About a year ago, as I was sitting in my dorm at UCONN downloading new music, I received a message on FaceBook from Andrew Fuller. I had met Andrew the previous year when I was his RA, and we quickly discovered we shared a love for rap music. Although he was no longer one of my residents, we had stayed in touch, thanks in part to our common interest – hip-hop. Hit the jump to read more about how I came to be part of the Straight Fresh family and what I plan on bringing to the table in the coming weeks.

When Drew hit me up last year, he revealed a new website he had created with his friend Peter Collins, and I was eager to check it out. The site was cool, and from the start had a professional look and feel to it. Fast forward one year, and StraightFresh.net has more than 300,000 views over the past few months.

For someone who supported Straight Fresh since day one, it has been awesome to watch the site progress and evolve into what it is today. From the updated look and design of the site (props to Emilee Adams!) to the release of custom t-shirts, the Straight Fresh journey has been nothing less than an exciting ride to experience – as a fan of hip-hop and as a friend of one of the site’s creators. I would love to explain just how proud I am of Andrew and Peter for taking their vision and making into something so amazing, but words will not do it justice. Over 300,000 views in recent months – DAMN! Got to give a major shout-out to the creators of the fastest growing, and most dope, hip-hop website today!

In response to the site’s growing audience, the decision was made that it was time to add a couple new members to the Straight Fresh family. I’m honored to have been chosen, alongside James “Fenix” Wallace, to join Andrew, Peter, and Jamil Larkins, as the newest members of the Straight Fresh team. I’m thankful for the opportunity and am excited to contribute all that I can in order to help the site reach its fullest potential. In addition to posting music and videos, I plan to write editorials for the site on all things hip-hop. I intend to write about a variety of hip-hop related topics – current events, ‘controversial’ idea/concepts, history of the culture, and book reviews to name a few. My goal is to have at least one new article a week to post, and I would love any feedback – positive or negative – from the sites loyal fans. In addition, if there is something you would like to see me write about, feel free to let me know. I’m always down to hear your suggestions! With a few pieces already in the works, I wanted to give you all a quick heads up that editorials are on the way. I look forward to providing you all with some reading material to go along with all the great music that is posted daily on Straight Fresh!

Just to give you a little background information on who I am – I’m a 22 year old life-long fan of hip-hop. I have a wide variety of tastes when it comes to music, but I definitely prefer the more lyrical rap. No WAKA for this guy ☺. I graduated from UCONN in May 2011 with a BA in history, and plan on attending Quinnipiac University in the fall for grad school to get my MA in teaching. Currently I’m a substitute teacher at the middle and high school I attended years ago, and someday hope to be an actual high school history/social studies teacher. I love to learn, and oddly enough enjoy writing – especially when I have the freedom to write about what I love. Other than substituting, I work on a local Christmas tree farm, where I’ve been employed since 2005. If there was real money to be made in Christmas tree farming, I’d do that for the rest of my life – instead, I want to be a teacher, so I guess I’m fucked financially either way. The other passion in my life besides hip-hop is professional wrestling – I’ve been a fan since I was 2 years old, and I’ve only become a bigger fan overtime (Side Note: peep that MVP video I posted a couple days go ☺). Enough about me though – what’s really important here is hip-hop, and I intend to do my absolute best in order to bring you all some insightful, informative, well-written articles. I hope to spread some knowledge about the genre of music we all love, and I hope the Straight Fresh audience enjoys what I bring to the table. I’ll be back soon with my first real editorial (hopefully the end of this week!). Until then, enjoy the site.

From fan to fam, what a year it’s been for Straight Fresh.

- Zach Humphrey

@zach_pusAfella

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