming up, we took a chance on them and carried their debut singles and albums, selling hundreds and thousands of copies to the core hip-hop audience via mail order.

This eventually evolved into our retail store in Las Vegas, which was host to numerous in-store autograph signing events, with cats like MF Doom, Redman, KRS-One, DJ Premier, Slum Village, Lupe Fiasco, Murs, Atmosphere, Mobb Deep, Alchemist, Pharrell, ?uestlove, Pete Rock, and blah blah blah, we’re the shit, etc. I know I’m kind of waxing poetically about the achievements of this company, so I’ll shut the fuck up because many of you reading this know the story. It truly is, at this point, old news. What you don’t know is what happened next and how we ended up here, at this moment in time.

So how did we go from having this massive two-story hip-hop specialty store in fabulous Las Vegas that processed hundreds of orders per day, to, well… nothing? The writing was on the wall.  In 2005, we began to see the decline of this industry, which got worse with each consecutive year. Artists that would sell a lot in previous years stopped selling as much. Record stores all over the country were closing down. Distributors were folding. What was going on? We all know what happened to this industry – the rise of file sharing and the transition to digital music. In 2007, our lease for the brick and mortar store was up. We thought long and hard about it. Should we renew our lease and try to salvage this thing? We’re busting our asses maintaining the business for little reward, the site’s original focus of editorial content was beginning to wane because of it, and it the future of music retail wasn’t looking bright.

Sure, we could still kill it and push 1000+ copies every time Dilla or MF Doom released an album, but those types of artists only dropped albums once or twice a year. That would leave some pretty dry months where you were left trying to push a horrible U-God album or whatever on people – which didn’t feel good consciously or financially. For us, it wasn’t enough to justify trying to hold this ship together. As a last ditch effort in retail, we thought we would give digital music sales a try. This was an experiment more than anything. We had high hopes for it, but again, we were too forward-thinking for our own good. Try explaining to an executive at a major label that you want to obtain the rights to Del’s fifteen year old catalog, including the instrumentals, acapellas, and 12” mixes, while they’re trying to convince you instead to sell Soulja Boy. At the same time, try battling Itunes and Amazon for exclusives. It didn’t take.

So here we are in our fourteenth year of business (well, let’s instead say “existence”) and I’m hyped to be typing this out to you. That being said, all due respect to those still running things in the indie retail world – UGHH.Com, Turntable Lab, Sandbox Automatic – more power to you, fellas. For us however, I feel that now we have reached an age where we can actually pursue the original intent of what HipHopSite.com was meant to be – a full fledged news and information source for hip-hop music. With the new site, we’ve got thirteen years of archived content, with over 1100+ professionally written album reviews and 250+ interviews dating back to 1995, available for you to read, right here, right now – with some of this content being offline for two years.

We’re going to be making changes and additions to the site over the next few months until we slide into a comfortable groove of what exactly we want the latest version of the site to be and how it will take form. That being said, we are looking for freelance (emphasis on the word “free”, kek) contributors that wish to write or provide content to the site. So if you are interested, first get a feel for the type of content that is being posted here, and if you think you can add something worthwhile, hit me directly at mistapizzo@gmail.com. Thanks for your support, peace party people.

DJ Pizzo
President
HipHopSite.Com
Mistapizzo@gmail.com

P.S.: Special thanks to all HHS contributors, past and present: Darin Gloe, Jon Bauer, DJ Five, DJ Revise, The Kilowatt Brothers, Big Rod, Andreas Hale, Oliver Wang, Matt Conaway, Christopher Yuscavage, S-Boogie, Adam Rogas, Joseph Patel, Joe Fro, Deekal, Jon Doe, DJ Create, Nick Tywalk, Lalo Hernandez, Ryan Harrison, Troy Johnson, Mike Rodriguez, Stefan Shumacher, Lucas Gaffney, Max Herman, Matt Barone, Sean Clarity, J*Grand, Peter Agoston, OldSoul, D.T. Swinga, Jamin Warren, One Line, Justin Strout, Justin Moore, Marlon Regis, Jason Gloss, Dane Johnson, DJ Prizmatik, Stefan Braidwood, Jesse Hagan, Mike Czech, J. Miller Dean, Ant One, Anthoy DiLodovico, Kye Stefanson, David Ma, Nikhil Yerawadekar, Meddafore, Joe Meeks, Roberto Carvajal, George Hagan, Jack Goodson, J. Butters, T. Becks, Tim Stroh, Nikhil Yerawadekar, Oneline, Terry Malko, Eric Perez, Matt Gomez, Mike Czech, Dane West, Bill Heinzelmen, Mike Divine, Colin Finan, Charles Tremblay, Claudio Cabrera, Dara Cook, Toshi Kondo, Eric Kay, Deekal, Brandon Pitts, Ming Dang, Matthew Daniel, Esam El-Morshedy, Zio, William Ketchum, Matt Harlem, T. Becks, Joseph Mandat, Justin Strauss, K.I.N.E.T.I.K., Fat Tony, DJ Ethx, Demo, Steve Juon, Muwuse Ziegbe, Jesse Hagan, Chris Richburg, Chris Seeger, Adam Klein, Matt Snider, Aaron Newell, Aaron James White, Angus Crawford, Craig Smith, Damien Scott, Dan Gizzi, Jesse Serwer, Jillina Baxter, Joseph Mandat, Paul Rosenberg (LV),  and anyone else I forgot. It’s six in the morning, police at my door.