There Is No Thirteenth Day of Wu-Mas 2025

 

Yep, another Wu-Mas has successfully come and gone. It's time to take down the tree, throw away the platters of cookies and gin that were set by the fire, and put the sheet over the golden eagle's birdcage. We're done. It's over. Onward to 2026!

This site's going to take a bit of a break now, but don't worry: the Patreon will still get regular updates, and I might just add some stuff here if I get bored and/or ambitious again. For now, though, some well-deserved rest.

I want to thank all of you for continuing to support this site through the Wu-Mas shenanigans, through all of last year with the Wu-Wednesday side project, which I found fun and enjoyable except for all those instances when I was in a time crunch and deadlines were hovering over me like that dark cloud that follows us all wherever we go, and just through my idiosyncratic publication schedule as of the past few years. I know that I keep reminding you all to sign up for the Patreon (there's a free tier, and I do plan on releasing some of the older reviews there, I swear), but the fact that folks still visit this site even without the constant updates hits me hard. I appreciate all of the support, even if you're just coming here to fight with a younger version of me that no longer exists.

So no reviews (here) and no RandoMax Radio episodes. What now? Well, I haven't figured all of that out just yet, but with regard to the Wu-Wednesdays series, there is a running playlist over on both Spotify and YouTube Music that will continue to receive updates until every episode is represented in some way. I would actually suggest that you go with the YouTube version, because there are a lot more of the songs available there, and I plan on housing the RandoMax Radio and Max-Approved Mix playlists there once I've tweaked them a bit. Also, other stuff that has been running through my mind (different radio playlists? Artist-specific lists? Who knows?), so stick around and maybe I'll get my shit together long enough to keep you both entertained this year.

Again, thanks for everything. This isn't goodbye, this is "I'm over on a different site, come find me there, but if not, that's cool too." Hit me in the comments if you have any questions, concerns, suggestions, or simply want to chat. I'm around.

-Max

Aww, What Do You Mean The Holidays Are Over?

On that note, the 12 Days of Wu-Mas are over for another season. I hope the two of you enjoyed this year's festivities, and I hope to see more of you over on the Patreon, which is where a lot of my writing now resides. I'm not sure exactly when I'll be back over here on the free blog, but it will happen, and I appreciate all of the support and comments I've received from you all throughout the years. if you feel so inclined, let me know in the comments what you liked, disliked, or want to see from me on either page. I read all of the comments, I swear.

I hope you all stick around for Wu-Wednesdays - as promised, that series will continue to run for a while, stretching the holiday out even further with some good music and better vibes. 

Until we meet again,

Max

The Holidays Are Over Again

 

Well, that was fast. The 2023 edition of the Twelve Days of Wu-Mas has come to a close, and I hope you both enjoyed the gifts and goodies I left for you under the tree this time around. I realize that 2023 was kind of a rough year for the blog, given that there weren't any real updates apart from the RandoMax Radio links, but even though real life is currently kicking my ass, I'm pledging to do at least a little bit better in the new year. What that means, I don't know yet, but watch this space.

In the meantime, something I've been doing in order to preserve my sanity is trying to consume media that is new to me. Specifically, I try to keep lists of movies and albums that I've experienced each year that were brand new to me, regardless of their actual age, as a way to keep things fresh in my mind, and also to assist me with my whole "I like introducing people to music" thing, since the best way for me to tell you what's good is to seek it out myself first. I usually aim for one hundred of each media, which seems daunting but in reality is only like two films and two albums a week, and "albums" these days can be very fucking short, as we've seen on streaming services, so it's doable. If you're interested in taking that journey along with me, just start tracking the media you've ingested this year (caveat: it has to be new to you, don't just listen to Liquid Swords again and count it), and perhaps later in the year we can revisit this topic and share how we've grown and broadened our creative horizons or something. No judgment here - if you haven't yet watched The Godfather, that just means you could add it to your list if you'd like.

Anyway, be back soon,

-Max

HHID's Super Sweet 16

 

Somehow this blog has been around for sixteen years. I have no idea how that happened either - this side project has clearly taken on a life of its own - but even though the updates are far less frequent, Hip Hop Isn't Dead still isn't quite, er, dead, so we should celebrate accordingly.

