Jake EspinozaIt’s been an amazing two years growing We Out Here Magazine from the ground up with my good friend Andrew Roles. Our numbers have grown tremendously, and (according to our web host) we had over 16,600 unique visitors last month – our biggest month to date. We’ve managed to maintain a strong presence within Portland, and have steadily grown as a resource for Seattle’s hip hop artists and fans.

With the type of growth we have seen over the last year, We Out Here has put itself in an amazing position to become the primary source of all things Northwest Hip Hop related. This is especially exciting for us because an increasing amount of artists in the NW are beginning to receive exposure outside of the region.

Throughout the last few months, I’ve become increasingly absent from the site. I’ve been working behind the scenes, making sure things run smooth, but I haven’t been able to spend time being the leader WOHM needs to make that next jump. The site’s quality has, at times, suffered because of it.

We’ve decided it’s time to pass on the baton, and I’m flattered to Mac Smiff accepted our proposal to step in as Editor-in-Chief. Mac is a hard-working, charismatic person, an amazing writer and leader, and understands NW hip hop culture better than anyone. I’m extremely confident he will be able take WOHM to the next level and am looking forward to seeing the changes his energy will bring to the site.

I really can’t express enough how proud and grateful I am to receive so much support from the community that I am such a huge fan of and to have the help of so many people (other than Mac and Andrew) in growing the site to where it now stands – namely Cristina Dunning, Clayton Holman and PropaneLV.

I’m staying busy preparing for my first child, due May 23, and working with my brother Matt and father David on starting a new brand, NW Legend. I’m also looking forward to be able to continue creating content for We Out Here.

Feel free to drop me a line at jake@weouthere.net, and thanks for all of the support over the last two years.

#OutHere

#Blessed

#LetsGo