The internet reminds me of my old high school. It’s a strange metaphor, but just as the students at my alma mater were known for their eccentric personalities yet obvious intelligence, so is the internet and the websites that are a part of it. It has the weirdest websites that actually ooze with public influence.

World Star Hip-Hop is one of the oddities in this world that fascinates me. It combines the rawness and reality of life itself, with the audience of the internet. It is, if you will, a type of journalism; moderators apparently hunt for things like video clips taken by anyone that will pique the public’s interest, such as a fight on the subway, a brutal police beating, provocative singer on The X Factor, etc. It also helps to promote up and coming rap, hip hop, and r&b artists. Once a URL known only to the underground folks, or avid web surfers, it is now a worldwide sensation, with videos reaching millions of hits daily. I am convinced that its’ audience varies widely based on the different people on my Facebook friends list who admit to watching much of the vulgar videos it provides, from Harvard undergrads to high school drop outs, nerdy east asians and hood rat south asians alike

Example A: a young man teaching his grandfather how to dougie, a popular song/dance invented by hip hop group Cali Swag District

Example B: A rapper who most likely “knows politics”

Example C: You wouldn’t understand the above reference if you hadn’t watched this on worldstar

Steve Jobs passed away this week, and of course he will be sorely missed. There is a lot of talk about how we lost the greatest innovator of our time, but I highly doubt poverty struck families in Bangladesh and the Philippines are aware of this. Who wants the iPhone 4Gs, when you cannot even get clean, safe water to drink every day? Innovation covers a lot of ground, and I feel as if the mods of World Star Hip-Hop should be acknowledged, because their job involves a novel type of journalism that surpasses even YouTube, in the sense that it entertains, informs, and presents new things, unlike the latter website that has no filter.