10 Things You Didn't Know About HOODX

[K-Blao]

When people tell me:

"I saw you on tv last night!"

or

"I listened to your radio show this morning!"

and

"Your website is the bomb!"

What they are really telling me is that our brand was successful in positioning and holding itself into the minds and hearts of the people who enjoy our entertainment.

Sometimes, it catches me off guard and I have to ask if they are just pulling my leg.

Make no mistake though…there is nothing unclear about the impact that HOODX has had.  It is largely this branding and positioning that has allowed me to accelerate my company’s growth to a level that very few business owners achieve.

But when people ask me “how I’ve done it” I typically default to saying something like “a lot of hard work.”  Because I didn’t really have the formula.  I’ve just tried a lot of stuff and a lot of it has worked.

Then I realized that we at HOODX have done so many things and launched so many campaigns that we never really took the time to explain what HOODX actually is so that our community has a solid understand of the future of our brand.  

So that's when I decided to share with you ten things that you probably don't know about HOODX.

10.  Seventy Ninth the Movie

This film was actually the second film that K-Blao shot under the HOODX brand.  This film had no script, no budget, and no real actors.  It was filmed in 2010 on the south side of Chicago on 79th and Luella at the main character's home.  This film starred Loren (Heavy Bread) Hamilton, Jen Saracu, Trey Harwell, and Rob (Styxx) Thomas.  This film took over two months to complete and has aired in over 20 cities nationwide.  This film marked a very big turning point in my film career because it was the first time that I had ever completed a film in my hometown Chicago.  This film also helped me further explore my unorthodox way of filming with no script and no main objective.

9.  Wyzdom created HOODX.com

Believe it or not, I didn't launch this website.  Originally, this website had an entirely different layout.  Although we hosted our own music videos, songs, artwork, and a forum, the original HOODX website didn't allow us to have our own members.  It was actually really lame.  When co-founder Anthony "Wyzdom" Silvia had first told me about Ning websites that allowed us to have members join the site, I thought it was a dumb idea because unless I could get a million members on our opening day, I didn't want to host a site with a few dozen members.  I remember thinking..."Who the hell would sign up for my website?"  Well 4000 members later, I have no problem admitting that I was wrong.  

8. The Soul Preserva Video Collection

One of the first members to sign up for the updated HOODX site was Soul Preserva.  This brother is overseas in Denmark, and was our first member to share over 100 videos.  We had no idea how he even found the site.  Every time one of his videos popped up in my feed, I was instantly intrigued.  These aren't the normal, mindless, slapstick videos that you might find on Facebook or Twitter.  Soul Preserva's videos are geared toward the worldwide black community seeking economic, physical, and spiritual growth.  His blog was one of the main features on the site that brought us the most amount of traffic, which is why we eventually gave him his own section on the site.

7.  Cosmic Flow's Blog

Cosmic Flow is one of those rare females that you get to meet in life.  Hailing from the Golden State, she was the first female to start a blog on HOODX.com, titled "Diary of a Mommy With Five".  Although this sounds like her blog would be about her experiences as being a single mother, it's much more than that.  Her funny and thought provoking writing and poetry offered an entire new style of writing and blogging to the site, bringing all types of people from all over the world to our site.  After taking a hiatus for a year, she unexpectedly returned to the site and began blogging again.  Let's hope she sticks around this time.

6. HOODX Episode 1 "The Streets"

This was the first documentary that I ever filmed about the website and it still holds a very big piece of my heart.  This film was made before anyone even knew what YouTube or Facebook was.  This was filmed when Google, Ebay, and Amazon were just getting started to go viral.  When I was filming this, most people didn't even know how to get their film onto a DVD-R.  HOODX Episode 1 was released in Providence, Rhode Island in December of 2001.  At the time, there were only two other "hood" DVD's on the market.  Not long after this DVD was released, the host Jason aka "Nalij" died in a horrible accident and Anthony "Wyzdom" Silvia was sentenced to five years in prison.  This was the beginning of HOODX.

