If your answer is “nothing,” then I invite you to come to “IF I RULED THE BLOGS: Hip-Hop Blogs & Social Change,” this Saturday, April 3, from 4-6:30 p.m. at Busboys & Poets @ 14th & V. 2021 14th St NW, Washington, DC. Special guests include Dallas Penn, Jason Reynolds (Okayplayer), Chris Rabb (Afro-netizen), producer extraordinaire and Diamond District member Oddisee, Frank William Miller Junior and myself. And for those who are unable to attend, there will be a live stream you can check out here as well. Feel free to chow down on some food for thought and other whimsical musings. More information under the cut.
Co-sponsored by Words Beats & Life (WBL) and the Future Music Coalition (FMC) and hosted by Busboys & Poets, this event will feature a national panel of hip-hop bloggers who will give information to those trying to be featured on hip-hop blogs about how to get the attention of these bloggers, optimize web presence, learn what bloggers seek when generating content, and how use technology in acceptable formats. Moderator, Jef Tate (aka frank talk) will guide panelists in a roundtable discussion about pay-to-purchase sites (Band Camp, Itunes, Amazon, etc.): use ‘em or lose ‘em? FMC will also educate the bloggers and audience about legislation and policies currently affecting them and we will address the question: How can we leverage the success of these blogs for social change?
Event breakdown:
4-4:10 p.m. Welcome, introduce Casey Rae-Hunter, FMC
4:15-4:25 p.m. FMC presents policies that affect hip-hop bloggers and their audiences
4:30-5:20 p.m. Participants on stage, Moderator introduces remaining panelists. Moderator leads discussion re: what their blogs are about, who reads them, why you
should care, how to get their attention. Intro FMC.
5:25-5:40 p.m. Peer learning – Moderator will engage audience members to comment on and share information from their own blogs/readership experiences.
5:45-6:30 p.m. Audience Q&A + questions from live stream
