Blog Building: Check The Vibe

After all of the hoopla and brouhaha surrounding Vibe's Rap Blog list, I have to say that our mention on the list (#20, but who's counting?) has been something of an anti-climactic experience. I am certainly grateful (and the other writers* most likely agree) to be mentioned at all in a nationally circulated magazine only eight months after setting up shop on Blogger. But let's be honest - Vibe simply cannot deliver on its old strengths (scantily clad R&B starlets and industry overview, I guess) in the internet age. With the nubile Cassie buck-nekkid n' spread eagle for all to Google and dozens of blogs covering every aspect and sub-genre under the urban umbrella, where is Quincy's print 'zine's niche exactly?

If Google Analytics is to be believed, Vibe.com's coverage of the list did not send us one single visitor. We did however receive plenty of traffic from blogs that published the list in its entirety before Vibe; it seems the blogosphere is unsurprisingly efficient at hyping itself. Thus we're not feeling too slighted by the print version of the list, which consisted of an amazingly small horizontal band of text running across several pages with no preamble. Easily missed. But as long as the readers enjoy our material and share it and keep coming back, and other bloggers link to us, we'll be alright. And that'll keep happening, in my opinion, because we do a pretty decent job of making old music seem fresh. So if anyone is reading this because Vibe's mention inspired them to point their browser at us, we're glad you found us against all odds.

Does all of this blogging about blogging have fuck all to do with Dred Scott, you ask? Well no, not really, but that's a great song and a very 90s (in that quasi-bohemian Starbucks Lisa Bonet D.A.I.S.Y. Age meets Bupward mobility kind of way) video that should resonate well on a lazy Sunday evening before the rat race restarts. It's the kind of song that certain knee-jerk reactionary critics will write off as corny or naive or simply not produced by Peat Rawk (but I'll address all that later) but take a 90s minute (no checking the iPhone) to actually listen to it and you'll probably hear a great drum break, a beautifully performed hook, and some thoughtful rhymes. Hardly the pinnacle of rap's greatness but not quite MC Skat Kat, either. Check it. Also, look out for our YouTube Channel, coming as soon as possible.

-- Thun

*Yes, T.R.O.Y. is a team blog, for those that never knew! To oversimplify: I write the lengthy analytical essays, Roy Johnson does the Non-Album track compilatons, Schenectady Fan does all of those obscure regional compilations, ThomasV digs up rare videos and promo materials, Verge is the king of sample sources, Markshot has been Touring the States, Philaflava does a little of everything, and dirt_dog is new and mysterious so I'm not sure of his niche but I'm sure he has a vision. Check the sidebar for the widget that links to our individual works - T.R.O.Y. has never made so much sense to you.