7.  HOODX Radio

When HOODX teamed up with Poe Moe in 2011, HOODX Revolution was born.  Poe Moe was the brain behind the new branding of HOODX, and we repackaged the entire site based on the revolutionary concepts that we created together.  This offered an entire new way of networking and having a solid foundation for our publishing.  After being a guest on Tony Robinson El's "Underground Railroad Radio", Robinson helped us launch HOODX Talk Radio.  For the first time in HOODX history, we had our own radio station.  This finally gave us the opportunity to interview guests, host our own music, and publish many unsigned, independent artists.  

6.  HOODX Television Network

Most of our members have no idea that we have a television network in over 20 cities.  Other than the website, our television network is by far the best resource that our company has to offer.  After we began working with Rich "Maco Scott" Brown, creating different shows like HOODX Reality Show, HOODX Backstage, and HOODX Radio TV, I started to realize, "Hey, I'm going to need to get our shows on television in as many cities as I possibly can.  So I started calling every public access television studio that I could, developing relationships with the program directors.  Twenty cities and one year later, we have leveraged HOODX into a nationwide television network that has published over 100 music videos from artists all over the world.

5.  HOODX Evolution

As HOODX began to expand into discussions about spirituality and astrology, Gabriel "Karbo Light" Alexander introduced a new concept to the site.  Where as HOODX Revolution centered around the HOODX Lit and symbols, HOODX Evolution brought new energy to the site by giving crystal clear interpretations on topics like astrology, zodiac, numerology, and "sychromysticism".  Gabriel is a master of giving key interpretations and life readings for our members.  His radio show and television shows "Science of Astrology" and "Test Dream" were already being filmed and produced locally in Oakland, California.  After teaming up with HOODX, we have published his shows in over 20 cities.  He also found new motivation by networking with us, which gave birth to his third television show "The Drug Store", a highly intelligent show that focuses on personal and business relationships at drug stores across the country.

4.  HOODX on Datpiff

As we began to expand into television, unfortunately, we began to lose focus on producing music.  It's part of the game.  But that doesn't mean that we aren't excited about sharing our music with the HOODX community.  We used the website Datpiff.com to publish our smoking hot mixtapes.  Because music has changed drastically in the past five years, we at HOODX did not want to sacrifice our sound and risk losing our solid fan base.  As we started to crossover into television, quite honestly, we began diluting our energy in regards to making new music.  However, you can still hear the classic HOODX mixtapes on Datpiff.com.

3.  Ben Real's "The Writer's Block"

Ben Real is the newest member of HOODX to bring a new element to our movement.  It is so rewarding to be able to make a difference to the thousands of poets and spoken word artists who contribute their lives to making a positive impact on their listeners.  That is why I didn't hesitate to launch our latest television show "The Writer's Block", hosted by Ben Real.  This powerful show gives spoken word artists a platform to be seen nationwide and give inspirational, positive, and motivational message that makes a difference in the lives of our viewers.  HOODX also gave Ben Real a radio slot every Tuesday, playing nothing but spoken word and positive and motivational music.  It is our latest update to HOODX.

2.  Viral Media Boost

Of all the bloggers on our site, Viral Media Boost is by far the most consistent and arguably the most entertaining.  I never even met this guy, but he posts a video EVERYDAY on our site from rappers all over the world.  The reason why I love his video blog is because there are so many different styles of hip hop that can be found.  As a hip hop dj, I need versatility in my music.  Viral Media Boost fills the jones in my bones by a long shot.  He is one of the many hidden jewels found on this site that you need to check out right now.

1.  HOODX Inception

HOODX has over five pages on Facebook, based on the many different foundations that we offer. HOODX on Facebook shares the most outrageous and ridiculous news stories from the hood.  HOODX Revolution is geared toward revolutionary and bold news articles that effect us as a community.  HOODX Network is our page that promotes events like parties, networking opportunities, and television & radio events.  The World of Poematic Vol-tron Knowledge gives fundamental breakdowns and explanations of the HOODX Lit and other knowledge from around the world.  Lastly, God-speed shares media that discusses metaphysics and ancient Kemetic wisdom.  

Extra: HOODX South

HOODX South was started by Hru Anipu Mntchu Htp, out of South Carolina.  Although he has been with the site for a little more than a year, he has already published several videos including "My Neighborhood HOODX South" and helps publish Legal Fam Group's music videos.  Hru has been with us for a short time, but he is the future of HOODX.