Welcome to the official blog for the 2009 WBL Bootleg Festival. This is your one stop resource for all the details on Washington DC’s biggest hip-hop multi-media festival! This site is broken down into 8 categories which you will find listed at the top of the page. Most of the sections are fairly self explanatory but we’ve added some interesting components to the festival that you want to be sure to check out. Our section entitled “Hip Hop’s Underground Economy”  is where we will highlight all of the panel discussions that will be held during our event. We also have a resource section containing links to books, articles, blogs,  and new media that will provide more context to the wide and diverse world of independent media and bootleging.

Part of the inspiration behind our annual event was this particular issue of our bi-annual academic journal (pictured below). This particular issue covers the topic of bootlegging with a specific focus on the mixtape culture in hip-hop.We have decided to make this issue of the journal available online FREE to the public, so please enjoy. Download (here)

Bootleg This Journal! Vol 3 issue 2 of the Words.Beats.Life Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture