i actually disagree with the bolded statements. coverage of SA hip on the internet is not yet at the point where it can really rival something like Hype. you can hear something about it on the net, but you'll get more by actually reading about it - from someone who was there or has been communicating with someone from there. of course, with international hip hop news, it's a no-brainer, it will always be behind and it will never cover everything. i think what they need to do is ask themselves how much that matters. personally i think it doesn't. in the last issue they did well in giving a panoramic view of hip hop in SA. it was dope. where else would you have heard of Blue Sky in Zwelitsha and what happens there?
were they to keep concentrating on this kind of writing Hype could really become the number 1 go to source for SA hip hop. even before the internet.
whats gud the panic? i think both o yal need to re-read my post again, what i said was the internet is a challenge to hype, not their rival, ofcourse they i suppose are using it to their advantage in terms of research and staff. let me make an example, ages ago, i had to read Hype to get contacts for a promoter in PE, read hype to get reviews and pics of gigs all over the country. we did gigs that would be reviewed 1,5 months later and that was valuable information for the readers then, but now, we do a gig tonight and tomorrow its on facebook, with pictures and personal accounts from people who were there. i can chat with promoters and we can organise tours without hype's involvement etc. hype covers some of the gigs like i said with the time delay a month or two later, already people have read about those gigs, so when its on the mag it feels like stale ish. well obviously not all the people who read Hype are on the net, but with access to fb from ur fone, it pretty much connects most people. thats the point i was makin and the fact that hence most of the people on the forum feel like Hype aint up to date, i ws merely highlighting what i think could be a challenege to them as a magazine from my perspective, ofcourse it would be dope to have mizi or simone break some o this ish down, but the point is that they cannot satisfy everyone.
ocourse there are many exclusives that Hype has, but check for yourself how many friends you probably have on facebook and how many of those are rappers from all around the country for example and how many of them, if one had to take the time, one could do some serious business with, without hype's involvement and also from their status updates, one is kept in touch about their activities. thats the point i ws making.
this is somehow similar to the discussion of the impact of the net on conventional cd's. major's overlooked it untill it was a bit too late, this day and age, we cannot alienate ourselves from techology it can serve as both a threat and a strength to our businesses.
imagine if the Hype website, which needs updating, had a forum, similar to AG and their Fb page was used to direct traffic to that forum and there were admin ppl who monitored the discussions and some of the suggestions went into the latest issue etc etc? just some of my thoughts
« Last Edit: July 03, 2009, 02:49:20 PM by Buff Pound »
N'veigh's Album ,titled 7.30, dropping on 7.30