The Boombox

My Road To The VMA’s… Why Persistence Pays Off

I can honestly say that the past three years for me have truly been quite the amazing trip when it comes to so many different facets of my life, yet one thing remains clear in all of them- I didn’t allow anyone else to make my destiny that is my life today. Three years ago, I was out of work with no money to my name, student loans were piling up and I started to think things like “Why did I even bother going to college” and “Fuck this economy” and so on and so forth. While I was out of work, I had a great conversation with a lifelong friend of mine who suggested that I started writing seeing as they know how much I love the music industry and they felt that would be a good platform for me to start with. And so my road to the Video Music Awards started…

I got hired by the multi-purpose website Examiner literally two hours after I applied. My original title was “Long Island Hip-Hop Examiner” which I was more than happy about having seeing as hip-hop tends to be my favorite type of music and ultimately my forte when it comes to writing. I started writing about my own personal feelings about the industry in itself and started getting a following shortly after that and was able to interview a bunch of acts in Long Island that weren’t always necessarily the hip-hop vibe. Regardless, it was a great starting off point for me but I never really saw it as a career because the pay was pathetically low and it didn’t pertain to what I majored in in college.

I continued to make leeway for Examiner for the next year or so but nothing really seemed to come out of it the way that I wanted it to. Finally I was granted passes to The Vans Warped Tour in July of 2012. It was there that I met a pivotal role model for myself, Glenn Gamboa at Newsday. He is one of the nicest guys I have ever met and is uber professional in so many different ways. Newsday is a paper that I have been reading since I was a kid on Long Island, and the thought of writing an article for such an esteemed paper really made me want to push myself harder than I ever have before. I came up with a great idea for the paper which he loved and I continued to work on it over the next month or so.

Around that time, I got an email from a PR agency out in Los Angeles asking me if I wanted to interview T-Pain. That’s right, chart topping, Grammy award winning hip-hopper T-Pain. I instantly replied back with an emphatic YES (or as I like to say lately YAAAAAAAAAAASSS) and interviewed him the next day over the phone. That was when it really set in that I was doing something right for agencies to feel comfortable enough for me to interview someone on that level and my drive, which I already thought was at an all time high, increased exponentially over what had happened.

I got to write for hip-hop site HipHopDX and do an in depth story about the never ending saga of beef and problems at hip-hop award shows, something that got me recognized by many up and coming rappers and people alike for just that one article. I also had a good stint at AOL’s “The Boombox” in which I interviewed legends in the game from LL Cool J to Fat Joe just to name a few. About a month later some sort of ubiquity happened. The article that I pitched for Newsday was finally becoming a reality. On February 19th, 2013, I woke up extra early to see where I would land in the paper. I am glad that I went into this with no expectations because I actually was the cover story in the supplemental section of Newsday called “Explore LI”. I was in total disbelief and shock and couldn’t have been more on cloud 9 than I ever was before. Just baffled that such an esteemed paper would take a new kid on the block and write something that they deemed worthy of a cover story. Truly blessed.

Around this time is when me and my partner in crime Lane developed this site, Manhattan Digest. Since its inception we have garnered close to 200K in views which is huge for a new site. I have been able to interview some really big people in the celebrity world for my site such as Kristin Cavallari to Andy Grammer and the writers for this site have gone above and beyond what was necessary of them to make this site a success. It is most likely the reason why I was granted a press pass to the Video Music Awards last week. I was one of 126 press outlets that were invited out of thousands and for that I am truly grateful and happy. The moral you should get out of this story is this- Be persistent, be patient, but above all realize that you make your own destiny in life. No one else does.

Why AOL Music (and certain peeps) are my personal heroes

by Ryan Shea

I woke up this morning giddy as a catholic schoolgirl on her first day of school (I don’t care if that is a sick pun here, just go with it) wanting to email my buddy Dan Reilly over at AOL about a new venture I was hopeful about publishing for Spinner. We had just gotten acquainted a little while back and I was really looking forward to writing with them as I had been for their hip-hop and sister site, The Boombox. Then I got the bounce back email. Then I read all over the news that AOL Music had been shut down, and the rumors and whatnot spread like rapid fire. I was beyond shell shocked and honestly saddened by this whole thing but at the same time it did put some perspective into my brain on how amazing this experience has been with them.

As someone who started doing blogging three years ago really as a means to fill time while looking for a job in this fucked up economy, I started to grow and really come to love what I was doing and decided to change that from hobby to a side gig to something hopefully full time. My first real moment was when I got asked to cover and interview Drake last summer at Jones Beach, until that whole Drake-Chris Brown bottle throwing fight happened in NYC (just another reason to hate Chris). Even though I was saddened by it, I was proud of myself that little old me emailed a bajillion people to get the correct contact and get in to meet one of the biggest hip hop stars in the world.

Two or three months later, I got asked to interview T-Pain for my original site that I worked on, Examiner. That was when a light bulb went off in my head that I was really onto something here. It ultimately gave me the idea to approach bigger outlets and see if what I was doing was something they liked and wanted to try out. To be honest, as much as I liked Examiner the rules and regulations became a bit much and I wanted to do something where I had the freedom to write more than factual information, give my take on things and ask questions that others would be afraid to ask.

I emailed someone that I knew at AOL Music asking if they had freelance gigs available. I was then forwarded to the editor of AOL Music, Sarah Chazan. Sarah took a look at my stuff and said she would get back to me. As confident as I was, I still had the thought process of “Who am I, she won’t care, this isn’t good enough, why bother”. Then ubiquity happened, or at least my own personal ubiquity- she called me in for an interview for an even bigger position. As someone who has had a dream since he was 10 years old to write for a huge publication or website, this was destiny meets fate meets any of that other stupid crap we call times infinity.

Sarah was kind, warm and just like me, a lover of music. I really enjoyed her friendly demeanor and it made the nerves that were ravaging through my body calm down and I really just took it as a great conversation with a fellow music aficionado. The role went to someone else, but she stated some very warm things in that email about my talent and creativity as a writer, which boosted my confidence completely and said I would have the possibility of writing for their site.

Little over a month later, that happened. I did my first interview for AOL’s”The Boombox” featuring fellow Long Islander and up and coming hip-hop star Hoodie Allen. Before starting with that, I was introduced to Paul Cantor, who was the editor. Within our first couple of interactions, I got from Paul that he was serious, smart and pushed me to go outside the basic Q&A that I usually did and really ask the questions that I should. And since then, it has been pretty freaking awesome. I was able to do five interviews with the site, ranging from Fat Joe, Tamar Braxton and one of my hip-hop heroes, LL Cool J. The coolness factor in all of this has shot to a billion percent in my books and the short experience I had with them really is a highlight of my professional life. Hell, even Clive Davis tweeted my article that I did on Anthony DeCurtis, a Rolling Stone writing legend who co-penned Clive’s Book. I almost fell of the bed when that happened, and ultimately I owe it to Paul and Sarah for leading the path and getting me there.

Really, this is just a thank you blog I am writing for Paul, Sarah and Dan. I don’t think any of you will truly realize what you have done for me since I started writing for you and my eternal gratitude I have for you all is full of abundance. I hope that you continue on this amazing path you have set for yourself and be the amazing editors and writers that you already are. Thanks again guys, from the bottom of my heart.

Even if it’s Frank Ocean’s fault, why we will never side with Breezy.

by Ryan Shea

A recent story in the media that has been huge is of course the fight between Chris Brown and Frank Ocean that happened the night of January 27th outside of a recording studio parking lot. This fight was over a parking space. Yes, a parking space. Today, The Boombox has stated that Ocean will not press charges over the alleged incident in where Brown punched him and got jumped, stating-

“As a child I thought if someone jumped me it would result in me murdering or mutilating a man,” the R&B star wrote on his Tumblr page Saturday. “But as a man I am not a killer. I’m an artist and a modern person. I’ll choose sanity. No criminal charges. No civil lawsuit.”

If you have been living under a rock or in a country where music doesn’t exist, Chris Brown has had quite a few altercations over the past couple of years with several different people. The most noted one is four years back where he beat the living hell out of Rihanna the night before the ’09 Grammys. Now, they are allegedly back together and doing music as well (“Nobody’s Business”, “Birthday Cake Remix)”. That is a story I could write about forever, but as I’ve stated in the past, it’s her choice. She wants to go back to that, and not listen to the millions of people who think she’s a fool to go back to the modern day Ike Turner, then go for it. Be an idiot.

He has also gone after a slew of other people from Jenny Johnson, Raz-B from B2K, Miranda Lambert and so many more. I find it interesting when this cat came into the game about eight years ago. He screamed rising star, and was the nicest guy in all of his interviews and I generally loved his persona and music. I don’t get why he went from that to now looking like a Dennis Rodman lookalike who has to be so freaking gangster in everything he does. It’s baffling to me that he wants this image, but then again he still has ten million fans on Twitter, so he must be sadly doing something right. Sadly.

All the reports online don’t really favor Chris in this because of said history with other artists and of course Rihanna. He was seen with a cast on his arm recently, which should garner some sympathy, but for the masses of people who believe he shouldn’t be a celebrity anymore with his abuse against women, it falls on deaf ears. Plus Frank Ocean really isn’t know for being controversial in that kind of arena. He is just a talented dude. This fight better not have been over homophobia either, because that would just further Chris Brown on his tour of ultimate douchebaginess. Both of them are up for the same Grammy Sunday- Best R&B Album. Go Frank.

The Boombox

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