Top Ten Black Blogs (Sep 2008)

I am pleased to enter into the 2nd year of the Villager's Black Blog Rankings (BBR)! None of us knew what would happen when we posted the initial BBR with 75 Black blogs in Sep 2007. This month we publish over 1,400 Black owned & operated blogs! I met a number of these brothers and sisters last month at the Blogging While Brown conference in Atlanta.

Here are some of our posts on the BBR from over the past year. You can see how some blogs have risen and others have dropped. Is your favorite Black owned & operated blog on our list?

• October 2007 - 300 Black blogs
  
• January 2008 - 602 Black blogs


• April 2008 - 1,045 Black blogs


• July 2008 - 1,269 Black blogs

Anyhow, with no further ado, here are the Top Ten Black Blogs for Sep 2008:

1. Pam Spaulding: Pam's House Blend* (Authority: 1,117 / Rank: 1,995) - [Politics] Pam maintained her position as the top blogger of African descent in the universe! Her hometown newspaper wrote a detailed article on the growing respect that Pam is getting throughout the blogosphere. Others in Others in the mainstream media are beginning to notice Pam as well. Pam was part of history in Denver last month in her role as a credentialed blogger at the Democratic National Convention.


2. Ahsmi Rawlins: Nah Right* (Authority: 925 / Rank: 2,673) - [Entertainment] This blog held onto the BBR #2 slot for the second month in a row. Ashmi (a.k.a., ESKAY) has operated his blog since May 2005 and he is widely recognized as one of the top five writers on hip hop in the world. One reason for the success of his entertainment blog is his ability to share MP3 versions of songs before they go public.


3. Angel Laws: Concrete Loop* (Authority: 844 / Rank: 3,066) - [Entertainment] Angel Laws is the young sister who started this blog as a hobby. Angel's blog gained a spot to BBR #3 this month. She went through some controversy earlier this year in her efforts to partner with Love B. Scott (BBR #26). Obama must truly be a rock star as he made it to Concrete Loop!


4. The Bossip: Bossip.com* (Authority: 832 / Rank: 3,131) - [Entertainment] Until recently, Bossip.com was the top-ranked Black blog in the world. Many Black bloggers respect the way in which The Bossip has been able to monetize Bossip.com. However, Bossip.com occassionally gets in trouble with posts that appear to denigrate women of color, such as Elizabeth Acevedo and Maya Angelou. I'm still trying to figure out if The Bossip is a brother or sister. Do you know?


5. Oliver Willis: Oliver Willis (Authority: 692 / Rank: 4,111) - [Politics] Oliver is an ol' school blogger. He began his blog in April 2005. He was witness to history last month in Denver as one of the few Black bloggers credentialed to cover the DemConvention. I encourage those of you with Web 2.0 knowledge to follow Oliver on twitter as well!


6. Natasha Eubanks: Young, Black & Fabulous* (Authority: 670 / Rank: 4,321) - [Entertainment] Natasha Eubanks is the writer & editor of the site, the most famous African American entertainment/gossip blogger in the world. The YBF is the product of her obsession with all that is Hollywood and celebrity. Eubanks said blogging has opened doors for her career as well. As a result of running her own blog, Eubanks got chance to blog for King Magazine’s Web site and Sohh.com, a hip-hop weekly news site.


7. Baratunde Thurston and Cheryl Contee: Jack and Jill Politics* (Authority: 517 / Rank: 6,255) - [Politics] Baratunde (a.ka. Jack Turner) and Cheryl (a.k.a. Jill Tubman) have one of the fastest moving blogs on the BBR this month. Jack and Jill were both in Denver this past month as credentialed bloggers at the Democratic National Convention. I encourage all villagers to visit the blog with its new look and feel.


8. Kimberly Kira: The Angry Black Woman (Authority: 451 / Rank: 14,008) - [Social Commentary] Kimberly Kira (a.k.a., Tempest) attended the School of Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) in Cincinnati OH. She describes herself as a "bisexual polyamorous pagan gamer geek" ... which might explain the focus that her blog places on sexism and racism. The frequency of posting continues to grow as Kimberly now has a number of guest bloggers. Sista has some Cincinnati roots ... so give her blog a look-see this month!


9. Fresh Crunkjuice: Crunk & Disorderly* (Authority: 445 / Rank: 14,252) - [Entertainment] This gossip blog created in August 2004 teases us the tagline "Shouldn't you be working?" From Kanye West to the Reverend Al Sharpton, C&D takes no prisoners. The photos, quotes and YouTube-of-the-Day selections make this blog a pleasure to read. Okay, time to get back to work.


10. Steve Spaulding: How To Split An Atom* (443 / 14,763) - [Technology] How To Split An Atom is a blog about using, abusing, and surviving in the Web X.0 landscape. It's Internet culture, split open. Steve provides a sprinkling of life hacks, meta filtering, personal projects and journalism all at a break neck pace. This blog rarely goes more than a few hours without a new post.

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HONORABLE MENTION (11-25): Sandra Rose*, Necole Bitchie*, What About Our Daughters, Real Talk NY Provides The Latest Hip Hop News, The Field Negro*, La Shawn Barber's Corner, Keith Boykin, Raw Dawg Buffalo, Angry Black Bitch, AfroBella*, Ill Doctrine*, Electronic Village, Clutch Magazine, SoulBounce.com and Too Sense

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This ranking is open to any blogger of African descent. We invite all Black bloggers to apply for membership into The AfroSpear or join our Facebook group known as the Afrosphere Bloggers Association.

Those blogs with an asterisk after their name are finalists for the 2008 Black Weblog Awards.

Black Blog Rankings lean heavily on the Technorati Authority and Rank score for each blog. The Technorati authority and rank numbers are shown in parenthesis. The authority figure includes a number of factors including the number of blogs that are linked to this blogger over the past six months. The rank number indicates how many blogs are between the one listed and The Huffington Post, which is the #1 overall blog in the universe.

We do think that these Black blogs are important spheres of influence. Let them know that you appreciate the work they have put in over the past few months and years to get on this list. I encourage all bloggers to provide some link-love to this post so that your readers can learn about the Villager's Black Blog Rankings! Next step is yours ... what say u?