We’re Back.
What’s coming forth from Rap & Hip Hop’s Revolutionary Publication
Hello, everyone. We couldn’t be happier that you’re with us.
For some of you, this is a welcome back — but for most, this is likely to be your first encounter here. Either way, welcome to the Renaissance Project.
We launched this publication last year officially on hip hop’s 46th birthday to create a new path for approaching rap journalism, and some things outside of that. As I pondered in our Manifesto:
“What will the world of hip hop look like now that its right to existence and power needs no more evidence? What is waiting for us — lovers, haters and observers alike — down the rest of this road?”
Well, we’re here to continue working toward finding out. We have, and will continue to, critically assess, review, and dissertate rap and hip-hop culture via reporting, reviews, profiles, and analysis based on news, recent and not-so-recent events, and past moments in the vast history of the community.
Our content will not be similar to most, if any hip hop publications currently in operation.…The Renaissance will provide insight and nuance that those that are truly hip hop can appreciate, while holding itself according to exemplary journalistic standard.…We look to capture hip hop’s population in the midst of their Sista Soulja moment.
(Read more of why we’re here to begin with over at our Manifesto.)
We — being me, the Editorial Revolutionary-in-Charge; and Paul, the Lieutenant of Editorial Affairs — had success and fun with our start. Like I’d imagine it has been for all of you, the last 6 months have been a whirlwind and we just had to step back for a minute. Well, we did, reevaluated what we liked and what needed improving. Now, we’re back. (Although, we didn’t really leave, we were just quietly rummaging in the records in the attic.)
Many things are staying the same: hard-hitting or provocative writing from us, fostered here on Medium to maximize our audience, bought to you by members of the PRISM Collaborative. And yes, we’re still going to be publishing unorthodox content and radical ideas. Our links and contact info is pretty much the same: we remain here at medium.com/the-renaissance as our home, and you can learn more at prismcollaborative.com/media/the-renaissance as well. We changed our social media handles some time ago to be uniform, so if you were looking for and had trouble finding us, we’re now for sure @TheRenProj on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If and when we join other sites or networks, you’ll be able to find us as @TheRenProj then, too (if not /the-renaissance). Our dedicated email, if you need it, is prismrenaissance (at symbol) gmail (dot) com.
Here’s some changes you can expect: we’re going professional now. That’s right, we’re leveling up…going legit…crossing over…going the Tyler, The Creator route. However you get it, we’re upgrading some things. Mainly, the Renaissance is no longer simply taking a progressive, but a revolutionary approach to hip hop journalism. Because, as we see from…*everything*, progress really only gets you so far.
If you were here before, you’ll see we have a new logo. That’s courtesy of the diligent, great work of @logoliddy. Now that’s one less thing you can diss us on.
Additionally, we’re going to have something more than the occasional article. We’re starting 3 columns — not 1, not 2, but THREE distinct verticals. One will be Reconsideration, for revisiting past moments or releases in hip hop and commentating on it from a new lens. Another is Project-ions, where we’ll imagine a “what if…?” scenario on steroids. Last, but not least, will be RapVice: that’s right, an advice column from a hip hop publication. Wild idea, right? What could go wrong? They’ll be more info coming soon for those who may want to submit ideas or seek advice from us, but let that be a little incentive to stick around.
Beyond that, we’re also going to be having *new* voices soon! Yep, you’ll be able to hear from someone other than me. We’re not set up yet, but we’ll be accepting pitches and publishing work from other people soon. Keep in mind that this is entirely self-funded, so there won’t be New York Times-level rates, but everyone you’ll see contributing to The Renaissance other than me will be directly compensated. In that spirit, a majority (if not all) of our stories will be behind the Medium paywall, meaning there will be a limit in how often you can read our articles if you are not a Medium member (different from Medium Partners, which writers take part in to put their stories behind the paywall).
Don’t fret though. We know everyone isn’t going to pay $5/month to Medium just to read our stories, and we don’t get that money directly anyway, so here’s our alternative: we’re starting a Medium newsletter, The Renaissance Rundown, where we’ll send you a weekly update on what we’ve published recently, in addition to recent rap-relevant news and what’s on our schedule for the upcoming week(s). In each Rundown, links will be provided that will bypass the paywall and allow you to read them without hassle. Sign up here or at the bottom of this or any of our stories.
To make it possible to do all of this, survive, and expand into taking pitches soon, we will be taking applications for advertising and sponsored content. That means yes, if you are an artist or have a brand and you want to get new eyeballs on your work, you can come to us for promo. We’re not huge, but as you’ll see below, we do have a fair share of people that read our work. Just as an example, people spent 922 minutes on our pages in the last 90 days. So, for as little as $10, you can have some of those minutes spent on something promotional for your work. We plan to offer clearly identified sponsored content ranging from inclusion in the Rundown newsletter, to break lines in our ads, to entire sponsored-by pages. You’ll be helping us operate and grow in this volatile industry, and we’re also very good at making cool copy language.
Please note, artists or people that know artists, that we’re not planning to take music submissions or suggestions at this time. This is for a lot of reasons, but namely because it would be too taxing on us to have to go through your work and ‘evaluate’ it, let alone having to then promote it and/or write about it, for free. Generally, this is the same for folks looking for PR (that means, to get interviewed, profiled, or your work featured in an article) — everyone you read or see in our articles so far has been included on our own volition, based on the merits that the work required. We plan to maintain that journalistic integrity. While we’re happy to correspond with anyone and learn more about the cool people in this huge culture, the only way to guarantee being featured in The Renaissance in any way is to submit for a sponsored promotion. That means paying. The process for that will be out as soon as possible.
While we were away, you (or people you may know) spent an average of 100 minutes a month reading our past work. We had 120 unique viewers in the last month alone without releasing anything. So I had to constantly convince myself that now, our work actually matters to more than just a few friends, which is definitely reassuring. We owe it to you to interact with you and keep giving you reasons to come around, so we’re committing to more content, both published and social media as well. (Speaking of which, if you know anything about using subdomains, please reach out!)
I hope to see y’all around. I do. Welcome back to The Renaissance.
