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Mar 13, 2007

lay it on us · by Rafi Kam


yeah, so what if the truth hurts?

Doing some thinking about how to refine/redefine this site.

Some open questions for you

What are your favorite things about this site? What are your least favorite?

What is it that you want to see more of from Oh Word?

Should this whole site be done in a blog style?

Or should we keep the zine sections going but you know… actually add new content to them on a regular basis?

Or is rap music crappy enough where you don’t need to read reviews of all the albums that you won’t be buying anyway?

On a scale of 0 to 10, you’d like to see the following from Oh Word:

  • Hip-hop news items
  • Commentary on hip-hop news
  • Commentary on other news/music/pop culture/politics/web stuff
  • Commentary on hip-hop blogs
  • New music reviewed
  • Old music reviewed
  • Profiles on up and coming unsigned artists
  • Interviews with established artists
  • Conceptual feature articles
  • Original Artwork
  • Satire / Spoofs
  • Video blogging
  • Original Comics
  • More mp3’s
  • More photos

I appreciate your candor and promise not to throw snark at you for your comments. I can’t promise that RHS won’t insult your family though.

Also, feel free to email your comments to rafikam at gmail if you prefer to state them privately.

Comments for "lay it on us"

  1. i dig Oh Word just the way it is. I’m not really interested in interviews with artists new or old. Definitely up the video blogging. Internet Celebrities is that ‘07 crack.


    — zilla mann    Mar 13, 07:05 PM   

  2. More cowbell!

    But yeah – I would like to see more mag style features. I really enjoyed the line for lines.

    More thoughts later.


    — Hashim    Mar 13, 07:08 PM   

  3. i dont see how interviews with artists could be a bad thing… especially considering the questions you fools could come up with….


    — chrisisaballer    Mar 13, 07:35 PM   

  4. I only recently discovered the Oh Word blog. Until then I thought it was a very infrequently updated review site. Scrap the main site & keep the blog? (if you want to review something put it in the blog?). It’s all good except “pop culture/politics” & video blogging – only got a 56K connection.


    — Graham Ingram    Mar 13, 08:18 PM   

  5. I really liked both the Line for Lines and the reviews you guys did on older albums. Other than that, this site is fine the way it is.


    — Train    Mar 13, 08:24 PM   

  6. Dude I have no idea what the ”’zines” are, and I’ve been reading Oh Word for six months. ha. So, maybe make those more noticeable?


    — Chris Jay    Mar 13, 09:00 PM   

  7. You should have more reviews, spoofs/satires and put up some rare/unreleased MP3’s.


    — Nick    Mar 13, 11:24 PM   

  8. I didn’t read all the options, but I’m disappointed this just seems to have become a blog. When I first came across it many moons ago, yall seemed to have in-depth reviews and analyses of old albums, etc. That shit was well done. Dropping your half-assed two cents on every development in rapland and blogworld—it may be well done, but who gives a shit? This site seemed like more than that.


    — nesta    Mar 13, 11:45 PM   

  9. Personally I think the best thing you’ve come up with creatively, is the First Of The Month post, mainly because I was in it but whateva….nah, in all seriousness this blog is tight, am a recent convert…..


    — EnglandRepresent    Mar 14, 03:08 AM   

  10. Your commentary is important.

    More Line for Line stuff and general exploration of hip-hop songs/albums would be good too.


    — Ross    Mar 14, 07:55 AM   

  11. I agree with more line for lines, more jokes/spoofs, and more artwork.

    I would read interviews of interesting artists that people have either forgotten about or are currently overlooking, but I don’t think the site needs interviews.

    I’m not as interested in rap news.

    I would also like to see more contributions from the others. Nothing against Sach, but his footprint is too big.


    — eauhellzgnaw    Mar 14, 12:32 PM   

  12. You and Sach are some really good writers. Don’t make the site “jump the shark”. It’s tight like it is.


    — P-Matik    Mar 14, 01:15 PM   

  13. The blog should be the main focus since you don’t review often.

    The reviews are good.
    Just not frequent enough to be the main page.


