don’t merge. It’s not like
the 80s where De La sat
next to Tribe who sat next
to Public Enemy, who sat
next to Run DMC or Kool
G. Rap. These guys don’t
really co-exist like that
anymore.
AllHipHop.com is better
known as “The CNN of
Hip Hop.” It’s very hard to
build and brand a hip hop
blog from the ground up.
What has been the formula
of success for the site?
Well I’m proud to say
that Chuck D of Public
Enemy gave us that
name [The CNN of Hip
Hop] so that’s something
we didn’t give ourselves;
it was bestowed upon
us by one of the great
legends in the game. So
that’s number one. And
he’s one of my heroes,
and when I say heroes, I
don’t mean that lightly;
I don’t give too many
people “hero” status. I
have a background in
journalism and degree
in Journalism/ English
and therefore that was
a backbone of what
AllHipHop was (strong
journalistic background).
We’ve been in business
for 15 years strong and
no one’s done it this
way in this capacity,
at that level, for that
long. There are a couple
of sites, I think maybe
one or two that have
kind of just existed and
they re-registered their
domain every year, but
for the most part we’re
still like McDonalds
and then there’s a lot of
Burger Kings or we’re
Burger King and there’s
a lot of McDonald’s...
whatever. I think we
strive for excellence.
I definitely am never
satisfied with where
I am and I’m always
looking to do bigger and
better things. When
you have that mentality,
it allows you to suffer
or push through the
adversities in life; the
adversities in business,
and to continue to be
great or to strive to be
great. Regardless, you
have that will to survive
that keeps you hungry
and keeps you fighting
and scratching and
pushing and kicking. I
might also say, we’re
an independent media
source as well. So we’re
not backed by any crazy,
venture capitalist (not
at the moment at least).
Again, this is me and
Greg going to libraries or
at the time Borders, and
really learning this trade,
this internet technology.
This at the time was new
to us. So it was like selfeducation; a whole new
thing in that regard.
Can you give us a personal
account of when you
were ready to call it quits
but then you decided to
continue your journey?