People who know me more than a minute discover I’m not a big fan of corporate Hip Hop. The “bling”, objectification of women, and drugs offered by mainstream rappers paints a too thin veneer on a culturally rich, ethnically diverse people. As larger and better known recording companies continue to rake in the money, I’ve had to redouble my efforts to find palatable music (and people) within this vast genre. Crawling the TMZ and Perez Hilton wannabes in the Black blogoshpere offered little help. I’m simply not interested in the “Black Folk Behaving Badly” version of celebrity websites.
But a chance encounter led to me having lunch with Clyde Smith, the owner of ProHipHop, a blog focusing on the marketing and business of Hip Hop.
ProHipHop is a large, but easily navigated domain that offers insight and links to a variety of events and people related to Hip Hop culture. Clyde’s passion for Hip Hop is delivered via in-depth, highly readable analyses and behind-the-scenes articles about the marketing of this behemoth lifestyle. Through his site, I discovered Definitive Jux, an Indie label making music of substance — definitely one for the bookmarks. The wealth of information presented would benefit anyone looking to gain insight into music and musical personality making. ProHipHop presents a 360 degree view of the culture: media, style, and politics included. Clyde’s site shows that at best, people make Hip Hop culture and not the other way around.