So I guess it is official now. We Out Here Magazine is under new management and I hope everyone’s as excited about it as I am. When my good friend Jake Espinoza (Espi) asked me to join the crew in late 2011, I was so excited to be a part of the movement. I loved everything about the web-mag from its topics to its readers, and you know what? I still do.
Knowing I can always find a few laughs in one of Cristina’s 10 Things or find out exactly what local music I missed via Andrew’s Raindrops kept me coming back to the page as a user and I know they drive our audience back as well. I loved being a columnist with no bounds, recording my thoughts and penning my story as I saw it, while dropping little gems along the way. No real responsibility; all I had to do was be me.
It was fun. We didn’t advertise or anything, yet We Out Here Magazine just kept growing. We talked to artists, they talked to us. We wrote about it, they showed their fans. Other artists found out, they talked to us. We wrote about it, they told their friends. We threw a few parties, invited our artist friends. Then we wrote about it. See how this works?
Espi did an awesome job holding it all together. Seriously… He planned everything, handled the money, updated the page, upgraded the host, wrote articles, got sh*t faced drunk, gave everyone high-fives, retired from rap, knocked up his wiz and remains a generally awesome human-being. I probably also unduly attribute him credit for a lot of things that Andrew did (and does), but what do I know? I’m just getting the hang of all this Editor-In-Chief (EIC) stuff. Espi hasn’t even given me all the top-secret codes yet.
What I’m saying is that I can’t thank the staff enough for all they’ve done to get us to this point. We Out Here Magazine is absolutely the most prominent publication focusing on Northwest Hip-Hop lifestyle. The best artists rock with us, and we have the best readers. We have writers from The Bay to Seattle and beyond and we get over 150,000 hits a month. I’m not bragging, I’m just saying we’re the best. Live with it.
As the new EIC, it’s only natural that I’m going to make a few changes. We’ll have a few new columnists running with the squad and we might even bring a few old faces back. We’re going to continue breaking new music and we’re going to start providing more feedback. We’re going to remain true to our Northwest swag while bringing the newest waves to your collective attentions. We’re going to highlight more worthy individuals and more importantly, more girls. Yeah, more girls, duh!
We Out Here is a Northwest Hip Hop lifestyle magazine and that is not going to change. You’ll just have to wait and see exactly what’s next…
Swerve,
Mac Smiff
Editor-In-Chief