Blog Building - T.R.O.Y. Movement

There's a bunch of new things going on at the T.R.O.Y. Blog. Those of you following our updates via RSS aggregators, email, and Blogger might want to point your browsers to our home page and see for yourselves. We've significantly revamped our sidebar for starters. Don't casually assume that these changes are merely cosmetic, however. We want the blog to be as inclusive and participatory as possible. Take some time to familiarize yourself with what we have to offer.

At the top of the sidebar is a simple mission statement I recently penned: "We flip the hip hop of yesteryear with a brand new twist. Join the T.R.O.Y. movement." There it is. We're into bridging gaps. One project that we're especially proud of is our Sounds Like The 90s series, in which we compile contemporary songs that hearken back to the music we grew up on. 

But that's not all. We're currently working with an emcee/producer from the younger generation on a project called "Classically Trained." He is recording music inspired by the old school, going so far as to flipping the same sample and choruses differently. We're of the past but looking towards the future.

Under the mission statement, you'll notice an icon with our email address; click on it when you want to send us a suggestion, inquiry, or a request. Or maybe even a piece you've written or an idea for collaboration. Under that icon is a link to visit us at the T.R.O.Y. Forum - sign up and become part of one of the most frequented and lauded online communities devoted to throwback hip hop. The volume of knowledge and music exchanged at the forum everyday has to be experienced to be believed.

Under the forum link, you'll see a link to subscribe to our RSS Feed in virtually any feed reader/aggregator (or by email update if you so prefer). Not up on RSS? Read more here - those of you having trouble keeping up with their favorite blogs should definitely consider this time-saving option. I strongly recommend Google Reader. Below the RSS link and counter, you'll see links to our pages at our three favorite social networking sites - Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. We love using these sites to make new connections and communicate with our readers. We also export our post links to these services, and in the future we'll be developing content geared specifically for them, so follow us, friend us, and add us. Below those links is a widget that shows the users following us via Blogger. So if you're a Blogger blogger, start networking with the other bloggers who have taken an interest in this site.

In the bottom sidebar, you'll notice that we're featuring our official projects. This week we have a link for Valentine Funk Drops, Verge's collection of joints to get your funk on to. Check that space for updates. Below it we've installed our first poll asking if you'd like us to cover any one of four topics more extensively: 80s hip hop, Non-U.S. hip hop, graffiti, or Turntablism. Be sure to vote; we'll have a new poll up each week. 

Beneath the poll we've installed a widget that displays our blog's top labels (or tags). We noticed that many readers wanted the site to be more navigable, and in response we are undergoing a massive cleanup and reorganization of our labels. We're now using a standardized set of labels, so it'll be that much easier to find what you're looking for. The widget isn't all inclusive yet, as we have to clean up a lot of redundancies, but for now it's displaying every label that's been tagged eight or more times. Play around with it and find posts you missed out on. There's also a convenient blog-specific search bar provided by Blogger in the upper left corner of the blog.

Below the labels we have the Blog Archive, which we've adjusted to archive weekly, so it's easier to navigate and far less obtrusive. Feel free to explore. Last but not least we have our "All Eye Seeing" widget, which is really just a display of our Google Reader shared items feed. In other words, posts from around the rap blogosphere that we feel are worth a glance. Please check this often, and if you're a blogger that wants to be featured there, please contact us and let us know that your blog exists!

Well that's all for now. I hope that the new developments seem promising. We've got a great week ahead, but don't forget to read the recap of last week in case you missed something. Leave a comment and let us know what we're doing right, what we're doing wrong, and what we're not doing yet. -- Thun