HHID Turns 4: They Grow Up So Fast, Don't They?

Four years. I've been writing reviews on hip hop albums (some popular, some not so much) for four fucking years. That's a long time to commit to anything, especially a blog that began as a way for me to keep my writing skills sharpened in between scripts and other projects. I want to thank each and every one of you two for helping turn Hip Hop Isn't Dead into what it is today: a website that stirs up debate amongst hip hop heads. It isn't what I expected a website filled with an asshole's smart-ass commentary to morph into, but I'm pretty happy with it.

As a way of thanking you for continuing to support the blog, through the good albums and the bad, HHID is ramping up its own production schedule. Instead of updating the site every three days, which was an unofficial timetable I somehow adopted in 2010, I plan on publishing new content every other day, and I plan on keeping this schedule until further notice. Not every post will be an album write-up, but you can expect a good majority of them to be, as those are the posts that receive the largest response.  I also have a ton of artists I would like to get to, including some veterans who seem to have fallen by the wayside when it comes to the blog, so maybe this new work schedule will let me accomplish that.

And that's where you come in. Hip Hop Isn't Dead is a blog that lives and dies by the level of response it gets. So basically, you fuckers need to leave some comments about what you're seeing. I have no other way of knowing exactly what it is you want to see on the site. You now have multiple channels to leave me feedback at: in the comment section below each post, on Twitter, at my e-mail address (max.hiphopisntdead @ gmail.com (delete the spaces, obviously)), and at the blog's work-in-progress Facebook page. You can keep the conversations flowing, you can leave requests, you can talk about whatever you want: the only thing I ask is that, if you get upset at certain types of albums appearing on the site, then you should actually support the type of albums you prefer when their turn comes up.

Contrary to what some of the comments may lead you to believe, I don't blatantly ignore requests; some albums are just easier for me to come by than others. Hell, the post scheduled to run in a couple of days is for an album that many of you have been patiently waiting for. I ask that you keep the requests coming, and hopefully this new work schedule will permit me to honor more of them. (Both of the Curren$y write-ups were generated by requests, after all. I do notice this stuff, you know.)  But there is a difference between requesting an album be reviewed and bitching that your album hasn't yet been reviewed.  I'm just saying.

Also, if you have to order anything from Amazon, try to click on any one of the many links scattered throughout the posts first, and then order whatever you were going to buy.  It doesn't have to be any of the albums advertised, although that would be cool, too.  Every little purchase helps the blog continue in its current form.  I would appreciate it, anyway.

Finally, with an increased workload comes the need for additional contributors. If you have never submitted a Reader Review before, or if it has been a while, and you're interested in seeing your personal thoughts on your favorite albums posted on the site, shoot me a message with some of your ideas, and we'll talk. Conversely, if you've contributed in the past, the door is still open for you to expose the readers to even more albums that they might not have listened to otherwise.

If you're an unknown artist looking for exposure of any sort, shoot me a message, too: I'm going to make an honest effort to showcase newer acts, hopefully finding some that prove that hip hop really isn't dead.

Thanks again for your support. I'll be back in a couple of days.

-Max