Every week, China Shop talks to a music blogger who is taking part in the new global music community.
For hip-hop fans around the world, few sites deliver a more thorough look at hip-hop culture than HipHopDX.com. More than just a blog, Hip-Hop DX is a complete news portal for hip-hop heads. Meet Jake Paine, the Editor-In-Chief who keeps the site always fresh.
Name: Jake Paine
Age: 26
Location: Philly
Title/Website: Editor-in-Chief, HipHopDX.com
How long have you been blogging?
Jake: This is my tenth year working as a music journalist/editor online. I started out writing several editorials for several west coast rap websites in 2000, and soon started conducting interviews and reviews for Manhunt.com (which subsequently became an adult gay-dating site).
In 2002, I started writing for AllHipHop.com. A year later, the good team there brought me on full-time as Features Editor. In 2007, I went to HipHopDX.com. I’ve also done online writing for Forbes.com and 101D.com.
What do you look for when deciding what to post?
Jake: My first duty with DX is to report the Hip Hop culture in regards to its daily news. After that, my fellow editor Omar Burgess and I do borrow a blogger’s mentality and go for gossip, headlines, and the types of stories that we know will entertain our readership and engage
them to comment, tell a friend, tweet, etc.
How do you think blogging has helped the music scene? Has it hurt it at all?
Jake: I think it’s helped knock down some of the walls in helping talented artists find fans. Artists like Jay Electronica, Blu and Yelawolf have all made huge names for themselves in the Hip Hop community thanks to the work of a number of bloggers. I do think blogging has hurt the
music scene a lot. Firstly, regardless of dues paid, everybody feels entitled to an interview, a press copy, an exclusive, etc. Additionally, some of the way that bloggers handle things has cost the media trust from artists. I think blogging helps the culture when it goes where magazines can’t or won’t, otherwise there are a lot of chefs in the kitchen, and a too much food goes to waste.
Who are the five most bloggable artists out there right now and why?
Jake: In my line of work, Dr. Dre is the most bloggable artist because he’s so anti-press/blog. If Dr. Dre forgets to put a toilet seat down in Interscope offices, most sites could profit on the traffic from blogging about. His mystique only adds to his interest, and Eminem and him don’t need us, we need them, so they always draw interest.
2. Eminem (see Dr. Dre).
3. 50 Cent. The “three-headed monster” may no longer apply to record sales, but it applies to clicks. Like his two onetime bosses, 50 Cent is a flashbulb’s fantasy. The controversy, the love, the hate, G-Unit remains undefeated in the dot com game.
4. Ice Cube. Right now, Ice Cube is on his way from going Hollywood-to-hood. Whenever Cube makes a new album, Are We There Yet stays “True To The Game” and lately, Mr. Jackson has been firing subliminal disses, crushing blog rappers’ dreams and clearing the air and the table.
5. Nicki Minaj. Honestly, from a content provider’s perspective, Nicki beats out label-mates Drake and Lil Wayne right now, perhaps because she’s so uncontroversial. Nicki is unique, polite, and like a Kubrick film, something you can’t stop looking at.
What’s the best thing you ever posted?
Jake: Interviews with Gang Starr, David Axelrod, Al Green and Kool G Rap, I hold in high regard. My favorite, most significant online article was a 2003 interview I conducted with Freddie Foxxx a/k/a Bumpy Knuckles. That interview, the research it entailed and style I used has become my signature standard. Portions of the interview later appeared on his album, Konexion. Bump also became a mentor and a friend in this game, and one of the few artists I’d ever truly say that about. Besides interviews, I’m a huge “president of the yearbook committee” nerd for all the Year End lists I was a part of at AllHipHop and DX.
Invent the ultimate blog headline:
Jake: “Preview Dr. Dre’s Detox Here”
Words by Joshua Glazer