I'm going to keep this celebratory post short. While we all collectively wait for me to get my shit together over here, I want to hear from you, whether you happen to be a longtime supporter who still checks out the site out of habit, or if you're brand new to the camp and have absolutely no idea why anybody in their right mind would ever continue doing this in the first place. Spefically, I'd like to strike up a conversation with two questions:

1) What is the last album you listened to that you thoroughly enjoyed? Regardless of this site's focus, it doesn't have to be related to hip hop.

2) What is the next project you're looking forward to the most?

I'm sure everybody is busy these days with Superbowl stuff or Valentine's Day plans or, you know, general life shit that none of us can get away from, so this prompt will be at the top of the site for a bit. Chime in if you'd like, and I'll circle back often to see how everybody's doing. Regardless of if you're a newbie here or if you've somehow stuck around for all sixteen years, just know that I appreciate the support and will get back to posting stuff at a time TBD. (And, of course, there's always the Patreon if you'd like to support me financially as well.)

-Max

...and now the holidays are over, again

Another Wu-Mas is finally in the books. I’m fully aware that the readership of the site is likely much different than it was when it first began back in 2007 – hell, it’s likely evolved significantly since last year, because life goes on. But for those of you who have stuck by the blog, just know that I greatly appreciate the support and hope to continue providing some form of entertainment for a while to come.

That said, the other annual tradition on here is the point where I announce my brief hiatus from making updates. Which is what I’m doing now. Again. Sure, these lengthy breaks are counterintuitive when what I’m trying to do is build and retain a core base, but without it, I’ve learned that the work begins to suffer, and I don’t think any of us want the write-ups to revert back to the single-sentence song reviews I used to do when I was establishing myself-slash-trying to figure out if there was even an audience for the shit I’m on. I'm still writing, of course, and the mix show side project will continue, so I have no plans as of right now to cut off the content at the source - I just need a bit of a break.

With that, I hope this holiday season was a good one for you and yours, and I’ll still be around on social media or on the Patreon, where hiatuses don’t exist (hint hint). Feel free to reach out if you have a question, a request, or literally whatever. Until I get another update going here, I recommend you use the time to catch up on what you missed this past Wu-Mas, since there was some good stuff this year.

Be back soon,

-Max

Playing Catch-Up With DJ Khaled and Statik Selektah Pt. II

Patreon subscribers already know about the ridiculous side project I've taken on on top of everything else I do on these damn sites (what can I say, being buried in work sometimes makes me feel comfortable - I know, my brain is broken): track-by-track, essay-length analysis of each album released by DJ Khaled and Statik Selektah. With these dueling series I intend to draw parallels between the two "disc jockeys" (I put that in quotes because only Statik actually works as a DJ these days) and their shared mission of delivering entertaining, engaging music while exposing as many of their famous friends to their respective audiences as humanly possible. Also, the catalogs of both men act as a who's who of their respective versions of our chosen genre for whatever year their projects were released, fascinating time capsules into what each believed hip hop sounded like in that moment.

quinzième anniversaire

Fifteen years ago, I started this thing.

It wasn’t a huge thing, and it certainly wasn’t that big of a deal in my mind, anyway. I started a blog, calling it Hip Hop Isn’t Dead partially because I was mad at Nas, but mostly because I truly believed the musical genre still had some life left in it (still do to this day). It was a way to keep my pen sharp in between offline projects, writing about a subject I was passionate about in a format that I felt wasn’t being explored nearly as often as I would have liked: the track-by-track review. (I wanted to write something that I would want to read myself.) My idea was to discuss artists’ entire bodies of work, one album at a time, a lofty goal that still exists, believe it or not, although the sidebar suggests that I’ve definitely bitten off more than I can chew. (I’ve since made some adjustments to the parameters of this project in order to protect my sanity.)

