Hip-Hop and Independent Media = Peas and Carrots

When it comes to using a media format, music has its own.

I looked into a website called The Boombox, a blog that follows the music genres of hip-hop, rap and R&B. News is different with music. There are so many different forms of events to keep track of, from social influence to songs being released. There is a lot to cover in the world of music, and it is covered differently than standard news.

The Boombox has a typical newsfeed as its homepage, along with many different columns to the right of the newsfeed. The newsfeed includes many different topics: Album and album cover release dates, tour announcements, interviews with artists, and a weekly contest called The Boombox Battle, where reviewers compare the recent hit songs and decide which is better.  

The columns on the site include a photo gallery, a section called "Lists", and style. The photo gallery includes style transformations of artists, couples that did not last, and 20 artists with their real names revealed. "Lists" is self-explanatory, making lists of top songs on albums, top clothing for the fall and winter seasons, top songs of certain artists, and things of that nature. It is something similar to what you would see on Buzzfeed, just in hip-hop's form. Style shows the trending fashions and recent releases of clothing.

This is all very fan friendly. One thing that I notice is that it is hard to have bad news when this is the content that is being provided. Sure, there will always be negative news, such as death or crimes committed. But the industry provides mostly positive news, making the website that much more appealing. That goes along with any music news site I'm sure, but how many media sites do you know that is filled with positive news, while having minimal negative news?

Another thing that works perfectly with combining independent media and hip-hop is that hip-hop has a huge underground culture. There are so many artists that are not played on the radio or are advertised by Nike, or whatever you deem mainstream. Not only is there plenty of underground music, it is considered high quality within the culture. My guess to the main reason why it is not covered by the mainstream is because of explicit content that would not be allowed on public radio otherwise.

The Boombox provides great content to the people of the hip-hop world. It is not only good for the fans, but it is great for the artists as well. Artists that would not have been heard of otherwise may not have been able to share their music with the rest world. Hip-hop is just one genre, but music would be a great topic to cover for an independent media outlet

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