Table of contents

...

Websites / Forums / Online Communities

• Blogs
  • 2DopeBoyz
    • Apparently this blog is closely associated with OKP.
• Forums
  • Articles
    • 2013.08.07 - Complex - The Most Influential Hip-Hop Message Boards Right Now
      • I added the forums listed in this article to the list below.
  • Boxden - Hip-Hop ← 178 members online, 237 anons, seems pretty active, but it seems listener-focused as opposed to creator-focused. Everything hip-hop is in a single subforum.
  • TheColi - Very active, dozens of posts per day.
    • "New registrations are currently not being accepted."
  • FutureProducers.com
    • Rap & Hip-Hop / R&B - ~3 comments per day
    • Songwriting and Lyricism - one comment every 1-7 days
  • GearSlutz.com - "The #1 Website for Pro Audio"
    • Rap + Hip Hop engineering & production - ~5 comments per day
    • Songwriting - 1-4 comments per day
  • Genius - Rap ← Hundreds of comments per day.
  • TheHoodUp - Though this isn't explicitly a forum about rap music—its focus is street life—rappers are a common topic of discussion on Hood Up.
  • HypeBeast - Dead/Frozen. There's a message saying they're prepping to reboot it.
  • IllMuzik.com
  • IGN - Hip-Hop - ~10 comments per day. Listener-focused.
  • KanyeToThe - 3000 people online?? It looks like 200+ members. Has "Creative Showcase" and "Gadgets & Tech" subforums.
  • Lil Wayne HQ - Very active, hundreds of people per day.
  • NikeTalk - Music - 130 mems / 260 anons. Listener-focused subforum of a shoe-focused forum. They have two threads that are open to people promoting stuff.
  • Okayplayer.com - began as the official fansite of The Roots
    
    • Make The Music
    • The Lesson
    • General Discussion
    • High-Tech
  • Philaflava - Almost dead, 1-3 posts per day. "the go-to site for East Coast/"Golden Age" rap purists"
  • Rap Battles Forum - ~1 comment per day in a few of the subforums. They have a "Lounge" forum.
  • RapMusic.com - Dead
  • RapPad Forum
  • Rap-Royalty.com ← This seems to be strictly rap battles. There's no "General" forum. 58 members online when I visited, it said 617 total people viewing. This is the #2 site on Google for "rap forums" after Genius.
• News
  • HipHopDX
  • HipHopWired
  • Independent.co.uk - Rap
  • IX Daily
  • The Juice Media
  • Pigeons and Planes
  • Rap Basement
  • RapNews <-- Russian
  • SOHH
  • The Source
•  Reddit
  • /r/makinghiphop
    • A link to a search I did for references to existing apps.
      • Lots of the threads are people asking for mobile (mixing) apps. Mobile is taking over...
  • /r/Parappa/ - Parappa the rapper players. Seems to only be posts about the game.
  • /r/rap
  • /r/hiphopheads
  • /r/rapbattles
  • /r/cringe
  • /r/ThisIsOurMusic
  • /r/Hiphopcirclejerk
  • /r/radditmusic
• StackExchange - Music
• YouTubers
  • Full-on rap
    • ColeMizeStudios
    • Epic Rap Battles
    • RapNews <- Russian
    • TheWarpZone ← They do movie recap raps
  • People who have made a rap song or two
    • Diran Lyons
    • Jake Paul
    • h3h3 - They know that white rapper, Ethan critiqued Jake Paul
    • Schmoyoho

Rappers

• Joyner Lucas
  • YouTube
    • I'm Not Racist

Criticisms of rap

• The lyrics
  • Lack of substantial / sophisticated messages in the lyrics.
    • Keith Richards (of The Rolling Stones) - "So many words, so little said." (Source)
  • Lack of variety in the messages / topics of songs.
    • Keith Richards (of The Rolling Stones) - "So many words, so little said." (Source)
• The accompaniment
  • Lack of sophistication in the melodies

    • Keith Richards (of The Rolling Stones) - "What rap did that was impressive was to show there are so many tone-deaf people out there. All they need is a drum beat and somebody yelling over it and they’re happy. There’s an enormous market for people who can’t tell one note from another." (Source)

...