Because life is a funny motherfucker, the “offline projects”, while still in progress, have oftentimes been put on the backburner as the blog has managed to grow its audience: music fanatics (not just from our chosen genre, either) who desire a forum to discuss artists and albums they liked, one with a much more satirical, occasionally caustic tone, so as to set it apart from every other music website where the writers fawn all over celebrities as though it could eventually rub off on them. I also enjoy writing goofy shit, and putting that within the context of an album review still makes me laugh today.

The last fifteen years have seen solid bursts of output, some years of mostly nothing (when you combine all of the hiatuses together), several side projects started (some of which were abandoned, but the Patreon and the mix shows are still going strong), and a metric ton of curse words and italicized nonsense. The site has been featured on several lists claiming it to be a must-visit, but even with the multitudes of Reader Reviews that used to run more regularly, this has always been a one-man show. I’ve gained a ton of readers and lost many more (the site’s been around for fifteen years, that was bound to happen, people grow up and move on), but I appreciate every one of you two who reads my bullshit and contributes in your own way, whether it be through comments, subscriptions, link sharing, podcast plays, and whatever else I’m missing here. None of this would exist without you – my ego might have carried me through six months or so, but there’s no way in hell I’d still be here fifteen years later if you weren’t also a part of this journey. So I thank you.

I don’t really have much to say for the fifteenth anniversary of Hip Hop Isn’t Dead – whatever plans I may have originally had went by the wayside quickly when COVID hit and I found myself sleeping a lot. (I’m mostly fine now, by the way. Go get vaccinated.) But this blog project isn’t just about me, even though I may be its primary voice: it’s about everyone who has taken the time to read these words and have agreed or disagreed with me throughout the years. So what I’d like to know is this:

- What were your favorite posts?

- What would you like to see on the blog (or on its side projects)?

- What is your particular jam right now (album, song, artist, film, literally whatever), and why would you recommend it to someone?

Feel free to leave your responses in the comments below, and I’ll try to be much more diligent about participating in the discussion. Even if you just want to complain about something, have at it: I’ll find some way to confirm that you’re in the wrong. Probably. Maybe. I don’t know. Either way, this project is still very much not dead, so stay tuned for some upcoming ridiculousness that you’ll hopefully enjoy.

Thanks again for reading! (No, seriously.)

-Max

The Holiday Wu Blitz Is Over, Again

 

The Twelve Days of Wu-Mas have once again come to an end. We certainly had some good times, didn't we? What's that, you say? You didn't get a chance to listen to all the mixes and read through the unlocked Patreon write-ups (or, if you're already a Patreon supporter, first off, thank you so much, and secondly, check out all of the new exclusive posts that went up) because the "holidays" got in the way, or you have to "work" or "quarantine"?

Actually, that last excuse is the perfect time to work your way through this past year's Wu-Tang messiness.

The mixes don't expire, nor do the write-ups self-destruct, so read through them, study them meticulously, and spin the shit out of the #Maxtapes until your phone freezes up. Share them far and wide with anybody who has even the tiniest bit of appreciation for the Wu-Tang Clan. Each page hit, each spin, each new follower, each Patreon supporter helps keep this little project of mine alive and kicking, and I greatly appreciate any of you who have stuck around while I follow my various muses.

Have a happy new year, and maybe put your masks back on when you're in a crowd. Just saying.

-Max

Free Patreon Preview! (Featuring Nas x Hit-Boy)

In 2020, Queensbridge alderman Nasir "Nas" Jones recorded and released King's Disease, his twelfth solo album and first collaboration with producer-slash-rapper Hit-Boy. Coming off of the dual disappointments Nasir (his 2018 "album"fully produced by Kanye West) and The Lost Tapes 2 (his 2019 collection of leftover tracks originally intended for other projects probably), King's Disease was met with the most acclaim in the rapper's career, at least when looking at the last decade or so, and won over a lot of hip hop heads who gravitated toward Hit-Boy's nuanced take on boom bap and Nas's own energy, which somehow made him sound like he was actually excited to spit bars for the first time since 2012's Life Is Good.

