5 Questions with @AdamsWorldBlog…Ramble

As you can tell right away from this photo, @AdamsWorldBlog is a pretty fun guy. I first met him online while promoting Chingy and a bunch of other rappers. Adam stood out because of his passion for hip-hop and most of all for always delivering what he promised!

We finally met in person at a Mya show over in the dreaded Times Square area. It was sort of sad because the stage at B.B. Kings was so tiny and she had 4 dancers who really didn’t fit in that environment. Anyway @AdamsWorldBlog remains one of my favorite online personalities as a veteran of the space.

I respect the way he conducts interviews, does his research (unlike a lot of radio stations. People what’s so wrong with at least reading a damn wiki on your subject) and for his ability to keep going and stay positive.

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Location: Fairfield, CT (the home of whiffle ball!)

Vocation: Journalist & Occasional Rabble-rouser

Sign: “I’m on balance like a Libra”

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1) Why did you decide to go back to school?

I decided to head back to get a masters degree because eventually, when all is said and done with my career, I want to teach journalism, preferably entertainment journalism.  I see the way things are headed in the field and the combination of groupies with laptops, and general gossip mongers, leaves me feeling like there’s going to be a void of real, honest to God, entertainment journalists.  My goal is to help fill that void.  There are also a lot of skills needed to be an entertainment journalist that aren’t taught in traditional journalism classes, like how to network effectively, and exactly how many free drinks is too many.  Hint – if you’re palming the ass of the artist’s cousin you’ve probably had one too many.  I had to learn these lessons by trial and error, but would love to pass them on to aspiring writers.

2) What are your current projects?

Right now I have four main gigs in addition to any freelance work that comes my way.  I have a bi-weekly hip-hop column at the Fairfield Weekly, which is our area’s version of the Village Voice/LA Weekly.  I’m a pop columnist and feature writer for 101Distribution.com.  My weekly pop column, Pop Shots, takes a humorous look at the week that was in pop music.  I’m the Interviews Editor at RapReviews.com and I also have a monthly underground hip-hop podcast, The Adam B Experience (which was also the name of my former radio show), on the site.  Finally, last, but certainly not least, I have Adam’s World (www.adamsworldblog.com), my super amazing blog.  Since my nickname ever since my radio days has been Adam B, I like to say Adam’s World is the one place where everyone wants to be a B-Lister.  If you happen to see a dope emcee rockin a yellow “I’m a B-Lister” shirt, they’re reppin Adam’s World and Adam’s World is reppin them.  Every Monday I feature a new Artist Of The Week from the indie music scene.  They’re usually hip-hop related, but I’ve been known to switch it up on occasion.  Throughout the week I use the site to both syndicate my work from other sites and post up interviews and commentary that are exclusive to Adam’s World. The list of notable interviews in the Entertainment and Music sections of the site includes Russell Simmons, Ron Jeremy, Morgan Webb,Taryn Manning and A Fine Frenzy.  I told ya I’m not afraid to switch it up! {laughs}

3) You’ve gone to a lot of shows over the years. Have any horror stories? (like the one that got your blog everywhere!)

You know it.  I actually have quite a few horror stories.  There are the mundane ones, like the time at Webster Theatre in Hartford where security was on my case the entire night about taking pictures even though I had a press pass.  The ones you probably want to hear about, though, are the really crazy ones, like the time back in 2004 when I was at an event for Lil’ Jon at a club called Butter in NYC.  The party was in celebration of the launch of Crunk Juice. That was the night Andy Dick took a… errr… “liking” to me and rather than using his words to express those feeling he tried using his hands.  The incident qualifies as one of the most horrifying moments of my life.  The really sad thing is, after nearly a decade of doing this gig, Andy Dick remains the only celebrity to grope me.  Step up to the plate Shakira!

Then there was the event that ended up getting my face on Gawker.  That event, however, was one I didn’t even get into.  Grubman PR was throwing something in the city, this was around two years ago, and I RSVPed and was told the day before the event that I was on the list.  So I took the train in from CT, which I do on a regular basis, linked up with a buddy, and headed to the spot.  We arrived on time only to be told there was a problem with the list and the place was already full.  Not at all thrilled, because there’s nothing like a two and a half hour round trip train ride for nothing to get me in a bad mood, when I arrived home I filmed a quick video about the night for Adam’s World.  Gawker picked it up, mocked me, and all of a sudden I was receiving emails congratulating me on making the front page of the site.  It was pretty crazy.

4) Any advice for the kids with stars in their eyes about becoming a journalist?

Don’t do it yet, I still need the work! No, in all honesty, the most important words of advice I can give to any young journalist are to not be afraid to ask the tough questions, and to find story angles that will be relevant for longer than a couple weeks.  I see far too many interviews that are only about one current situation, or a specific album or movie that’s about to be released.  Those are all well and good for current events type of stories, but they’re nothing anyone will want to read more than a week after they’ve been published.

Great features have a long shelf life.  Also remember that journalism is your industry, so keep up to date on what’s going on in it.  Oh, and don’t get discouraged when you have a bad month.  A wise man once reminded me that this job is like a roller coaster ride, you’re gonna have your ups and downs, just realize when you’re down an upswing is right around the corner (thanks @PaulGargano!).

5) What are your top five albums for 2009? *yes it’s already that time of year!

I usually have a big feature on Adam’s World in December running down my Top 25 albums.  Are you asking me to scoop myself?  Hmmm, well, let’s see… I’ll say this, there are a lot of good choices in just about every genre.  I’m very excited about the rebirth of synth pop and artists like Lights and La Roux.  There’s been a lot of great hip-hop released this year, including albums from P.O.S., Wale and Vinnie Scullo.  And staying true to my “switching it up” form, I’ve also been digging the latest releases from A Fine Frenzy and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.  So my top five… is still under construction, but I’ve found a ton of awesome bricks to work with.