A little over a month ago I put out the word that RapReviews.com was facing a critical scenario. The costs of the server that hosts this website had previously been shared 50/50 with a business partner, and he unexpectedly decided to abandon ALL of his sites and dump the full cost in my lap. For that reason I revamped and relaunched our Patreon with a simplified goal — keep RapReviews running. For as little as $1 a month you could help us pay the webhosting bill, and if enough people jump on board we could do away with advertising on the website entirely.

The initial outpouring of support was fantastic and I remain grateful for it and humbled by it. I took the opportunity to poll our new patrons for what they wanted to see reviewed and they overwhelmingly chose Gang Starr’s “One of the Best Yet“. Giving our backers a chance to influence the content is a great way to reward them for sponsoring the site, so I plan to continue that tradition with at least one poll a month. If you’re not already pledging to RapReviews this is a chance to make your voice heard now and in the future for less than a cup of coffee from Starbucks or anywhere else.

I don’t necessarily want to come to the readers with hat in hand on a regular basis. Asking for support is not really my forte, and I’ve been willing to go out of pocket many times over the years, but when the cost of keeping RapReviews around unexpectedly doubled I didn’t see many other options. I’m willing to do away with advertising simply because it doesn’t pay the bills anyway. It takes three months of running Google AdSense banners to equal one month’s hosting, and that’s a losing proposition for me as well as being intrusive to you the reader. Your patronage doesn’t just do for us what advertising doesn’t, it gives us the ability to say no to the kind of eerie tracking those ads provide. If you’ve ever looked something up and then seen a banner later trying to sell it to you, you can thank Google for that.

Let’s kill two birds with one stone. Let’s fully fund the site on a month to month basis, and let’s say no to the megalithic corporate overlords that want to follow us everywhere we go online. If you want this change to happen even faster, don’t feel obligated to only pledge $1 a month. Patreon lets you pledge any amount you like. We give you a full magazine’s worth of reviews every month, so maybe that’s worth what you’d pay for an issue off the news track. We have an archive of over 8,000 reviews, articles and interviews that’s all search indexed and permanently available at no charge. Maybe that’s worth even more. Whether you give a little or a lot, know that it’s always going to be appreciated. Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,
Steve ‘Flash’ Juon, RapReviews.com

PS: Supporters get access to Patreon exclusive polls to help shape content for future updates. A little perk for those who want to keep us running!