Blueprint: “Q” of WorldStarHipHop.com
Hated by some and viewed by many, World Star Hip Hop and its founder Lee “Q” O’Denat has become one of the most notorious sites online. Known for its pithy titles and racy content, WSHH has found a very large and loyal following within the Hip Hop barber/beauty shop crowds. Since the sites inception, WSHH has made a name for themselves by forming partnerships with some of the most popular black gossip, lifestyle and entertainment sites online. WSHH’s questionable business practices and technology has drawn criticism from the likes of 50cent, and others and his videos have even riled up Bill O’Reily one few occasions, but it seem as if controversies have only served as fuel for World Star’s success.
We sat down with Q to talk to him about World Star Hiphop and his other endeavors.
Name: Q, CEO, WorldStarHipHop.com
Based: Los Angeles, CA.
How did you start?
I was one of the first websites to sell mixtapes online back in 2001. At that time my site was called NYCMixtapes.com. I mainly sold mixtapes there for my cousin DJ Whoo Kid. In the summer of 2005 that site was converted into WSHH because I wanted to broaden my reach from just New York. I also allowed visitors to subscribe monthly for mixtape downloads, it was about $14.99/month and got rid of the S&H fees I was absorbing at the time. In addition to selling mixtapes for DJ Whoo Kid I was also involved in helping Shadyville distribute and sell mixtapes online. Eventually the site morphed into what it is today, primarily videos.
How do you choose from content submitted?
We get upwards of 50 content items submitted per day from their community but only publish content that is the most eye catching, news worthy, or exclusive. For music artist who are interested in having their video on the site (mostly independent artist) we allow them to pay between $300-$500 per video to have their content on the site indefinitely.
How much traffic does the site get?
We get about 100MM Impressions
Do you have any staff?
We have interns, contractors and affiliates. We use contractors to produce content for us, and I put in 15-18 hours a days too. When I wake up I get on the computer, and I am usually on the computer before I go to bed.
Who do you feel your competitors are?
AllHipHop.com
Thisis50.com
“Everyone is competition” and I think that WSHH is the Top Hip Hop site in the world!
What is your Revenue?
Money is a reward for effort”.
Do you work with any ad networks?
No, we only do direct sales. I don’t really believe in ad networks, because most try to censor my content.
Have you been offered money for the site? If so, to who and at what price?
Most of the top record labels have offered to buy WSHH. I’ve also been propositioned by artist, NBA players, and capital investors. The lowest offer was $300,000, and the highest acquisition offer $20,000,000. I declined them all because I would become an employee instead of the boss.
About the Author Angela Benton is the Founder and Publisher of BlackWeb20.com. Her experience spans a variety of industries including consultative relationships with companies such as UPS, Bizjournals.com, Realestate.com, and Lendingtree.com.
See all posts by Angela.
OK I’ll just sum it up through this website.
Worldstar before it became “famous” used to and still sells illegal warez. Basically what you see in orlydb.com is in a server that “Q” hosts.
Don’t believe me? Let’s look at WorlStar before they went private.
You can see how WorldStar was before by going here
http://web.archive.org/web/*/worldstarhiphop.com
But what you really want to see is the front page
http://web.archive.org/web/20060717081237/http:…
100mbit 0day mp3 xxx games movies? what kind of stuff are you hosting..and yes its all illegal stuff.
http://web.archive.org/web/20070514105926/http:…
^ why would you need a 4TB hard drive back then? to store alot of illegal stuff everyday then delete it after a while.
now is bigger than that 18TB.
name+address to the highest bidder …still confused?
he also used to spam alot of people to go to his website under “dj whoo kid’s” name as if he owned worldstar (Q was saying its whoo kids site etc). i got stuff way back from 2006.
Q is straight lying. $20 million please dude. I like http://www.frontpagehiphop.com they show the same videos and don't charge hundreds of dollars. ripping people off is what he's doing.
Q is straight lying. $20 million please dude. I like http://www.frontpagehiphop.com they show the same videos and don't charge hundreds of dollars. ripping people off is what he's doing.
Q is straight lying. $20 million please dude. I like http://www.frontpagehiphop.com they show the same videos and don't charge hundreds of dollars. ripping people off is what he's doing.
$20 million, haha WHATEVER!!!
Checkout http://www.frontpagehiphop.com they got a lot of content that WSHH steals and posts as their own.
Seriously, $20M?! Negro, please! I'ma have to call bullsh-t on this entire article
WSHH JACKS CONTENT! Multiple times they have taken my clients' (carltonjordan.com) content and not given credit. Very unprofessional! I have reached out to them several times and gotten no cooperation. $20 million…?
$20 mil? Child, please.
Turned down $20 MILLION???
Interesting. Why didn't you ask the following:
1- Do you know that its a CRIMINAL offense to steal Myspace, YouTube, and Nings bandwidth?
2- Do you know that you face CIVIL and CRIMINAL penalties from uploading copyrighted material onto the web?
WSHH is a good idea, but its not a business. I would expect an FBI raid on the place before 2010 is up.