What's Hot and New...

Jump Off TV brings you their weekly show thats documents anything new in Hip Hop from movies and music to fashion and gadgets.

Hosted by Valerie Lora, the New Releases Show comes out every Thursday.

Check out jumpoff.tv for the full videos and songs :)

Man behind the Monitor: J. Dakar of Concrete Loop / Write State of Mind

2nd Installment of our weekly posts that will be coming your way. (the GOODIES just keep coming)

I've met so many great bloggers/podcasters/new media makers lately and I've decided to turn the tables and blog about them :)

Here is our PREMIERE Interview with Mr J Dakar of one of the most popular entertainment blog Concrete Loop


Man behind the Monitor: J. Dakar
Concrete Loop / Write State of Mind
http://www.writestateofmind.net
http://www.concreteloop.com
http://www.jdakar.com
Political/Commentary Contributor of Concrete Loop
He currently serves as political/commentary contributor for Concrete Loop, one of the most popular black entertainment blogs, offering social and political commentary with special emphasis on the 2008 presidential election.

Q: What's the biggest challenge you've faced as a blogger?

A: Traffic. Anyone can create a blog, but if no one is reading it or commenting on it, what's the point? For a while, I received very few hits and even fewer comments. It then hit me that I had begun writing for myself. I realized that I needed to appeal to my audience, and once I did that, I noticed an increase in both readers and comments.

Q: For aspiring bloggers, do you have any tips for growing their readers?

A: My only tip is that you should never give up. I've been blogging since 2001, had about twelve sites and endured, perhaps, at least three times that number of hiatuses from blogging. Fortunately, I have dedicated readers who commented on nearly everything I wrote (when I wrote), which really motivated me to continue writing. In doing so, I put myself out there more which really opened me up to new readers...and you never know who's reading what you're writing.


Q: How did you become affiliated with Concrete Loop?

A: Angel, Brian, Tianna and I frequented the 730 Forums (http://www.seventhirty.net/forums/) some time ago around 1999 or 2000, so I've known them all for quite some time. Once I began blogging, Angel read my work and continued to do so throughout the years. Last summer, she hit me up and asked if I'd be interested in writing for Concrete Loop. I, of course, said yes, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Q: As a political writer for Concrete Loop, do you feel that music ever transcends into your blogging in any way?

A: I listen to music while I write...well, while I do most things, actually. I love music: I wake up listening to music; I go about my day listening to music; I fall asleep listening to music and then I do it all over again the next day. Suffice it to say, yes, music does transcend into my blogging.

Q: Do you feel that Concrete Loop has increased your readers at Write State of Mind?

A: Absolutely! I have an audience at Concrete Loop that appreciates my work regarding social and political commentary and visit Write State of Mind for a more personal look at J. Dakar. I analyzed my site statistics recently and discovered nearly 42 percent of my incoming traffic comes from Concrete Loop.


Q: What can we expect from your upcoming site, JDakar.com?

A: When it launches in May, JDakar.com will be my personal site where I share my thoughts on the things I love most like books, film and music in addition to my take on news stories and a few pieces on activism so we can all do good and do well (DGADW). Unlike Write State of Mind, which focuses primarily on my writing with rather lengthy posts, JDakar.com will feature much shorter ones published throughout the day.

All Thing's New...

So we've got a NEW weekly installment we will be including to finally help me make sure we got all grounds covered with what's new in the Music World

Hopefully this will keep me in check with posting DAILY ....

This week's NEW RELEASES brought to you by JUMPOFF TV :)

Enjoy

Lupe Fiasco- Paris,Tokyo

This video reminds me so much of Jay-Z back in the those Reasonable Doubt days. Big up to Lupe he is really doing his thing something SERIOUS!

The Roots ft. Wale & Chrisette Michele - Rising Up

WoW I been BUMPING this song since I heard this over at NahRight

The Roots ft. Wale & Chrisette Michele - Rising Up




THIS CD IS GOING TO BE HOT!!!!

See them LIVE with Ms. Erykah Badu

Erykah Badu
May 09, 2008 at Radio City Music Hall

The New Amerykah Tour With Special Guests The Roots

IT'S OFFICIAL :) ... New Artist Feature: Phil Anastasia

I DID IT!!!

So in my previous post I stated I had no idea how to get songs onto my blog. After several FAILED attempts, after reading several how-to's that made NO sense to me, It is now 1am and I FIGURED IT OUT!!!!

New Artist Feature:

Phil Anastasia
http://www.myspace.com/sisbest
http://www.philanastasia.net/



A rock/rap crossover artist that can actually rap and a white boy that isn’t trying to sound like Eminem. A middle class New York kid brought up with all kinds of culture around him and refuses to try and present himself with the falseness that so many other artists employ. A fresh sound, which still somehow reminds listeners of hip-hop’s golden era; A new twist on the old formula.

PHIL ANASTASIA presents The Outfit Movement Volume 1: Hosted by DJ LAZY K (Murda Mamis / Street Sweepers) coming soon also featuring appearances from RAEKWON, CRUNCH-LO (OTF), JAK DON, LOTANERV with exclusives from UNCLE MURDA, ICE WATER ft. BUSTA RHYMES and more...

Check it out..





Symphonies featuring: INSPECTAH DECK (WU-TANG CLAN) SEAN PRICE, (BOOT CAMP - HELTAH SKELTAH), and THE LAST AMERICAN B-BOY

My New Love... LAST.FM

Sorry I've been so BAD with blogging lately but it's for a REALLY good reason..

Im still new to the whole blogging world (as a blogger) so i've been doing some reasearch and trying out a few new sites to add in and feature mp3's into my blog .. so I can start pumping out some great new features to the blog!

-Any suggestions PLEASE help me out! :)

In the process of doing that I'm learning tons of new things.

Im an AVID Pandora listener and I think its the best thing since sliced bread - music I want to hear and not that force fed mess anymore

I started playing around with a few things over at Last.fm and came across their music player (which problaby has been around forever) but again im in the process of learning everything.

Well from using it for the last few weeks to me its JUST LIKE pandora, where you are able to put into your sounds like and they play all the songs that is in the category that you may like and you can skip the one's you hate.

So i've been listenting to my LAST.FM radio player ALL WEEK!

Wanted to post up my Last.FM playlist so you can take a walk in my shoes :)

ENJOY!