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Oh Word: Year One · by Rafi Kam
Even the off-days are busy. In February, we practiced smashing things.
It’s been just slightly over a year since this web site went live. Or more accurately since the test site was discovered. Since we weren’t really ready to launch it’s still confusing for us to say exactly what our launch date was….
OMFG!
Ah, there it is. We were doing our usual procrastinating thing when some scripter from WuTang Corp found Kevin Beacham’s GZA interview on our live test site. Cheers to windwalker, without whom we may still just be planning to launch our hip-hop site.
The LONG Back Story
The original way-old plan was to use my programming skills to build something truly encyclopedic in scope. Lyrics, references, cross-references, analysis…. It was around 2001 when I decided I knew what it would take to build my vision of OHHLA meets the IMDB. What should somebody call such an OHHLA-killer? OhWord.com of course. And it was available for some reason.
Domain was bought, partnership was formed with human hip-hop encyclopedia Kevin Beacham, coming soon page went up, second coming soon page went up…. And then, the lull. The task at hand was kind of daunting for a hobby side project.
So I did some other things. I made friends with some rap nerds at HHI like the original Ivy League negro KRS-Thun, the mysteriously named David, a young producer from the bay area by the name of naught and a wise-ass music student named Strychnine. The site had an annual top 50 mc list but they decided to stop doing it one year so I created a web app where people could vote for their favorites. People dug the effort and the jokes in the presentation. The site owner was surprised that I had put my powers to a seeming good instead of just using them to hack his site, so he offered to sell me the site… for $48,000.
Seriously, the offer he made caused a strange rift in the universe and put me in a Donnie Darko type world. I almost entertained the notion of taking out a 2nd mortgage to buy HipHopInfinity but luckily I was at that moment rear-ended by an SUV which snapped me back to reality.
Time went by and not much at all was going on with the old Oh Word idea. I had spoken to a designer or two but the idea was growing stale. In the summer of 2004, a very important thing happened. I was invited by some old friends to join the Philaflava forum (where most of the old HHI forum people had ended up) and did so even though, like everyone else, I knew it was run by a tool. Immediately I became a fan and friendly rival of agent b whose genius shone through in his posts. This is already a very long story so I don’t need to go into too much detail about how Thun, David and I all ended up getting banned from that forum in November or 2004 for some bullshit. But the important part is that was the impetus for how this site came to be.
If our genius (and our stupidity) weren’t welcome there, it was clearly time to do our own shit. After assessing our resources and what would actually be most fun to do, we ditched the whole encyclopedic database site idea and decided we were a group much more suited to producing an original web-zine. At the time, we didn’t see too many places on the web creating content we enjoyed reading so we basically tried to fill a void.
We recruited agent b and discussed site plans and started creating and editing content and then basically sat on our asses for a few months until we were exposed and forced to launch. So seriously thank you to windwalker and whatever search engine spider.
The early months
Not really production ready but still, it was all good. The GZA interview and Woodrow skit analysis in particular attracted a lot of attention. Thun (now known as RHS) pretty much carried us in terms of content for the first few months, churning out reviews and ambitious album analysis features at an alarming rate. Behind the scenes, David was the king copy editor and we all pored over each other’s work. Contributions from David, Nikhil, Mike and belatedly yours truly, fleshed the whole operation out. Every feature launched with original artwork from agent b and the rotating header art was a fan favorite. Pieces like New Jack Misconceptions and the Interview with Ignorance showed off our proudly retarded side.
By the way, the first review of our site was published the day after our launch. It was sort of positive but worried about “pretentiousness” and the possibility of “revisionist history”. It was written by Sacha Orenstein who joined our staff about 6 months later.
No tricks in 06
Agent b kind of scared us in December, when he mysteriously fell off the face of the earth for a month. In a blog post, Sacha recently compared us to Wu-Tang clan. While I found that post mildly sacrelicious, I must say one great point of comparison is like the Wu-Tang we’re rarely all present at the same time. So whenever we are we have to be productive. When b reappeared we dropped some dope shit.
In January the 1-2 punch of the year in review and weekend at biggie’s got some heads ringing. We were starting to get the attention we so clearly deserved.
This was made especially clear to us when a writing hero approached and offered up a feature.
In February we compiled a tribute to Dilla. In March we basically put content aside and sold hundreds of Dilla t-shirts to raise money for his family. Stopped selling shirts because the demand was really too large. At the end of the month we all formed like Voltron after 6 weeks of basically no content updates in order to do a big April Fools drop, re-christening the site Oh Nerd. Right after that RHS outdid agent b’s disappearance by falling off the planet for about 3 or 4 months.
In the meantime the site was mostly held down by blogging from Sacha and me and artwork from agent b including the emergence of the beloved Wu-Peanuts.
We opened up a store and closed it down a few months later but still haven’t removed the link from the homepage. That’s just how we roll.
We caught the attention of MIT and Seth Godin for some reason or other, and then the internet at large with the Ghetto Big Mac video, guest blogger week, Crack Week (when the stars aligned like on April 1 and we all collab’d again), and continued swipes at the music business and whoever else crossed our path.
