OTHERTONE AND ITSTHEREAL RELEASE 'THE BLOG ERA' SEASON FINALE

OTHERTONE AND ITSTHEREAL  SHARE SERIES FINALE FOR PODCAST ‘THE BLOG ERA’ THE 10-PART AUDIO DOCU-SERIES COMES TO AN END WITH FINAL EPISODE

“It’s such an excellent series. It’s hip-hop in its most enjoyable form.” - THE ROOT “[The Blog Era] is well worth peeping for anyone interested in rap history. The season flows, characters are brought to life, and a messy and confusing period of music/internet history is related with clarity.” - FINALS “The Blog Era is a love letter to a transitional moment in hip hop’s history” - PODCAST REVIEW NEW YORK, NY – June 14, 2023  – OTHERtone Media, the podcast network founded by Pharrell Williams and Scott Vener, and ItsTheReal creators Eric and Jeff Rosenthal, have shared the series finale of their hit podcast series ‘The Blog Era’. A 10-part documentary-style audio series that examines 2007 through 2012, the transformative period of time known as “the blog era”. The nostalgic narrative series acknowledged and told the story of the known and unknown names that not only made a huge and lasting impact on pop culture with their contributions to this era but created the imprint for what would later become the foundation for today’s music industry. The series dove deep into a time when the internet changed the music business — an age where hip hop artist discovery on blogs lead to mainstream success. A period in which there was no standardization of releases, best practices, or forecasting; DSPs as we know them today, and algorithms were but mere ideas - a wild west of music distribution and discovery. Hosts Eric and Jeff Rosenthal have accumulated interviews with 150 artists, bloggers, commenters, and executives and have recorded over 500 hours of original interviews over the span of three years. Having been on the front lines of Hip-Hop’s monumental cultural moments over the past 15 years, the brothers relived and unleashed The Blog Era’s truth via Pharrell’s OTHERtone network. This series – the first of its kind in the hip-hop space, cinematically and dynamically revisited moments behind the music throughout the era, from the rise and fall of hip-hop’s gatekeepers to the unsung heroes, big business villains, and global superstars that it birthed. Most notably, The Blog Era introduced the world to eskay, the reclusive founder of the most influential hip-hop blog NahRight. Over the course of 10 episodes, it has become clear the influence and taste eskay personally bestowed upon today's pop culture. Featured guests throughout the series included Wiz Khalifa, Curren$y, Joe Budden, Bun B, Chuck Inglish of The Cool Kids, Dom Kennedy, Big K.R.I.T., Big Sean, Action Bronson, Charles Hamilton, Ebro, and more. Speaking on the finale, ItsTheReal shares, "Our 15-year career, from sketch comedy videos to original music to longform podcast interviews, is tied together by inventive and deeply-felt storytelling. The Blog Era - three years of reporting, researching and recording - has truly been a labor of love and the honor of our lives to tell. Music, photographs, communities and culture from the five years we documented (2007-2012) had been erased from the internet, disappeared from daily conversation and we feared, forgotten by history... until now." Touching on a foregone era, ItsTheReal and OTHERtone tapped into stories that are dear to many avid music listeners, fans, historians, and critics alike. It has resulted in press praise from the likes of Rolling Stone, The New York Times, HotNewHipHop, The Root, Cabbages, and more, spurring a revival in “blog era” coverage. Although the podcast touches on an era in music and technology, the stories told aren’t solely focused on the intersection of the two but are a representation of the culture as it touches on race, capitalism, and the idealized American dream both realized and snatched away. Stream/listen to ‘The Blog Era’ podcast on all DSPs and via any other podcast platform. The show is a co-production between OTHERtone and ItsTheReal. Follow and stay tuned for more news from ItsTheReal and OTHERtone to follow.   LISTEN TO THE BLOG ERA PODCAST:  https://theblogera.fm/

Photo Credit: Karl Ferguson, Jr. (@karlfergusonjr) FOLLOW ItsTheReal INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | DISCORD | WEBSITE