King's Disease also happened to win the man his very first Grammy award ever (after a slew of nominations, none of which were for songs or projects that you'd think were honor-worthy), so, unsurprisingly, this year brought us King's Disease II, a documentation of Nasir Jones, Hit-Boy, and their shared return to the well. Maintaining the throughline of jazzy boom bap-lite, heavy on shit-talk and proselytizing, King's Disease II also mixed in several ounces of nostalgia, matching the first volume's reunion of The Firm with numerous references to his past and one guest star (of many) that seems to have been selected solely to remind the listener of the man's first radio hit, although the end result here turns those expectations right on their ear.

I felt kind of bad for pushing the King's Disease II write-up directly to the Patreon, so for a limited time I'm opening it up to absolutely everyone. You can access it by clicking here. However, when I say "limited" I'm not fucking around, so what I would kindly ask is that you two consider a subscription to the Patreon site if you haven't already signed up: for just $3 (USD) per month, you'll receive exclusive, immediate access to over one hundred posts that simply won't ever make it here, and there are far less restrictions on subject matter over behind the paywall.

Enjoy, kiddos!

-Max

Free Patreon Previews! (Featuring a Bunch of Artists Spread Out Between Two Very Different Projects)

Warren Beatty's 1998 film Bulworth is essentially about a depressed man who takes out a hit on himself before falling in love, then doing everything he can to avoid said hit. It just happens to take place in the world of politics, which allows Beatty (who also co-wrote the screenplay) to dive into subjects such as race, poverty, and their relationship with the classism and white supremacy that still make up the political system as we see it today. While that sounds a little heavy, Bulworth is considered a dark comedy, and Beatty insisted that its accompanying soundtrack consist of nothing but hip hop, the most powerful political voice within the music industry, filling its ranks with veterans such as Public Enemy, KRS-One, The RZA, Method Man, Prodigy, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and LL Cool J, while offering some of the remaining slots to relative unknowns (at the time, not today, obviously) such as Eve, the Black Eyed Peas, Canibus, and Sick Jacken. An early plan to to include a DJ Muggs-produced track featuring Beatty performing as his titular character was scrapped early in the process, something we're all much better off without hearing, but as it stands, Bulworth is generally considered to be a successful soundtrack offering, straddling the line between pop and underground deftly.

Click here to read my updated thoughts on the Bulworth soundtrack. (You can also click here to check out my original Drink Coaster review, but that isn't the point of this post.)

In 2011, Rick Ross was at the top of his game, each of his solo projects more popular than what came before it. Like every other rapper in existence, he used this opportunity to create his own imprint, the Maybach Music Group, but unlike a lot of his peers, who would use this as an excuse to put his friends on, Ross had bigger dreams of becoming a fucking mogul, signing artists to his vanity label who he felt could potentially move units and help build his brand at the same time. Enter Wale and Meek Mill, two fledgling rappers who were spinning their respective wheels on their own (Wale through his Interscope label deal that wasn't going anywhere, aside from securing him a Lady Gaga cameo on his debut album that had to be pricey, and Meek via his series of underground mixtapes in his native Philly), who became the ostensible stars of Self Made Vol. 1, the first MMG label sampler meant to showcase Ross and his prospects. It also features some of his other acts, such as Teedra Moses, Pill, Stalley, and his friends in the Triple C's (because even Rick Ross wasn't immune to the siren song of putting your friends on even if they don't have the talent to deserve it), along with name-brand artists from other parts of the hip hop universe. Self Made Vol. 1 serves as proof that Rick Ross was in it for the long haul, especially for fans of the very specific type of yacht rap he provides.

Click here to catch up with MMG's Self Made Vol. 1.

These posts will be unlocked for a limited time only, so you two should jump in as soon as you can. If you like what you see, you can subscribe to Hip Hop Is Done for the low low price of three dollars (USD) a month, which unlocks additional reviews and articles that don't fit within this Hip Hop Isn't Dead project, and more content can never be a bad thing, right? Right?

Thanks for reading!

