Video: Hip Hop Chronicle Interviews YN
Saturday, February 21st, 2009Hip Hop Chronicle UK interviews eskay’s former boss Elliott Wilson. YN is definitely an influence on me, a fellow half-Ecuadorian. Respect to the legend. I transcribed part of it for you fucks below.
Oh and,
BP2 or BP2.1 > KC. Take that eskay & The_TSS_TC.
UPDATE: Ha! YN cosigns.
Part 2 after the jump, which discusses responsible journalism/blogging among other things.
RapRadar.com: Launching March 9th.
Thoughts on Hip Hop blogs and how they have changed the game?
That’s the game now. In some ways, some of my work might have been an influence, with the editorials and stuff like that. I tip my hat. That’s where the new generation is. If I came up in this generation, instead of doing independent magazine like I did with egotrip and Beat Down, I probably would have a blog or site. You have to take heed that people really want good aggregators. People want guides to what’s important in the culture. There’s just so much material, so much news, so much access, so many rumors and innuendo, you want somebody to make sense of it. That’s where the bloggers come in. They have sort of become the voice of the culture in a lot of ways. It’s become very powerful.
What keeps you motivated to keep coming back? You’ve reached a pinnacle, you’ve got legendary status as a hip-hop journalist.
Thank you. Laughs.
Cause in hip-hop you can say I’m legendary but there’s a difference between being Jay-Z and being Rakim. And I love Rakim. But I don’t wanna be Rakim. I want to be Jay-Z. Which means I wanna be in the race. I wanna compete with the new kids. I want you to ask “Am I better than Lil Wayne?” I want that battle. I wanna stay relevant more than a decade. I been in this since ’92. I just love it. It’s not even a choice. It’s a part of who I am. You can quit or lose jobs. But if something is your career, it’s your life. I missed it. After XXL was over, I really took the time to figure out what I should do. Should I just write books, or do television? I missed the day-to-day grind of it. So the website thing, doing Rap Radar, seems like the most logical thing for me. Cause I missed the day-to-day grind of it. Even the minutia of the whole shit. Like what’s gonna happen with Rick Ross & 50 Cent. I give a fuck, I don’t know why I give a fuck, but I still give a fuck and I’m 38 years old. It’s you young kids’ worst nightmare. Laughs. I don’t know, I’m just here to have fun. When I feel like I’m the old guy and I’m lame, I guess I’ll hang it up. But I don’t feel like I’m that old guy and I’m lame yet so I’ma still do it.
Like Jay said “30′s The New 20″ right?
I don’t believe in that. That wasn’t a hot album. Laughs. The stuff he’s doing now is a little bit better.
Tell us about Rap Radar.
Rap Radar is a site I’m going to create. March 9th is looking like the date we’re gonna launch. I’m partners with Paul Rosenberg, obviously he’s Eminem’s manager. Obviously big money. He’s got a lot more money than me. I’m doing pretty good, he’s doing great. He just approached me about doing it. I had a couple different offers on the table. It seemed to make the most sense. It’s a business partnership, Paul’s funding it but I have complete creative freedom to do what I want. He wants me to be crazy YN cuz it’s gonna make him money. I’m here to brand myself a little bit and document the culture in real time. Aggregate with a little bit of attitude. And also create some original content. If I see something’s missing in the story line, then I’m gonna go for that and try to get that interview first. Hopefully raise the bar a little bit, shake things up a bit in the status quo. I’m not coming for nobody like “you’re site sucks,” that’s corny. The internet is built on community, built on us linking to each other and building audiences. It’s really communal, it isn’t like the magazine game. I have a lot of great relationships with cats in the new generation and I hope they embrace me. I want to carve my own lane.
