R.I.P "Q" Founder of WSHH
You ever been standing somewhere and heard someone just yell out, “WorldStar!” It’s usually a harbinger that something ratchet, and possibly quite dangerous, is about to occur. You know what I mean; two thots who share a ‘baby daddy’ about to fight in church? “WorldStar!” The pastor tried to break it up but ended up getting jumped by the ‘baby daddy’s’ Crip set. “WorldStar!” Ratchet, yet sinfully entertaining, kind of like a Love and HIP HOP reunion. The moniker, if you consider its transcendence from urban to mainstream culture, has actually almost reached the level of appropriation from white folks as ‘bling’ did. Yup, even white kids know to brace themselves for anything when someone yells out, "WorldStar!" And that's why you have to respect and offer the utmost condolences to the family of Lee “Q” O’Denant, founder of WorldStar Hip Hop.
The man found a lane from his native borough of Queens and rode it till global. WSHH, whether you agree or not with its content and some of the ratchet-ness that it promotes, has made itself a force in today’s world of media sensationalism. Like one of my esteemed colleagues reminded me, nothing beats a little sensationalism and WSHH offered it up by the gallon full. Think about it, how much different was Q from, say, a Howard Stern. Not that much. Q used an available medium to entertain, sometime by exploiting the dregs of the hip hop universe but always with enough sensationalism to keep the interest piqued. The testiment of a truly successful business model is one that endures. WSHH showed is endurance by absorbing a couple of body shots from 50 Cent, one of Hip Hop’s most notorious rabble rousers, when 50 was trying to lay claim to fame of being king of the mountain of media sensationalism with Thisis50.com. 50 actually won a law suite against WSHH for using his image without permission. WSHH had to halt operations temporarily. But, like a phoenix, or a thot who smokes in bed while breastfeeding her 2 yr old... Q' and WSHH rose from the ashes to stake its claim as relevant in Hip Hop.
It takes a certain genius of intellect to realize the potential of something and succeed with making it fiscally profitable. And profit Q certainly did. According to worthofweb.com, WSHH has a net worth into the tens of millions of 💵 (a figure that VitalGroundz cannot substantiate.) Gotta respect that. At the end of the day, we offer recognition of Q’s place in Industry/Media and we say, may you Rest inPeace, Brother.