-Max

Free Patreon Previews! (Featuring A$AP Rocky and Ill Al Skratch)

In 1994, two rappers with separate flailing careers decided to team up in an effort to double their chances at success. Brooklyn's Big Ill paired off with Harlem's Al Skratch to form, obviously if you've looked at the picture to the right, Ill Al Skratch, and with the assistance from producers The LG Experience and LoRider, released their debut Creep Wit' Me, a twelve-track attempt at being a smoother, R&B-inflected EPMD. Although neither Ill nor Al actually made any of the music, so I suppose that analogy makes no sense. Anyway, Ill Al Skratch managed to score no less than three popular singles, one of which featured R&B star Brian McKnight, although odds are that, while you might remember one of these tracks, you've likely forgotten that Ill Al Skratch ever existed, possibly because Ill Al Skratch sounds like the name of one dude and not a duo.

Click here to read some of my thoughts on Creep Wit' Me.

In 2015, Harlem rapper A$AP Rocky released his sophomore effort, At. Long. Last. A$AP, to a fanbase that had only grown in size since his first studio project, Long. Live. A$AP, and his mixtape debut, Live. Love. A$AP. Crafted with only the barest minimum of assistance from the rest of the A$AP Mob (although the late A$AP Yams served as an executive producer from the great beyond), Rocky turned to producer Danger Mouse for guidance, pulling in guest assists from artists such as Kanye West, Mark Ronson, ScHoolboy Q, Future, Lil Wayne, UGK, and Rod Stewart because, well, why the fuck not? Rocky uses the eighteen tracks presented to cycle through his favorite vices: sex, money, and various drugs all play large roles in the narrative here.

Click here to catch up with A$AP Rocky's At. Long. Last. A$AP.

These posts will be unlocked for a limited time only, so you two should jump in as soon as you can. If you'd like access to more, you should subscribe to Hip Hop Is Done. For the low low price of three dollars (USD) a month, you'll receive additional reviews and articles that don't fit within the Hip Hop Isn't Dead project, and we're all jonsing for more of that sweet sweet content, am I right?

Thanks for reading! I'll be back soon with, I don't know, something?

-Max

In Which The Site Turns 14 and... Wait, What Does One Do When They Turn 14?

Hey, you made it. Welcome, welcome! Thanks for celebrating the fourteenth year of this silly writing experiment with me. Drinks are over by the bar, and of course there's cake, you know we had to have cake, and the rest of the food is in the kitchen, just serve yourselves.

I won't keep you - the hiatus continues, but it'll end sooner than you think, or at least that's the dream. Until then, feel free to use this space to discuss whatever you wish: album review ideas; lists of the first ten songs that pop up on your phone when you hit 'shuffle'; keyboard attacks aimed in my direction for taking the break in the first place; or even just tell me what you're listening to right now. I need some new ideas for the sites (this one, the Patreon, RandoMax Radio, the holy trinity you know what it is), and I feel that you two might be an untapped source. Don't let me down now.

Be back soon, just returning some videotapes!

-Max

The 12 Days of Wu-Mas 2020 #12

I have a confession to make - I don't have an episode for the twelfth edition of the 12 Days of Wu-Mas 2020.

I have three.

For my final gift this holiday season, I present to both of you three brand-new episodes in the ongoing (or at least semi-recurring) Producers Guild series, each of which focuses on the production work of a single producer throughout their respective careers, drawing connections and pulling thematic threads to their natural conclusion. Previous episodes have looked at Dan the Automator, Easy Mo Bee, Nashiem Myrick, and the almighty DJ Premier, all of which are available over on the RandoMax Radio feed.

So what I've got planned for today are three new episodes, each focusing on a different member of the Wu-Elements production collective. Eighteen tracks (apiece) may not seem like enough time to follow every nuance of an artist's trajectory, and honestly, it usually isn't, so you can look at these as surface-level glimpses that give you the bullet points. Depending on the depth of the producer's catalog, there is always the possibility of a follow-up episode (see: Dan the Automator, DJ Premier, Easy Mo Bee), so if you're interested in hearing even more, hit those comments and leave your thoughts.

Instead of just outright telling you who the focal points of each of today's three episodes will be, I'd rather give you information on who didn't make the cut and why. I think you'll agree that the three I ended up with are the best, and probably the most obvious, choices.

