Top Ten Black Blogs (Dec 2008)

Our apologies for being absent with the Villager's Black Blog Rankings (BBR) last month.

We began this monthly effort BBR with 75 Black blogs in Sep 2007. This month we publish almost 1,500 Black owned & operated blogs. Also, we note that there are some changes in the Top Ten this month.

We don't have all Black owned & operated blogs on this list. If you see any that are missing ... please let me know in the COMMENTS section.

Here are BBR posts from the past five quarters:

• October 2007 - 300 Black blogs
  
• January 2008 - 602 Black blogs
  
• April 2008 - 1,045 Black blogs
  
• July 2008 - 1,269 Black blogs
  
• October 2008 - 1,440 Black blogs

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

1. Pam Spaulding: Pam's House Blend (Authority: 1,196 / Rank: 1,530) - [Politics] Pam's blog continues to maintain a commanding lead as the top Black blog in the universe. Much of the buzz on her blog over the past month relates to the unfortunate defeat of Prop. 8 in California. Pam's House Blend is the go-to location for anything related to the lesbian and gay community. Pam has been dealing with the backlash against the Black community for the Prop. 8 defeat.


2. The Bossip: Bossip.com (Authority: 854 / Rank: 2,650) - [Entertainment] Bossip.com moved up to BBR #2 slot this month ... becoming the top-ranked gossip or entertainment blog on our list. This is the second month in a row that Bossip.com has risen in the rankings. I wonder if Bossip.com can continue the climb to the BBR #1 slot? Does anyone know if The Bossip is male or female? One thing is certain ... this blog isn't beloved by progressive woman of color judging from response to Bossip.com posts about Elizabeth Acevedo and Maya Angelou. Click here to see index of the people that are blogged about on Bossip.com.


3. Ahsmi Rawlins: Nah Right (Authority: 801 / Rank: 2,894) - [Entertainment] Ashmi (a.k.a., ESKAY) has been blogging since May 2005. Both his name and job are based on phonetics, literally and figuratively. The name – eskay – is the phonetic spelling of “SK,” the tag he used as a graffiti writer years ago. His blog (job) focuses on up-to-date information on the verbal artistry we have come to know as hip-hop. And although Nah Right has been proclaimed one of the best (or the best, depending on who you ask) hip-hop blog sites on the web, not much else is known about him. You can learn more from an interview he conducted with Format Magazine earlier this year.


4. Angel Laws: Concrete Loop (Authority: 695 / Rank: 3,550) - [Entertainment] Angel Laws is the young sister who who owns and operates this dynamic entertainment blog. She created the blog back in 2005. Recently, she published pictures of her time spent in the studio with Kanye West. I encourage you to see the list of the last 50 posts on her blog.


5. Oliver Willis: Oliver Willis (Authority: 630 / Rank: 4,061) - [Politics] Oliver has been blogging since April 2005. He is having a rough time right now as the Washington Redskins are not currently on track to be in the NFL playoffs this year. However, his distress as a sports fan is counter-balanced by his remarkable success as a top-ranked Black blogger. Oliver has been profiled in Huffington Post. He attended Florida Atlantic University and is a member of the Technology and Online Community Department at Media Matters for America.


6. Natasha Eubanks: Young, Black & Fabulous (Authority: 614 / Rank: 4,204) - [Entertainment] Natasha Eubanks said, "Young, Black and Fabulous was started three years ago out of my passion for celebrity gossip and was the first blog of its kind to focus on Black celebrity gossip and entertainment news.” One of her 'YBFchicks' shared thoughts on the rise of YBF from nothing to something.


7. Baratunde Thurston and Cheryl Contee: Jack and Jill Politics (Authority: 587 / Rank: 4,469) - [Politics] Baratunde (a.ka. Jack Turner) and Cheryl (a.k.a. Jill Tubman) were both featured recently on Meet the Bloggers, a weekly podcast sponsored by Brave New Films. I encourage you to follow both Jack and Jill on Twitter. If you're really serious ... you can learn more from Baratunde from his other blog, goodCRIMETHINK.


8. La Shawn Barber: La Shawn Barber's Corner (Authority: 380 / Rank: 8,116) - [Social Commentary] This top-ranked blog was launched in November 2003. La Shawn was last in the Top 10 back in June 2008. La Shawn comes at things from a unique point of view. She writes about politics, faith, culture, digital technology and, occasionally, how these things intersect. By the way, don’t call her "African American." She hates that term. If you must refer to her race, call her “Black.” And contrary to popular opinion, La Shawn is not a Republican. She’s an independent conservative.


9. Sandra Rose: Sandra Rose (Authority: 365 / Rank: 8,523) - [Entertainment] Sandra is a world class photographer who has morphed into a top-ranked blogger. It seems that Sandra is feuding with BBR #4 blogger Angel Laws. In any case, she earned her way back as a Top Ten Black Blogger for the first time since August 2008.


10. Wayne Bennett: Field Negro (Authority: 363 / Rank: 8,585) - [Social Commentary] I should start by saying that I'm not an unbiased observer. In my view, this is the best blog ever written. Period. The Los Angeles Times said it better than me when they interviewed Field last year. Simply stated, I think that you should read this blog every day. Period. Check out Field's post-election thoughts. I seem to recall that he was going to streak buck-naked down a Philadelphia street if Obama won the election. Somebody let me know if he paid off on that bet!

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HONORABLE MENTION (11-25): Crunk & Disorderly, Necole Bitchie, AfroBella, What About Our Daughters, Ill Doctrine, Raw Dawg Buffalo, Womanist Musings, How To Split An Atom, Angry Black Bitch, SheGeeks, The Black Snob, Living Life Abundantly, Rod 2.0:Beta, Why Does Everyone Suck? and The Angry Black Woman.

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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.

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?