Why So Quiet Around Here?

[RAJ]

I started Soul Strut in 1999 out of my love for hip hop music, journalism, and graphic / web design.

In 2001, I started this message board from scratch and eventually what was a hip hop focused web site quickly turned into a one dedicated to records sampled to make hip hop music and the art of finding these old records (crate digging).

By 2003, people quickly descended upon this place to meet and congregate with other records nerds to learn a thing or two, showing off their finds and musical tastes.

Soul Strut became a diverse community of music sharing, hip hop beat development, political conversation, pop culture celebration, and cutting edge news.... way before the ubiquity of social media platforms.

By 2013, there was a mass migration away from the message board format in favor of the ease of smart phone apps and social media. Couple that with people getting older and moving on, changing trends, and the proliferation of info at the click of a mouse, Soul Strut was in the midst of a free fall.

Many have suggested I pull the plug, but that would deny me and others to use of this site as a valuable musical reference / nostalgia act. Check the search engine and your mind will be blown with incredible information that passed through here.

For those who still check in and contribute, I thank you! For those who fell upon this site by accident, click around, explore, maybe you can help in it's revival.

-- RAJ

 

[CBear]

Soulstrut has contributed so much to my musical adventure which is so important to my life. Endless thanks from me for the contributions of this community through the years. Why am I not checking much recently? It's the middle of summer and my work load and dance card are filled more than it should be. Combine that with myriad new medical issues and tons of visits to doctors and my time on the internet is minimal. But when I do check the internet, I do check soulstrut. I think it's cyclical. The less contributions, the less people check it. Pokemon Go is probably taking a lot of people's time these days. Lulz. I'm thinking of taking a week off work next week. I spent 10 months editing my entire MP3 collection and it's got music on my mind. I'll share some of my new perspective next week. I only say that in an effort to make me do so because I owe this community so much and believe in it existing.

 

[ketan]

Summer vibes over here. I still czech on the regular, but trying to stay off the internet. Working on a new mix - will poast by the end of the summer!

 

[klezmer electro-thug beats]

Yeah, Raj I think you've just about got the size of it in terms of the dropoff in usage. No fault of the site itself. Social media shit is gonna come and go too; mostly without the massive archive of funny, informative stuff you have up here. Enjoyed the sample flip and beat posts recently, and movie and TV recommendations around here are as on point as the music knowledge, so I continue to check and post when I've got something to contribute.

Don't forget the wealth of that archive unreal mixes by some great DJs. I still click around that too. I've got some shitty mixes of my own from the past year or so, maybe a post-yer-mix thread is in order? The advantage of this place to me has always been taste. I don't see a direct equivalent anywhere.

 

[dukeofdelridge]

I am fully committed. Lemme know what I can do. As long as it's not "leave."

Message boarders are the true pioneers of electronickal connectedness. We're on the sp12, doing more with less. Stay up!

 

[para11ax]

I've been around as a lurker since 2002, regged in 2007, and I'm 100% hooked. I check in at least once daily.

My tendency is to post comments, not topics, which is a hard habit to break.

 

[deezlee]

Yup daily and archives

 

[ManItsAHighCastle]

Too many old dudes.

 

[trzakhstan]

I miss the days of email list groups.

 

[EIGHTY]

Lurk all the time. Contribute topics when I feel like they might spark a conversation.

Tons of knowledge in here to not look back at old threads. Where did all the Strutters from a couple of years ago disappear to?

 

[sticky_dojah]

People who share the same interests will find this place...it is still a great place, even when its golden age has passed...

 

[RAJ]

trzakhstan said:

I miss the days of email list groups.




Here. Here.

Old heads stand up!

 

[EIGHTY]

Raj, How much traffic has been cut to the site since social media has taken precedent over commenting on the message board?

 

[DOR]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3uhyMxw7rM&feature=youtu.be

 

[DjArcadian]

I'm glad this place is still kicking.

 

[ppadilha]

I have a newborn baby in the house, it's been literally one month since I've had time to check in. But I'm still around!

 

[yuichi]

Hey guys. To be completely blunt, the last format/layout change I think completely turned off most
remaining OG members.

 

[para11ax]

yuichi said:

Hey guys. To be completely blunt, the last format/layout change I think completely turned off most
remaining OG members.




I think there's something to this.

Every new iteration of SS saw a drop off of members, each greater than the last.

Meanwhile, waxi, which underwent one change, still hums with activity.

That said, correlation =/= causation, and all that.

Also, whatever became of mylatency? Dude was hilarious bitd.

 

[klezmer electro-thug beats]

Waxi is a unique case though because it has a population that if there's one thing (aside from weird records that suck) that unites its population it is being holdouts, or at least people who have no concern with keeping up to date with trends. SS has always had more people ready to jump onto the next thing. Even at its most "backpack" nobody here wanted to look like the stuck-in-1994 the-breaks dude.

 

[para11ax]

klezmer electro-thug beats said:

Waxi is a unique case though because it has a population that if there's one thing (aside from weird records that suck) that unites its population it is being holdouts, or at least people who have no concern with keeping up to date with trends. SS has always had more people ready to jump onto the next thing. Even at its most "backpack" nobody here wanted to look like the stuck-in-1994 the-breaks dude.



Fair point, but Waxi has a ton of ex-pats on there. This is old news, but I think those dudes got tired of the political trolls who ran rampant here.

For all the style waxi lacks, it more than makes up for in civility. Older dudes are def down with nostalgia (breaksyo!, golden-era, etc., funksoul yadda-yadda), but they're not looking to get into a random (and seemingly endless at one point) tug'o'war with anonymous internet dinks.

Locking away the banhammer, and the website changes are what did this place in, and social media just exacerbated the sitch. When there were mods who put dudes in check, this place was at its peak, imo.

There were foolios who provided high comedy while flirting on the edge of banishment. All the while, music and great stories were still at the fore. Shit was mad entertaining.