NOT THE SUBJECT OF TODAY'S EPISODES:

The RZA - I mean, come on.
Bronze Nazareth - has a fairly vast body of work that would take a while to cull, and let's be honest, it took a lot of time for me to put together what I've already uploaded this year, so let's just chalk this one up to "scheduling conflicts". Yeah, that'll work.
Moongod Allah - doesn't really have a lot to pull from, and besides, I understand he's essentially put his career on hold for the most part.
Cilvaringz - May or may not be an actual member of the Wu-Elements team, but he has several instrumental projects and production credits under his belt, so in theory he should count here. But anyone who produces an album for the Wu-Tang Clan with the intention of only selling a single copy, and then selling that single copy to a rich asshole who bought it only as a flex and not because he gives a fuck about the music's artistic merits, maybe shouldn't be considered for a series such as this. Just my two cents. Also, I didn't really have the time to cull through his catalog, either. Might have considered him for one of today's episodes if I somehow had some of the Once Upon A Time in Shaolin tracks on my hard drive so that I could stunt on everyone, however.

That really only leaves three people, all of whom you're familiar with and all of whom have enough heat in their respective discographies to put together some wildly engaging mixes. Some of the tracks featured today have appeared on earlier Wu-Mas mixes over the past eleven days, which I encourage you all to stream on repeat as a gift from you to me, but I tried to select other options just to give these episodes a different flavor. Keep checking today's feed for the links.

Enjoy! And Happy Holidays from me to you and yours.

-Max

Let's Talk About The Holiday Season

What kind of town has brick walls that are this short?

 

For the past two years, the winter holiday season has served as a good-enough excuse for me to dust off my takes on the Wu-Tang Clan. Some of you two may remember how frequent the Wu-related posts were in the blog's golden days, which screeched to a halt when I found myself burned out on the group and the group's many many affiliates. Still, the Wu has the most posts on the site by a rather large margin (just take a look at the sidebar), and I know a few of you had been waiting for me to get back to the Staten Island collective, so for the last couple of years I've used the holiday as a foundation to lay down some Wu-Tang write-ups that I needed to catch up on.

In 2018, I took the ill-advised tactic of publishing twelve reviews over the course of twelve hours on Christmas Day, which was pretty goddamned stupid of me, but only because it took me away from my family every hour or so, which I suppose made it a success in a way. Last year I handled things a bit differently, extending the "hours" into "days", running a far-more-realistic one-post-a-day schedule within a "twelve days of Christmas" framework, with some bonus posts running over on the Patreon as a fun extra. All of these articles are still up, of course, so you can revisit them at any time.

So what's happening on HHID in the year of our Lord, COVID-2020?

Well, I'm not going to reinvent the wheel - I still enjoy the Wu-Tang Clan, even if I don't listen to them quite as much as I used to. I had originally planned for something a bit more ambitious, but this horribly shitty year forced me to switch it up, so I'm still running with the 12 Days of Wu-Mas, but this time around, instead of album reviews, I'm going with a different idea. A while back, a Patreon supporter suggested a playlist of Wu-related songs that I would recommend to someone who stopped listening to the group after, say, the Wu-Tang Forever era, a collection that would prove the group still had plenty of gas left in the tank. So instead of a playlist, how about a slew of them?

Starting next Monday and leading up to Christmas Day, the 12 Days of Wu-Mas will consist of multiple special Max-Approved Mixtape episodes, all of which will be exclusively filled with Wu-Tang Clan and Wu-related tracks, all of which have been personally approved by me, Max (hi, I'm Max). With that many new podcasts to hear, your holiday listening will be more than taken care of. And for those of you who will miss the written word, that isn't going away entirely - the Patreon will play host to some bonus write-ups that I think you'll enjoy.(If you haven't yet subscribed, don't fret - there's plenty of time, and it costs less than one moderately-decent cup of coffee per month.)

