The Seven-Year Itch

Seven years ago today I decided to start writing the type of album reviews that I wanted to read myself: reviews that both included track-by-track analyses of each song, intro, interlude, and skit, and tried to place each entry into the overall pop culture consciousness. And also with a shit-ton of italics and some much-needed humor, because writing reviews of music is inherently silly and, of all genres, hip hop takes itself rather seriously for what it is.

Somewhere along the way, other people picked up on the blog and started reading through each post, one by one, leaving their thoughts on what I had written. Sometimes they agreed with me, most times they did not (this is the Interweb, after all), but they still bothered to take time out of their respective days to leave their thoughts.

As such, I know we fight (a lot), but I appreciate each reader and every single comment that has come my way since I started this ridiculous undertaking. What began life as a simple writing exercise between projects has taken on a life of its own, and even though I still try to keep up on my other non-blog work, I always end up back here. Even though it's plainly obvious that I've taken on more than I can chew with this whole “finish what I started” bullshit, which is why I plan on offering some clarity soon, so that you two know what to expect.

I also hope that the blog sees a more consistent review schedule in general, except for the times when I take a hiatus. Which will most certainly happen: you can't handle a blog such as this one day in and day out without needing constant breaks to avoid burnout. I can only hope that any vacations from the blog I take in the coming year are on purpose and not because of outside influences.

Also, I'm still accepting Reader Reviews: I'm running low on my reserves, which is good news for those of you who have sat idly by while watching everyone else's submissions hit the front page of the blog. Keep them coming: I need stuff to run during my breaks. If you're interested, send me a message at max.hiphopisntdead (at) gmail (dot) com with a list of albums you would like to write about, and we'll whittle them down together.

Thank you for all of the comments, emails, retweets, Facebook likes, and Amazon purchases thus far: they go a long way toward justifying my continuing this site. Keep them coming: I actually do try to respond to most of my emails and tweets. In return, I'm going to try to keep the new content coming, at least until I run out of steam completely. Here's hoping I still have a while to go.

-Max