The Hip Hop Debate Launching Jan 1st 2011

Blessing everybody I am so proud to present to you a new site that is launching on January 1st called The Hip Hop Debate. The site is being ran by one of my favorite people on twitter, she is a down to Earth hip hop head and she really knews her hip hop. Peep the interview and make sure to look out for the launch of the site.

1. First things first, tell us about yourself, where are you from, & what does Hip Hop mean to you???

Well to begin with, my name is Krystal Ellis, I’m 21 years old and I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. I’m in school right now as a business management, but I have a huge passion for music, especially hip hop, so I use my website as a kind of 24- hour side grind haha. Hip-hop to me is…. Life. It encompasses all aspects of your life, emotional, mental, physical everything. It’s crazy, because I used to be one of those teeny boppers who only listened to Nsync & Britney Spears, but I transitioned to rap around the age of 16, then I transitioned to HIP-HOP (yes there’s a difference) when I was about 18. Once I made that transition, I fell in love HARD. It became a way for me to sort through my feelings, because in hip-hop there’s so much feeling, whether it be pain, overcoming downfalls, joy, success, or an egotistical “I’m The Shit” track. There’s something for everyone.

2. What influenced you to launch The Hip Hop Debate and what are you trying to achieve with the site?

Fantastic ideas just pop into my head sometime like BAM, Krystal, this is what you have to do, here’s the plan, let’s go. And that’s kind of how the site came about. It all stemmed from my love for hip hop, and of course when you love something , you talk about it… A LOT. Long story short, it got to a point where my best friend Vander Jones (co-participant of the site & an artist himself) & I would sit on the phone til the crack of dawn just talking music. Then on Facebook or Twitter, I was always getting into a discussion with someone about hip-hop, or going in on some hip-hop quote trending topic, etc. Soon enough, people began to hit me up with my opinion on a mixtape or song, my thoughts on an artist, and all my friends were bringing their ipods to me to get the dopest music out. Anyway, it just hit me one day, after one of my twitter rants about the poison on the radio that’s passing for music, that I should do something with my love for hip-hop. And that’s where The Hip Hop Debate was born. I wanted to create an arena where people like me could go and discuss the hip-hop that they love, or hate, & get other’s opinions of it too. REAL HIP HOP… not toot it & boot it & ish like that, which you won’t find on my site… sorry.

3. What type of content will be found on The Hip Hop Debate?

You’ll find quite a few things on the site that I think a lot of people will enjoy. Originally it was just supposed to be a forum type set up where I posted an album and asked for opinions on it, but it’s become much more than that. It’s a really simple website (I’m no web designer lol), but you will find recent news in hip-hop. There will be a featured Current Artist of the week, a featured Throwback Artist of the week, & a featured Freshman Class artist of the week, and all will be available for debate, and you’ll be able to look at videos and listen to some of the music that they’ve had over the span of their career. In addition to that I have the L&D (listen & download) lounge page where you can listen and download the hottest mixtapes out, and the hottest singles circling the web. That’s the basics, but I know there’ll be more, because everyday a new dope idea pop’s in my head for the site.

4. What are you currently listening to right now?

Man, in the past week I’ve listened to approximately 50 mixtapes & 30-40 singles just getting ready for music to go up on the site, so I’m up to my ears in hip-hop right now. But some standout mixtapes/albums that I’ve recently had in rotation when I’m not doing work for the site are:
· B.O.B.- No genre
· Kendrick Lamar- (O)verly (D)edicated
· J. Cole- Friday Night Lights
· Pugs Atomz- The Decade
All of which are available for download on my site, except for Pugs Atomz, people have to go buy that. You know I had to throw that in there haha.


5. If you were stranded on an island and you could only have 5 cds what would those cds be?

I was DREADING this question, haha, it’s so difficult. Okay off top I’d definitely have Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor and Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool, because he’s my favorite hip-hop artist. After that I think it would be Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Pharrell In My Mind and….. damn, ummmm… it doesn’t have to be a hip-hop album right, because if not it would be Amy Winehouse Frank. She’s my favorite singer.

6. Is their anything else you would like to tell us?

Unfortunately I can’t give you the url or the Facebook like page to my site yet, I’m not releasing it until midnight, January 1st. But follow The Hip Hop Debate on twitter: @TheHipHopDebate http://twitter.com/thehiphopdebate. I update what’s going on with the site daily so that’s where you’ll get the information you need to know. You can also follow my personal twitter @MsClassySxyCool http://twitter.com/MsClassySxyCool. Also, I’m always looking for unsigned, unheard of, brand new, etc, artists to feature as a Freshman Class artist each week, so if you think you have what it takes, send your music to TheHipHopDebate@yahoo.com for review. And… I’m trying to give you all my info haha… if you would like to be a part of the site, I’m always looking for people who love hip-hop to help me get the latest news, the latest music, the latest mixtapes, and the latest artists, so once again, email TheHipHopDebate@yahoo.com and let us know! I think that’s about it. Thanks for having me here. Stay dope!