We’re obviously way past due for another content update but we’re all communicating about the next one so expect some dope stuff soon.
And that’s basically it… Way more than you needed to know followed by a recap of what you probably already know.
We’ve been really glad that the site has caught on and that we’ve had the chance to grow over the past year. The Oh Word staff is phenomenal and I love working with them. Maybe this year we’ll figure out how to actually make some money from this strange project of ours.
Either way, we’ll keep bringing you good stuff if you keep on reading it.
Thanks To…
The staff, without whom there’s nothing to talk about.
All who have contributed.
All who have linked to us or spread the word.
All readers and especially the commenters who lets us know we have readers!
All who let me bounce ideas to them over instant messenger. There are many of you. Really appreciated.
All who love us or hate us (but secretly love us). We love you too.
Sorry for rambling… (picture some award music drowning me out now)
Comments for "Oh Word: Year One"
brings a tear to my eye :)
it’s been a fun year, from what we planned to do, what we did, and the weird shit that just kind of happened (pissing off home depot, joe fatal confessing a crime, cultist rick ross enthusiasts and queen latifah fans thinking they can submit movie scripts to us) this site can be pretty fucking crazy. here’s to year one and many many more. we’re only getting older and more jaded. now PAY US PEOPLE! peace!
— agent b Sep 28, 06:02 PM
time flies my friend. I remember betting money against Oh Word’s launch date like it was yesterday.
— Hashim Sep 28, 06:44 PM
Ha, and you won that bet because wutangcorp found us a few weeks too late.
Important lesson learned: just launch asap. You can always fix it while it’s live.
— Rafi Sep 28, 06:48 PM
OhWord will be the last thing standing when rap music is exiled from the mainstream in late August of 2007. We will build a new nation along the banks of the rivers of Babylon. Don’t say we didn’t warn you suckaz.
— R.H.S. Sep 28, 07:14 PM
congrats on the year all yall
the site definitely exceeded my expectations
one of the best blogs of its kind
— Jay B Sep 28, 07:15 PM
Ha! Now THAT’s a dope retrospective!
How ironic that between my comparing us to Wu-Tang and complaining about DJs playing the classics, I’ve single handedly made us both pretentious and revisionist on a daily basis.
Seriously though, the team here is awesome and working with you guys forces me to step my game up ten fold. Couldn’t imagine a better crew of slightly mysanthropic hiphop fans to debate unsung classics with. Now let’s grow like a plant y’all.
— Sach Sep 28, 07:18 PM
congrats gentleman…there is no finer way to waste time during the day than at your fine webstalishment
— Jeff Sep 28, 07:22 PM
good lookin’ out
— Arjun Sep 28, 10:30 PM
yes congrats, even though i posted for like a week then i disappeared for a year, woke up still hot a la chris lowe. agent b is the fucking man, rafi you’re still on my AIM list, although we never speak. thun as well…i love the bloggage, it never ceases to crack me the fuck up. good luck and godspeed!
— el papa de sienna Sep 28, 11:22 PM
top 5 five hip hop blogs on the net. crack week was crack.
— sam Sep 28, 11:24 PM
Congratulations, fellas.
Gotta thank RHS for puttin me up on the site way back when.
— eauhellzgnaw Sep 29, 02:16 AM
congratulations
— sankofa Sep 29, 07:22 AM
Although I do share some common beliefs, the person responsible for this website is an idiot
actually I just copied and pasted comments from my own blog, props on a year
— SergDun Sep 29, 12:19 PM
Nice, Rafi. What a year it has been. Great site.
— Nikhil P. Yerawadekar Sep 29, 09:36 PM
shout out to Dave Mazzuchelli
p.s.
CITY OF GLASS IS THAT CRACK (both the lp[novel] and the cd[comic])
— extra penis Sep 30, 11:46 PM
KoKo Shakur would be proud of you humps. He’d prah’lee write a yacht-rap tribute.
— Billy Sunday Oct 1, 01:21 AM
Congrats. FYI – The Oh Word site was mentioned in an article in the Dallas Morning News today (Sunday 10/1/06). Looks like a syndicated article about your “Crack Week” feature.
Keep representin’
— Coltrane Jenkins Oct 2, 12:53 AM
Thanks Coltrane.
By the way, are you any relation to Turkey Leg Jenkins ?
— Rafi Oct 2, 09:25 AM
No, if anything, I’m related to Yeoman Jenkins (the black Star Trek crew member that never comes back from the away missions).
And again, great site. Love the clip from Batman.
— Coltrane Jenkins Oct 3, 12:58 AM
It was really cool to see something that I made while bored one day appear on your site.
Best believe I showed people that shit!
Keep up the good work guys, here’s to another great year.
— Kalel Oct 3, 04:58 AM
Suprised this site is still around.
— FY Nov 29, 10:35 AM
ditto
— Rafi Nov 29, 12:02 PM