CNN of the ghetto, a cesspool of coonery, the most influential hip-hop website. World Star Hip Hop has been called many things by many people. Ultimately, the brainchild of the late Lee O’Denat was a mirror pointed directly at a subsection of the web that helped to bolster the site’s staggering level of daily traffic. It effectively says more about its users than it does about Q. Shit, all he does is aggregate the content—he doesn’t film the fights, ratchet music videos and public shaming. He also didn’t grant them the millions of views they received. Supply and demand.
As far as web-entrepreneurs go, Q is an inspirational figure; what began as a mixtape site—which was eventually hacked—grew into a simple aggregator that became a culture shifting source of what’s what and who’s who. Q and his wife (the site’s co-founder) created an inescapable pillar, which serves as almost a hip-hop centric Reddit, for lack of a better explanation. As a fellow urban website owner, it’s impossible not to acknowledge Q as the g.o.a.t of this!
Tragically, Q passed away this week as the result of heart disease that was [likely] heavily influenced by obesity; as the RIP messages pop up, I have seen some rather disturbing rhetoric about how deplorable WSHH is, as though that in some way reflects directly upon the site’s creator. Aside from label submitted and exclusive premieres—both paid—the site was made up of user-generated content. Just putting that out there.
WSHH is an incredible accomplishment, even as just an ideological concept—and it’s one that Q was proud of. Prayers are with his family and close friends in this one as they deal with the loss. The site’s future is up in the air; but, it will never be quite the same.
RIP, Q.
