It’s been a long time since this promo. 10 years to be exact. I’d be lying if I told you it was easy and that I accomplished everything that I wanted with this platform. I expected this website to be ground breaking. I wanted it to be a leader and authority of authentic hip-hop content. I wanted this to be a home for DJ’s, Artists, Producers, Legends, Icons and new stars to come and speak to their core audience as well as deliver breaking news and new music. In a lot of ways I did accomplish that, but because of where we sit today, I feel I have failed.

This website was created by a hip-hop fan and student, that became an artist, that pivoted and wanted to be on the radio as a personality. A guy that was trying to “build his voice” and create the opportunity that was never given to him. Why? Because that’s what hip-hop is all about. There was a lot of asking for chances and opportunities and being told, No. There were a lot of missed opportunities because of lack of funds. Some of you even know, there was a whole other Behind The Rhyme that got created within the past 3-4 years like this site never existed. Some of their content did numbers too! They definitely talked to all of the people I wanted to talk to in a very short amount of time. There have been plenty of challenges and that’s just to say the least.

With all downs there were some great ups. I got a chance to build relationships with record reps. I got a chance to go to and cover concerts of some of the biggest and best artist of the last decade. I’ve traveled a little bit and met some very dope people all in the name of hip-hop. Sure, we never got as big as some of the heavy hitters of the blog era, but once their money dried up and music streaming caused a huge shift in how music was released and promoted, they were left with nothing to talk about and couldn’t justify charging artist for “exposure” and exclusives.

We’ve done video, written and audio content. Most of those moves were done before they became an “industry standard” and we are still here. Contributors have come and gone. Artist have risen, fallen and even died, but BehindTheRhyme.com still exist with something to say.

Where do we go from here? I don’t know. I wish I had answer way better than that. What’s definitely clear is that music journalism as a whole is lost, artist are more sensitive than ever there are still some very important conversations that need to happen to keep hip-hop accountable and moving forward. We want to be apart of that forward movement. This platform has never needed an artist to create content. That aspect will not change. Our tagline is “Hip-Hop’s 60 Minutes” for a reason. It’s time we really get back to that. Give people a more evolved style of hip-hop journalism. I think it’s necessary at this point.

Whether you have loved or hated the content, thank you for clicking and expressing yourself. If you made it here because of the other, newer Behind The Rhyme. I guess I’m pretty great at SEO after all; I just needed more star power and a budget. That click still counted, so thank you.

10 years of BehindTheRhyme.com. Let’s see what happens in the next 10.