Thank you for checking out my first newsletter! Welcome!

I'll talk a little about why I've started a newsletter later on, but for now let’s get into some content!

Housekeeping

And We Back — www.alej.hiphop

This newsletter is a part of my bounce back!

After a year away from sharing the things I love, I restarted my personal site with a focus on going at my own pace. You can read more about that here.

Dope Sites

oklama — oklama.com

The main reason I started alej.hiphop was to share dope websites, apps, animations, analytics, etc.

The most recent one I covered was Kendrick Lamar's oklama. I analyzed the site and its timeline of updates here.

Upcoming site breakdowns include sites from Mick Jenkins, Chance The Rapper, Toro y Moi, y más!

Music

Few Good Things by Saba — album.link

I'm organizing more music recommendations, but one thing I need to share is the latest album from Saba: Few Good Things.

This album makes him 4/4 in my books.

I saw him perform live recently and it was amazing. I'll definitely be sharing some concert footage on my YouTube later.

IT'S ABSURD (spring '22 mix) by degh | Mixcloud — www.mixcloud.com

This great mix comes courtesy of my friend and collaborator Daeclan.

Art

I love this dope fan art by @deadkatbarks, inspired by Lupe Fiasco's "Sun God Sam & The California Drug Deals" and "Stronger". Found via Twitter.

Articles

How Sample Drill Is Leading One Of Rap's Most Bizarre Sampling Eras — www.okayplayer.com

This is a great read on modern sampling.

Some highlights:

Growing up, I was a historian. I don’t do the searching around no more, I did that as a kid. So, when I got older and was on YouTube, it was just how my algorithm was… most of the time the sample comes and finds me.

The scrolling thumb has replaced the dusty finger; it’s crate-digging in the post-record shop era. Let’s call it "cloud-digging"

I love the term cloud-digging because it feels more appreciative of the possibilities it unlocks rather than dismissive of its physical ease.

Meditate Meditate Meditate | alej — www.alej.hiphop

Here's a summary I put together on the great efforts by Okayplayer around mental wellness recently.

Wrap Up

And that does it for the first newsletter!

Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more dope content and updates coming soon.

✌🏽

Bonus Track

Bonus track! Bonus track!

So why a newsletter?

As I mentioned earlier, here's why I chose to add a newsletter to alej.hiphop.

I love newsletters because you can read them at your own pace.

They’re delivered to your inbox and they wait there for you, unlike newsfeeds which thrive off of a sense of missing out. If you wait too long, that post from that artist or creator you're following will be long gone, lost in the shuffle and buried beneath days or weeks of other posts.

So my goal with this newsletter is to avoid that. I want to fill people in on all the things I find (and some of things I make), without the need to bookmark my page, refresh feeds or make new accounts. So even if you don’t check alej.hiphop or social media, this newsletter's got you covered!

✌🏽again.

Alej.HipHop Newsletter

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