Medium Has Been Good to Me
And now I have a newsletter for you
A little over five years ago a group of my brothers encouraged me to write. Tired of my long diatribes being wasted on our WhatsApp group, they felt that my words needed a better platform.
The question that I had was, “where?”
In the early days of blogs I had dabbled in the blogspot arena. In addition to writing for a collective that I belong to, the Allah Team, I made a blog dealing with New York City architecture. It covered ghost paintings, the cast iron buildings of SOHO, and various oddities found around the city. The problem was this — only the people that I knew read it.
This time out I needed a platform where my writing could reach beyond my immediate circle.
I found Medium.
I found writers that I admired like Jonathan Shecter, Barry Michael Cooper, Paul Cantor, Michael A. Gonzales, etc. on Medium.
I found an active community of writers.
First, I had to decide what I was going to write about. Once I decided on my first love, Hip Hop, the goal that I set was to have a writing featured with Cuepoint Selections. I had no plan. I just got to writing. Two months and twelve articles later, I was blessed. The Cuepoint Editorial group chose to add The Infiltration of Black Rap to their feed.
I was extremely grateful and kept writing.
In those days of Medium, someone from their staff could pick one of your pieces and feature it in the main feed which would provide exposure and increase your readership. Later, they added badges to show which topics you excelled in.
It was great for writers. Because of my writings on Medium, I’ve been contacted by publishers, had my works used as required reading at USC, and I’ve even worked on a documentary (United Skates of America) — all based on my writings here.
Eventually, Medium changed this structure and moved to subscription platform, which, for some writers has been extremely profitable. I’ve also found that whenever I address a current event, I get more eyeballs.
But the majority of what I write is EVERGREEN material. My focus was and continues to be the intersection of Black creativity and Commerce with a concentration in media, specifically the modern youth expression of that creativity — Hip-Hop. These are heavily researched, thought-provoking pieces that continue to find audiences years after first being posted (works like The Rise and Fall of Hip Hop Dance have connected me to many of the people that I wrote about).
And this is the reason that I’ve started the What The Hell is Real Hip-Hop? newsletter. It’s a newsletter that’s about asking questions. It’s a newsletter about taking a step beyond date and location history, and it’s where I will now post my long-form Hip-Hop pieces.
If you get SUBSCRIPTION, you will have a more succinct grouping of my work. Some pieces of my Medium will be posted there in an either chronological or topical order. But if you get a PAID SUBSCRIPTION you will have access to my continuous exploration of the industry that’s grown around Black Creativity — from Ragtime to Modern Times.
Join me there for the price of one Venti Caramel Macchiato a month. So either click on those hyper links or click HERE.
I’m ever grateful for all of you who read and comment on my work and appreciate the love you’ve shown me over the past five years. I look forward to you all continuing to follow me on this journey.
Thank you in advance and remember, share and share alike.
I ain’t gone from Medium, boys and girls. I’m going to continue write hot shit here and fa sho will continue my short works on this platform.
