WorldStarHipHop

Not to be confused with WordStar.
WorldStarHipHop
Type of site
Entertainment
OwnerMediaLab AI Inc.[1]
Founder(s)Lee O'Denat
URLworldstarhiphop.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedAugust 9, 2005; 18 years ago (2005-08-09)[2]
Current statusActive

WorldStarHipHop is a content-aggregating video blog.[3] Founded in 2005, the site averaged 1.2 million unique visitors a day in 2011.[4] The site, operated by Worldstar, LLC,[5] was founded by Lee "Q" O'Denat.[6] Described by Vibe as a "remnant of the Geocities generation", the site regularly features shocking events caught on video, music videos and assorted content targeted to young audiences. O'Denat who referred to himself as a "Haitian ghetto nerd",[7] described WorldStarHipHop as the "CNN of the ghetto".[8]

The website first became infamous for posting shock videos.[8] Many of the early videos of shocking events had gone viral.[3] According to Gothamist's John Del Signore, "The site's popularity has created a sort of voyeuristic feedback loop, in which disassociated bystanders immediately videotape shocking incidents and act as if they're already watching a video on the Internet".[9] Jeff Himmelman of The New York Times stated in 2013 that the website "does many things but mostly hosts videos of fights."[10]

By 2012, BET had voted WorldStarHipHop as the "top hip hop and urban culture website" for three years in a row.[5]

  1. ^ "Brands | MediaLab". www.medialab.la. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
  2. ^ "WorldStarHipHop WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info – DomainTools". WHOIS. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
  3. ^ a b Zurawik, David. "Worldstarhiphop.com makes a name for itself with shocking viral videos Archived 2013-04-13 at the Wayback Machine". The Baltimore Sun. March 23, 2012. Retrieved on April 22, 2012. Alternate Archived 2013-09-26 at the Wayback Machine link to the same article from the Orlando Sentinel. "World Star is just basically shock video," said Nsenga Burton, an associate professor at Goucher College and editor-at-large for the African-American-focused website The Root. "They comb the pop cultural landscape for videos that are shocking on multiple levels and feed into peoples' voyeuristic tendencies."
  4. ^ "WorldStarHipHop EXPOSED: The Truth Behind The Controversial Site". VIBE. 2011-03-28. Archived from the original on 2011-05-01. Retrieved 2011-04-24.
  5. ^ a b Granick, Jennifer. "New Year, New Job Archived 2013-01-07 at the Wayback Machine". The Center for Internet and Society. Stanford Law School. January 9, 2012. Retrieved on November 30, 2012.
  6. ^ Kurutz, Steven (2015-11-02). "The Creator of WorldStarHipHop Plots His Second Act". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2015-11-03. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
  7. ^ Jacobson, Mark. "WorldStar, Baby!" New York Magazine. February 5, 2012. 1. Retrieved on April 24, 2012. Also available at General OneFile.
  8. ^ a b Milo, Peter V. "'CNN Of The Ghetto': WorldStarHipHop Becoming YouTube for Urban Violence Archived 2012-05-02 at the Wayback Machine". CBS News. March 29, 2012. Retrieved on April 23, 2012.
  9. ^ "Police Seek 3 Men For Beating L Train Rider Who Scolded Them For Spitting". Gothamist. 16 November 2011. Archived from the original on 4 May 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  10. ^ Himmelman, Jeff. "Frank Ocean Can Fly Archived 2017-02-07 at the Wayback Machine." The New York Times. February 7, 2013. Retrieved on March 23, 2013. Also in The New York Times Magazine p. 27-31,38,45,48. ISSN 0028-7822. Available on ProQuest.