Be sure to share the shit out of these mixes when they drop. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at my Wu compilations that don't simply feature the same twelve goddamned songs over and over again. Join me this holiday season as we celebrate the Wu-Tang Clan, and, fingers crossed, I'll be able to recycle and upgrade my original idea next time around.

-Max

The Catch-Up: RandoMax Radio

 

I figure you two saw today's post coming, given what's happened on the site over the past couple of days. Don't worry - there will be actual new content this month, and I'm not just talking about the December 2020 edition of RandoMax Radio, although that's happening too. But I wanted to give newcomers to the site a quick primer, whereas everyone else gets a second (or third, or twentieth) opportunity to listen to some really good music, so I think the trade-off is fair.

The Catch-Up: The Max-Approved Mixtape

 

This week would normally be about the time that I'd unleash a new episode of the Max-Approved Mixtape upon everybody. I'm sure you can tell by my general tone that those plans have changed - there will be something, sure, but we'll talk about that later in the week. For now, I wanted to talk about the series as a whole, if you don't mind.

The Catch-Up: RandoMax Radio's Producers Guild

 

When I resurrected the Producers Guild series a couple of years ago in an entirely different format, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. It's not as though our chosen culture (that would be hip hop, obviously) was lacking in compilations made up of songs produced by one of your favorite beatmakers: hell, you can't throw a pebble into the Interweb without it ricocheting off of at least seventeen such projects, all of which are likely to be built around DJ Premier's catalog from 1992-1998. But while I'm not so self-involved that I believed that everyone on the goddamn planet absolutely deserves to know what my thoughts are regarding hip hop (that's a lie, that's exactly why I have these sites to begin with), I figured that my twist on this kind of side project, where I present songs that I personally love from the artists in question as opposed to tracks which are generally agreed upon as "classics" among heads, was unique enough to take a chance on it, and hopefully these past episodes have not only presented you with some lesser-known, but equally great, songs from some of your faves, but you two also walk away from this with a great appreciation for music in general.

Lofty expectations, I know. But it's totally doable.

The Hard Sell, or How To Help Keep HHID Sustainable

Yep, I'm bringing this back.

If you're reading these words, then you're likely familiar with what I've done with Hip Hop Isn't Dead over the past, oh, thirteen years now? Wait, shit, is that right? My ongoing project has taken thirteen years and counting? Damn it, I'm never going to finish at this rate. But I digress.

Said ongoing project, in which I take a look at an artist's discography, their complete body of work, as a way to measure trends, follow narrative threads, and generally determine at which point their output shifted, both for better and for worse (TL;DR - finding out if certain hip hop albums have stood the test of time, if the so-called "classics" are deserving of that, um, classification), has taken up a lot of real estate on the site, and as you can imagine, it consumes a lot of time to locate an album, listen to it, take copious notes about it, and then publish those thoughts in a public forum, so I've been on a quest for ways that the two readers can keep HHID sustainable.

Here are a bunch of ways you can assist me and help keep this thing of ours alive and kicking. And if this is somehow your very first visit to HHID, welcome! Take a look around, click through the links in the sidebar, and, should you feel so inclined to help, pop on back over here for my suggestions.

INVOLVING MONEY:

- The Hip Hop Is Done Patreon page. Quite honestly the number one way to show your support of both myself and my ongoing writing larks, the Patreon, which is one year old as of August 1, houses articles of varying lengths, among other surprises, that just wouldn't fit into the narrative over here, as I've doubled my efforts on trying to get this project closer to the finish line. What that means is this: reviews of newer artists/albums? More likely to end up over there, unless they're coming from someone already established on my list. (This is why I ran a review for Drake's Views, which is a part of the current plan, while the Conway and Alchemist collaboration LULU wound up on the Patreon.)

$3.00 per month (less than a decent cup of coffee) unlocks over eighty additional posts that will help add to the hip hop discourse, or, at the very least, could make you laugh while you're trying to get through your workday or your commute. My plan is to spin the paid content into directions that this feed simply won't allow, so join me on the ground floor, won't you? To entice you, here are some sample posts, in addition to some I've unlocked for the time being.

