NEW YORK, NY. (Top40 Charts/ 88HIPHOP.COM) - 88HIPHOP.COM (www.88hiphop.com), the longest-running provider of online Hip-Hop video content, launches today on Joost, the world's first broadcast-quality
Internet television service. Since its inception in 1996, 88HIPHOP.COM has been a key gathering point for the global community of Hip-Hop performers and fans alike, a site that provided crucial early exposure that helped launch the careers of many of the genre's biggest stars, including Eminem,
50 Cent and Nelly. With this new announcement, 88HIPHOP will bring Hip-Hip music and culture from around the world, including both new and rare classic content from one of the most authoritative online video archives dedicated to Hip-Hop, to Joost.
'By partnering with Joost, we'll be able to use the Internet to reach the broad global audience devoted to Hip-Hop music and culture, in an on-demand, interactive television-like platform,' states Randy Nkonoki-Ward, Founder and President of 88HIPHOP. 'Together with Joost, we're offering a new generation of performers and independent video producers a respected brand through which they can showcase their artistry worldwide, in a context that puts it beside many of the greatest performances and moments in Hip-Hop's history. And since we stress creativity and passion, we also provide advertisers with an efficient means to reach the style- and brand-conscious community of Hip-Hop lovers.'
Originally launched online in partnership with netcast pioneer Josh Harris's Pseudo Online Network, 88HIPHOP was the first online vehicle wholly devoted to Hip-Hop culture, in the exciting era prior to its mass appeal. The company produced hundreds of hours of vintage footage with many of Hip-Hop's biggest names before they achieved success and worldwide fame. A rare survivor of the dot-com crash earlier this decade, 88HIPHOP's mission continues to be to communicate the vibrant sounds, styles and opinions of the community, now on the first-ever online global TV platform.
On Joost, 88HIPHOP will offer both new content and an aggregate of the best classic content from its peerless library, a virtual moving image museum of the emergence of Hip-Hop culture. 88HIPHOP's newest content partnership is with Fat Beats, Inc., a well-known Hip-Hop specialty products wholesaler/retailer, to produce Fat Beats TV, independent music videos, interviews and performances. Programming will also include PSA, a short-form pirate radio-style talk show with unpredictable hosts, and 88HIPHOP Classic, a flashback show featuring rare and noteworthy performances and interviews with Hip-Hop legends and celebrities.
Yvette Alberdingk Thijm, executive vice president of content strategy and acquisition for Joost, said, 'The Joost platform is a destination for people who want to enjoy high-quality, professionally-produced programming and interactive, community features of the Internet. Bringing the 88HIPHOP-branded channel to Joost is a great addition for us, since cutting-edge music and exposure for artists are some of our key priorities.'
Founded by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, Joost combines the best of TV and the best of the Internet by offering viewers the experience of sight, sound and motion enhanced with the choice, control and flexibility of Web 2.0. Joost is the first online, global TV distribution platform, bringing together advertisers, content owners and viewers in an interactive, community-driven environment.
