EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s been said that when it comes to this here rap game, rap blogs are the new streets, breaking music and news faster than a bootlegger getting an edge up at the local barbershop. But if that’s the case, then who’s running these here new streets? To find out, VIBE hit what the old heads used to call the digital superhighway and scooped up the 50 best rap blogs in the land. Then we ranked ’em according to power, influence, and straight up dopeness. To find out who’s running the game, pick up our The Real Rap Issue (June/July 2009) on newsstands May 19, or keep coming back to VIBE.com, where we’ll drop the top 50 in descending order, 10 by 10, until we unveil the Web’s No. 1 rap blog on Friday, May 8. We’ll also be interviewing five of the hottest bloggers in the game to find out what it takes to put a pot in play and get it bubbling to the top. As the headline says: THIS IS WHAT IT LINKS LIKE!
As we write next to his ranking in VIBE's 50 hottest blogs, DJ Vlad and his website, VladTV.com is beef. The Bay Area-bred, New York City based DJ has worn quite a few hats throughout his years in the rap game, but none of them have drummed up as much controversy as his current role: CEO and chief content creator of VladTV.com.
Whereas most of the rap blogs featured on VIBE’s list are focused on new music, long-form criticism, and snarky satire, Vlad has carved out his own niche as the self-proclaimed “TMZ of hip hop”. His video interviews with some of rap’s big names (Joe Budden, Rick Ross) have caused numerous beefs between artists and himself. And although DJ Vlad has garnered critical acclaim for his work in television (he’s produced episodes of BET’s American Gangster) and mixtapes (many consider his 2Pac: Rap Phenomenon mixtape collaboration with DJ Green Lantern and Dirty Harry a classic) VladTV.com is what really has the Internet going nuts.
My Name and Age: Vlad, 35
My City: New York, NY and The Bay Area
My Site: VladTV.com
My Launch: November, 2008
My Inspiration: thisis50.com, nahright.com, 2dopeboyz.com, thedailykush.com, and gyantscoop.com
My Soundtrack: Drake’s [So Far Gone] mixtape
My Start: I put out a couple of DVD series that did well – Hot in Here, Rock Star, Girlz of Brazil. Around 2007, I saw a lot of the scenes from my DVDs showing up on YouTube. Fans were just uploading them on their own. So I got a YouTube account and started VladTV on YouTube. After YouTube shut me down three times, I started VladTV.com, the website. The end.
My Motivation: Report on all the real hip hop news that all the other hip hop news sources are too pussy or too groupie-ish to report on.
My Hustle: Working on bigger advertising opportunities for the site.
My Moment: When our videos started to get regularly embedded in almost every major blog.
My Philosophy: If it's the truth, put it up. If someone wants to get mad about it that's their problem.
My Craziest Comment: When we covered the Ransom / Joe Budden beef, and Ransom sent us a video of his crew slapping Joe Budden's man at his house.
My Advice: Focus on original content. there's enough blogs already that re-post other people's shit.
Go to page two to see the list of 30-21
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