Dan the Automator Presents 2K7 (now open to subscribers at all levels, including free)
Kool Keith - KEITH
The DJ Khaled Chronicles S01E13 (featuring Freeway and the Clipse)
Wu-Block - Hidden Gems (a bonus from the 12 Days of Wu-Mas 2019)
Foxy Brown - Ill Na Na (Drink Coaster Revisited) (locked, exclusive to subscribers) 
Al' Tariq - God Connections (locked, exclusive to subscribers)
Remixed For Your Pleasure: Gang Starr - "Bad Name" (locked, exclusive to subscribers)
Freddie Gibbs x The Alchemist - Alfredo (locked, exclusive to subscribers)

- The Amazon links. You've likely noticed that the write-ups here are still littered with links to purchase the various products on Amazon. That's still a thing that exists here, and even if you don't give a shit about, say, let's bring back Drake's Views, you can still use the links to pick up stuff you actually want. Simply click through to Amazon using the links on my page, or the search box in the sidebar, and then start looking for your treasure once you hit Amazon - that way a small (incredibly small, but every bit helps) percentage of your purchase helps maintain the sites and keeps me going. 

INVOLVING INTERACTION/ENGAGEMENT:

- The Twitter feed. I'm still at (at) hhid_Max, so follow me, convince your friends to follow me, retweet, feel free to ask me questions, talk shit about my critiques, and/or enjoy the occasional drunken ramblings, which, admittedly, may not happen quite as often as long as this pandemic is going on, but god damn it, they will be back.

- The Facebook page. While I'm not the biggest fan of Facebook (it's fucking evil), I still find myself on the HHID page ever since I restarted it last year. Follow me on Facebook and share the articles and mixes I post - a wider audience is always a good thing for a niche site like mine.

- The RandoMax Radio Mixcloud page. This one's a biggie, since my little podcast-slash-mix show side project is still fun for me to put together more than twenty episodes in. Follow the feed to receive notification of when new mixes are uploaded (this can happen before I ever mention them on this site), and please share the mixes and leave comments. Sharing music that I enjoy is legitimately one of my favorite things, and I'm willing to bet you're right there with me - if you didn't like music, you wouldn't be reading these words, right? So sign up now to be the first to enjoy wherever my whims take me.

- The RandoMax Radio Spotify page. This one's relatively new, so I'm still working out what to put there, but I have some fun ideas. Right now it houses a few older "episodes" of RandoMax Radio, but in a playlist form, along with both versions of that Wu-Tang Forever reconstruction that I ran with a few months ago. There's more of that coming soon, along with some other ideas for playlists that I plan on soliciting your input for, so why not give this Interweb Muppet a follow and jump on this bandwagon early?

Aside from this, the best possible way for you to show your support is to leave comments, ideas, shit-talk, any kind of engagement, really. I get that not everyone's going to want to write a comment every time, but it helps if I know that I'm headed in the right direction. Share the write-ups with like-minded friends and family, too, especially if they don't mind italics, incessant cursing, and multiple pop-cultural asides in their musical critique.

Thanks for reading!

-Max

A Reading List (Including Some Unlocked Patreon Articles), Along With A Request, For Your Quarantine Needs

Look, I get it: this whole COVID-19 thing sucks. Being trapped in your home sucks; not having the option to live life in whatever fashion you believe to be "normal" sucks; being sick during this time, whether with a "regular" cold or flu, allergies (that always hits me this time of year), or the actual coronavirus, especially blows. Whether you're working remotely from your couch, attending unplanned online courses, are simply trying to pass the time, or maybe you're actually at work, helping people in a medical capacity or on the front lines of grocery stores and pharmacies worldwide, we all deserve ways to fill our day without driving ourselves (and anyone sharing your living space) fucking crazy.

So I'm here to help, with some links to articles you may have missed during the never-ending news cycles, some mixes to help take your mind off of things, and some Patreon articles I've unlocked to give non-subscribers something new to check out while we wait for all of this to blow over.

In Which Max Acknowledges the 13-Year Anniversary of This Very Site With a Challenge and a Request

I think that title pretty much sums it up.