Insert any number of Jay-Z references here. I will not be coming back like Jordan, wearing the 4-5. My kingdom will not be coming. You cannot get an encore and I don’t think you want more anyway. Etc., etc., etc.
But I’m being melodramatic. As you may have guessed, I’m shutting down HaterPlayer (or is it Hater Player? Hah, I’ve confused plenty of people. Branding FAIL). There are a number of reasons I’m closing up shop. The most tangible one being that I’ve started up a new blog, SDRaps.com, dedicated to rap and hip-hop music from San Diego. On top of that, my job is turning into like a career or some shit. And I think I fucked around and managed to find some semblance of a life now. I barely have enough energy for all that as it is. I just don’t have it in me to keep HaterPlayer alive.
But really, as I see it, this blog has very little business being up anyway. For the past 2 or so years that I’ve been blogging, lots of things have changed, both in the nature of the wider blogging world and the nature of this blog. I first started HaterPlayer as a means to talk mad shit about rap music thinking that I was 1. so goddamn hiLARious; and 2. sooooo original. Friends have been asking me why I’m not as fun or as funny in my writing anymore. To a certain extent, blogging got less fun, point blank. Bloggers started fighting more and everyone just wanted to piss on each other (a gross bastardization of what The Great R. Kelly has taught us, I’d say). At the same time, I started wanting to be a “serious” writer and tried to take my writing abilities in a direction that might get published in the local paper. Finally, I quickly discovered that there was no shortage of snark and haterationalizationics in the Internest. It just started to sound really old.
So this blog started evolving and has constantly been changing ever since. I don’t mean this in the “Oh my god, I’ve grown so much, I love my life and everything about me” wholesome sort of way either. I mean just that: it has constantly been changing. I basically could never settle on an identity for this blog, could never figure out what the purpose of this blog would be. Would it be something of a media dump for mp3s and videos? Would it be an obscure rap blog? Would it be a critical corner in which I offer thoughtful commentary on music and all the things surrounding it? Could it be a more personal blog again where I can talk about my experiences dealing with music? Who is my audience: my personal friends, my music-nerd blogger peers, or “real people” scouring the web for something of value? And that led to the big question: what real value am I adding to the already over-saturated Internet info dump?
I could never answer any of those questions with confidence. At the same time, I was over-extending myself by writing for the BS that is Examiner and an old friend’s indie music blog (of which my friend has since quit, as have I). I juggled all roles and did so pretty poorly, letting things drop off harder than the last couple seasons of The Office. I’ve gone from Kevin Malone awesomeness to like Ryan The Temp working at the bowling alley status or something.
At this point, the act of blogging does not contribute to my health anymore. Not that I need to get paid but at the very least, I need to feel like I’m contributing something valuable to the (web) conversation and the world-at-large.
Hence SDRaps.com. There is currently no working blog covering rap music from San Diego. Neither are there publications that are really willing to devote much space to rap in San Diego. Neither is there really much of a rap scene in San Diego worth writing about, hah. But as I’ve grown to appreciate small local rap pockets from all over the country, I hope that eventually this pocket will turn up some gold. So I’ll cover this niche until it does.
Obviously, none of the 3.5 regular readers of HaterPlayer could give a rat’s ass about San Diego rap. In that case, there are plenty of ways to stay connected to me, if you’re not already:
- Check out my Google Shared Items Feed. I finally learned how to read recently and I’m so joyous that I can’t stop reading. Don’t mind all the political shit, I’m still trying to holler at a girl that I blew it with way back in school. Because the Web 2.0/recession version of the nice ride and leather jacket has to be to just look mad intelligent on your Google Shared Items Feed, right?
- Still stalking hard on Facebook.
- Not as hard on Twitter these days but I’m still there.
- I started a Formspring like a jackass (I’ve only had like 3 questions so far, hah).
So y’know, it’s been cool. Thanks for reading. Special thanks to anyone who left a comment and gave me the comfort of thinking that someone was at least sorta listening to me ramble on, stretching my rhetoric to turn bad rap into good rap. I’d leave you with a gift but I’m too lazy I figure the precious memories together with me are gift enough. Peace bitches!!!!!