    — start snitching    Mar 14, 02:11 PM   

  14. I don’t think anybody needs another news/review site. The blog content on this site is dope, this is the first place i go when i’m at the computer. I would love to see the deep album reveiws that R.H.S used to do. That was some of the best hip hop content I have ever read.


    — pat    Mar 14, 02:47 PM   

  15. I’d definitely like to see some more reviews of older albums. The agent b spoofs are hilarious.


    — g    Mar 14, 04:29 PM   

  16. I like everything on the site, from the reviews to the comic strips to the blog posts. The section I check for the most, though, is “Around the Horn.”


    — fresh    Mar 14, 08:20 PM   

  17. this site is ill

    i like that Rawkus response….pretty funny

    just get some more satire on here like the Peanuts & Wu cartoon strips


    — ardamus    Mar 15, 11:10 AM   

  18. more ads!

    just kidding. but regular video updates would be cool. even if they were shorts.

    we don’t necessarily need your fancy internets celebrity reality show productions. people just want to laugh.


    — dj mirateck    Mar 15, 01:16 PM   

  19. -Conceptual feature articles like R.H.S.’ pieces on Mobb Deep and Smif-N-Wessun
    -Old music reviewed
    -More “Line for Line” analyses
    -Interviews with established artists


    — Steezel    Mar 15, 06:44 PM   

  20. nesta wrote: “Dropping your half-assed two cents on every development in rapland and blogworld—it may be well done, but who gives a shit? This site seemed like more than that.”

    I wouldn’t put it quite like that, but I’m pretty tired of blogs in general – yours included. So much blog journalism seems incredibly shallow, and usually gives me the feel of a disposable internet rap tabloid. I could easily do without reading about shit like Cam, Styles, and 50 on Hot 97 or The Story Of El-P Meeting Puffy. It gets in the way of content that I feel is more worthwhile – like the album and song analyses on this site, of which I wish to see more.


    — Steezel    Mar 15, 07:04 PM   

  21. i’d like to see a lot more album reviews because i actually try and read a lot of reviews from different sources before i buy an album (that includes old ones)

    profiles on up and coming artists would be ill

    Interviews would be cool but keep them on on their own section of the site

    definitely update the zine sections…the only thing y’all seem to really update is the blog section

    video blogging would be cool if done right…i hate it when its some dude sitting in his livin room on a webcam just bullshittin

    Comics sound cool

    Original artwork^^

    Conceptual feature articles…most definitely

    thats my 2 cents


    — edgar c.    Mar 15, 09:50 PM   

  22. I read the blog first, and hardly visit the other sections because they’re not updated as often. Because it probably drives the most traffic, I’d say put the blog first and when you do a more in-depth piece include the link to its permanent home on your features page. The features are dope, btw, so I’d love to see them continue, but I know that’s a lot more work.


    — Raafi    Mar 16, 01:48 AM   

  23. _


    — Useff    Mar 16, 09:47 AM   

  24. A wtf link on the side…A guess a different layout…if it’s not broke…


    — 911    Mar 17, 02:21 AM   

  25. 7 * Hip-hop news items
    9.5 * Commentary on hip-hop news
    8.5 * Commentary on other news/music/pop culture/politics/web stuff
    8.5 * Commentary on hip-hop blogs
    6.5 * New music reviewed
    7 * Old music reviewed
    5 * Profiles on up and coming unsigned artists
    6 * Interviews with established artists
    9.5 * Conceptual feature articles
    10 * Original Artwork
    10 * Satire / Spoofs
    10 * Video blogging
    9.5 * Original Comics
    9 * More mp3’s
    8 * More photos


    — DJ Flash    Mar 19, 03:53 PM   

  26. M442Yw hi great site thanks http://peace.com


    — bob    Apr 7, 06:51 AM