My staff

Anthony Fantano

Music review blogger and vlogger, he is best known as the man behind the popular music review blog and accompanying vlog The Needle Drop. His slogan is "The Internet's Busiest Music Nerd," and he reviews rock, pop, electronic, metal, hip hop, and experimental music. He is recognized as the main meme of the 4chan music discussion board known as /mu/.

Fantano started his career in the mid-2000s as a music director for the Southern Connecticut State University college radio station. He stated, "I've always loved music, but working there got me turned into a lot of different styles, and got me pushing my tastes into different areas". In 2007, Fantano started working at Connecticut Public Radio in which he hosted The Needle Drop.That same year, he launched The Needle Drop in text reviews, eventually starting as video reviews in 2009. At the time, he was working on The Needle Drop, at the college radio station, and at a pizza restaurant. In late 2011, he decided to pursue The Needle Drop full-time.
He was interviewed at SXSW in 2011 about the rise of music vlogging, along with Matt Galloway of the Rock It Out! Blog, and Michael Roffman, president and editor-in-chief of Consequence of Sound.In March 2011, he was featured in an article from The Guardian also about the rise of music vlogging.

MC Ride

Stefan Corbin Burnett, better known by his stage name MC Ride, is an American rapper and visual artist. Burnett is best known as the front-man of Sacramento-based experimental hip hop group Death Grips. Burnett is credited for his dismal, cryptic and vulgar lyrics and aggressive rapping style. Burnett had studied visual art at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia before his music career. After dropping out, he performed under the alias MxlPlx and formed a hip hop group called Fyre with his brother, under the moniker Swank Daddy, and another Sacramento-based rapper, Young G.The project came to an end after his brother married and was unable to continue with the group. During this time, MC Ride worked at a pizza restaurant in Sacramento, California, and pursued a career as a painter. In 2010, Burnett formed Death Grips with his then neighbor Zach Hill, who was known for his drumming work with his band Hella, as well as his session work. Hill soon brought Andy Morin, a friend and producer into the group, and they began working together. In March of 2011, Death Grips released their self-titled debut EP. One month later, they released the mixtape Exmilitary, which received critical acclaim and attention from music publications.The group signed to Epic Records in 2012, and released their debut album, The Money Store the same year. In 2012, the group leaked its second album, No Love Deep Web, due to Epic Records' hesitance to release it until 2013 (which caused them to be dropped from Epic Records soon after).The group subsequently released a third album, titled Government Plates in 2013. The Powers That B, was released in 2014, with each track including featured vocal samples of Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk. On July 2, 2014, Death Grips announced its disbandment on Facebook, stating that "Death Grips is over." This was followed up with the band's Twitter page posting a photo of the announcement of the break-up drawn on a napkin. The group reemerged in 2015, with the release of an instrumental soundtrack, Fashion Week on January 4. This was later followed up with the release of Jenny Death the second disc of The Powers That B on March 19, 2015. Another instrumental project, Interview 2016 was released on March 22, 2016. They released their fifth studio album Bottomless Pit in May 2016, their first full-length release that included vocals from Burnett since their alleged disbandment. Death Grips' next release, the EP Steroids (Crouching Tiger Hidden Gabber Megamix), a 22-minute mix of eight songs, was released by Death Grips on May 22, 2017. The band announced their sixth studio album Year of the Snitch on March 22, 2018.

Kanye West

Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer, and entrepreneur.Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West briefly attended art school before becoming known as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the early 2000s, producing hit singles for artists such as Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. Intent on pursuing a solo career as a rapper, West released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004 to widespread critical and commercial success, and founded the record label GOOD Music. He went on to pursue a variety of styles on subsequent albums Late Registration (2005), Graduation (2007), and 808s & Heartbreak (2008). In 2010, he released his fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy to rave reviews from critics, and the following year he released the collaborative album Watch the Throne with Jay-Z. West released his abrasive sixth album, Yeezus, to further critical praise in 2013. His seventh album, The Life of Pablo, was released in 2016. West's outspoken views and life outside of music have received significant mainstream attention. He has been a frequent source of controversy for his conduct at award shows, on social media, and in other public settings. His more scrutinized comments include his off-script denunciation of President George W. Bush during a live 2005 television broadcast for Hurricane Katrina relief and his interruption of singer Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. West's ventures as a fashion designer include collaborations with Nike, Louis Vuitton, and A.P.C. on both clothing and footwear, and have most prominently resulted in the YEEZY collaboration with Adidas beginning in 2013. He is the founder and head of the creative content company DONDA. His 2014 marriage to television personality Kim Kardashian has also been subject to widespread media coverage. West is among the most acclaimed rappers of the 21st century,and is one of the best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 32 million albums and 100 million digital downloads worldwide.He has won a total of 21 Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all time and the most Grammy-awarded artist to have debuted in the 21st century.Three of his albums have been included and ranked on Rolling Stone's 2012 update of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list. He has also been included in a number of Forbes annual lists.Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 and 2015.

Mike Stoklasa

Mike Stoklasa is a director, actor, and creator of RedLetterMedia. He is best known for The Phantom Menace Review (2009), Attack of the Clones Review (2010) and Revenge of the Sith Review (2010). RedLetterMedia is a film/video production company operated by independent filmmakers Mike Stoklasa and Jay Bauman. Stoklasa has produced other works under the RedLetterMedia banner, including short comedies and web series like The Grabowskis (2007) and several review-based web series including Half in the Bag (2011), Best of the Worst (2013) and re:View (2016). Stoklasa created his first video review for Star Trek Generations after watching the film again some time in 2008. He noted that he thought it was a "bad movie" and "completely messed up the transition to the big screen from what was a really great TV show", inspiring him to share this view with others. Stoklasa found his own voice to be too boring for the review and adopted the persona of Harry S. Plinkett, a character he had previously used in several short films (originally played by Rich Evans and since further developed within the reviews.