Elliott Wilson (born January 14, 1971) is an American journalist, television producer, and magazine editor. He is the founder and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of ''Rap Radar''. In the past, he has worked as editor-in-chief of ''

XXL Magazine ''XXL'' is an American hip hop magazine, published by Townsquare Media, founded in 1997. History In August 1997, Harris Publications released the first issue of ''XXL''. It featured rappers Jay-Z and Master P on a double cover. In December 200 ...

''. While there, he became known for his editorials under the nickname "YN". Over the course of his career, Elliott has interviewed and profiled a number of artists, including

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

, and

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and entrepreneur. Often referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Qu ...

. As of 2024, he is the editorial director at ''

Uproxx Uproxx Studios (stylized as ''UPROXX'') is an American music, entertainment and popular culture website and content studio. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater. The website was acquired in 2014 by Woven Digital (which later ...

'', ''

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...

'' and ''

Dime Magazine ''Dime Magazine'' is an American basketball magazine that was created by Patrick Cassidy and Josh Gotthelf and began circulation in 2001. The magazine publishes six issues a year for its worldwide readership, as well as a handful of editions of ' ...

''.

Early life

Elliott Wilson was born January 14, 1971, in the Woodside Houses development of

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. His father is

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

and his mother is of

Ecuadorian Ecuadorians () are people identified with the South American country of Ecuador. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Ecuadorians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source o ...

and

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

descent. He attended

William Cullen Bryant High School William Cullen Bryant High School, or William C. Bryant High School, and W.C. Bryant High School, or Bryant High School for short, is a secondary school in Queens, New York City, United States serving grades 9 through 12. Name The school is na ...

, went on to attend

LaGuardia Community College LaGuardia Community College is a Public college, public Community colleges in the United States, community college in New York City. It is in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in and part of the City University of New York. LaGuardia i ...

, and received an

associate degree An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree ...

Liberal Arts Liberal arts education () is a traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''skill, art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. ''Liberal arts education'' can refe ...

in 1992. He has two younger brothers, Kenneth and Steven.

Writing career

Wilson has been writing and talking about hip hop and rap music since 1992, when he became music editor for '' Beat-Down'' newspaper. He is the co-author of two critically acclaimed books, ''Book of Rap Lists'' and ''Big Book of Racism!''. Both books were created in the spirit of the short-lived magazine '' Ego Trip''. In 2004 Entertainment Weekly named the ego trip collective one of the "25 Funniest People in America". Wilson has written for a number of publications, including '' GQ'', ''

Vibe Vibe, alternatively '' vibes,'' is short for ''vibration''. A "vibe" is an emotional reaction to the aura or energy felt to belong to a person, place or thing. Vibe may also refer to: People * DJ Vibe (born 1968), Portuguese DJ * Lasse Vibe (b ...

'', and ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''. In spring of 1996 Wilson went to ''

College Music Journal CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

'' as a beat-box editor. At the end of that year he was promoted as music editor of ''

The Source The Source may refer to: Film and television * ''The Source'' (1918 film), 1918 American drama directed by George Melford * ''The Source'' (1999 film), a 1999 documentary film about the Beat generation * ''The Source'' (2002 film), a 2002 scienc ...

'' magazine. In September, 1999, Wilson went to work at

Harris Publications Harris Publications Inc. was an American special interest media company, operating over 75 brands with print, digital, mobile and live-event platforms prior to its sale to Athlon Media in 2016. It produced magazines that educate, entertain and ...

as editor-in-chief of '' XXL'' magazine, and in 2005 he launched their website, XXLmag.com. He also co-created ''XXL Hip-Hop Soul''. In 2004, Wilson co-executive produced

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

's ''TV's Illest Minority Moments: Presented by ego trip''. In 2005 Wilson co-executive produced three specials for VH1's ''Ego Trip's Race-O-Rama'': "Blackaphobia", "In Race We Lust", and "Dude Where’s My Ghetto Pass?". In January 2007, VH1 debuted the eight-episode series '' Ego Trip's The (White) Rapper Show'', where Wilson served as co-executive producer. In April 2008, VH1 debuted '' Ego Trip's Miss Rap Supreme'', where Wilson also served as co-executive producer. In 2010 Wilson became ''

Respect Respect, also called esteem, is a positive feeling or deferential action shown towards someone or something considered important or held in high esteem or regard. It conveys a sense of admiration for good or valuable qualities. It is also th ...

'' editor-in-chief.

Breakup with ''XXL''

Wilson's tenure at ''XXL'' ended in January 2008 under controversial circumstances. On March 9, 2009, in partnership with Paul Rosenberg, he launched RapRadar.com, a webpage that documents mainstream hip-hop and rap culture in real time. Rap Radar has been nominated for best hip-hop web site for the

BET Hip Hop Awards The BET Hip Hop Awards are an annual awards show, airing on BET, showcasing hip hop performers, producers and music video directors. The awards ceremony began in 2006; it was held on November 12, 2006 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta and was first ...

in 2010, 2011, and 2012. In 2010, Wilson became editor of ''Respect'' magazine. In 2012, Wilson launched ''Keep It Thoro'', a two-hour weekly show on East Village Radio. The show, hosted by Wilson, features new music, and interviews with today's most popular and relevant artists. Since the summer of 2012, ''Keep It Thoro'' has been EVR's No. 1 overall show. In 2011, ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' named Wilson to its list of "Top 20 Music Industry Innovators". ''Billboard'' named Elliott to its "Twitter 140" in 2011 and 2012, a list of the most influential people in the music business. In 2011,

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

listed Wilson as one of six "Hip-hop Culture MVPs". He has appeared as an expert on ABC,

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

, MTV,

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, through PMN’s MTV Entertainment Group Subdivision. The channel launched initially as an all-music ...

, VH1,

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

, among others. In 2024, he became the editorial director of ''

'', ''

'' and ''

''.

Personal life

Wilson lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, with his wife,

Danyel Smith Danyel Smith Wilson (born Danyel Smith; 1965) is an American magazine editor, journalist, and novelist . Smith is the former and first African-American editor of ''Billboard'' and ''Vibe'' magazine'','' respectively. She is author of two novels a ...

. They were married in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in June 2005.

Cultural work

* HRDCVR a hardcover cultural magazine in partnership with wife

. * Founder of RapRadar.com: Premiere Rap Blog for the latest news, music and video in Hip Hop Culture * Host of Rap Radar Podcast "Hip hop's premier website connects with our culture's most important voices" in collaboration with Brian "BDot" Miller * WatchLOUD.com presents CRWN with Elliott Wilson where the world's greatest hip-hop journalist interviews today's hottest rap stars * Editorial Director, Culture & Content, TIDAL

References

External links

Rap Radar official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Elliott American music journalists Living people 1971 births American magazine editors