Each month, we will speak to an athlete, celebrity, designer, or non-Hip Hop entertainer about what Hip Hop means to them. This feature is intended to showcase how far-reaching the influence of Hip Hop culture has grown in the past 50 years and how much the culture means to so many.
This month, I, Adam Aziz, AKA brokencool, Editor-in-Chief of The Hip Hop Museum Newsletter, share more about what Hip Hop means to me.
As a digital pioneer in music journalism, I was among the first to bridge urban culture and the internet, beginning in 1996 with the launch of the Hip Hop Newsletter (HHN), the genre’s first email-based publication, which reached over 100,000 subscribers each month.
I was also Music Editor of the popular Canadian Hip Hop monthly Mic Check at the age of 18.
I went on to co-found and edit HHNLive.com, growing it to 350,000 monthly unique visitors, before doubling global traffic as Managing Editor of T.I.’s StreetCred.com and founding the hip-hop/comedy platform brokencool.com.
I also had the opportunity to serve as a lead writer on Will Smith’s Class of ’88 podcast in 2022. Give it a listen here.
Across a career spanning artist publicity and corporate brand strategy, I now work with The Hip Hop Museum while continuing to cover music, sports, and culture for outlets such as Playboy, Andscape, Grammy.com, and Complex.
SO ADAM AZIZ AKA BROKENCOOL, WHAT DOES HIP HOP MEAN TO YOU?
“The word that comes to mind is everything. Hip Hop has shaped every aspect of my life, from fashion to friendships to relationships to drive and ambition. I learned most of what I know from Hip Hop.
I remember reading The Source and XXL back in the day and learning every nuance of entrepreneurship and business from articles about Master P, J. Prince, and the Roc-A-Fella crew. Every single time I read an article about Master P, I would start a new business.
I fell in love with Hip Hop through The Fat Boys, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, N.W.A., and 3rd Bass. I’ll never forget spinning records on my Fisher-Price record player and trying to scratch them as a young kid.
I grew up in Toronto, Canada, and still live there. The Toronto Hip Hop scene shaped me, and I spent countless nights watching the likes of Kardinal Offishall, Choclair, Dan-e-o, Mastermind, Saukrates, and many others perform and hone their craft.
Having the opportunity to work with The Hip Hop Museum is still surreal. I’ll never forget the first time I stepped onto the Museum site in the Bronx, just a few steps from some of the earliest Hip Hop parties.
Hip Hop continues to excite me every day, inspire new ideas, and continues to anchor itself as the most important culture the world has ever seen. I’m just honoured to have been part of it for thirty-plus years.”
Follow Adam Aziz on Instagram.
