The Parker Report (Reel) from Erik Parker on Vimeo.

Hip-hop culture claims a wide demographic—various ages, many races and different classes: LL old-schoolers, Eminem Stans, 2pac loyalists, Jay-Z worshipers, and Lil Wayne’s legions all coexist in this universe. Yet, behind the music debates rage, issues go unaddressed, and news evolves beyond the pages of print.

The Parker Report was created with this in mind. Inspired by the model popularized by political talk shows like Meet The Press, The McGlaughlan Group, and Hardball With Chris Mathews, we took to the internet to give life to the issues, players, and ideas we find important to our music, culture and politics.

Magazines like VIBE, The Source, XXL, Ozone, Scratch, and others have done well to cover the artists and the issues as members of the hip-hop press. The Parker Report moves the discussion to the realm of streaming video and offers an opportunity to explore firsthand today’s major topics, newsmakers, and the journalists who cover them.

The Parker Report is dedicated to providing you with insights and analysis of the world of music, culture, news and politics—all from the perspective of the hip-hop generation. Our mission is to treat the issues surrounding our world with intelligence, integrity, and with great care. In doing so we hope to raise questions, give answers, and help create context for the culture we live.

About Erik Parker

Erik Parker is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism, where he studied political journalism. He has served as Music Editor and Senior Editor for The Source Magazine (1999-2002), and Music Editor for VIBE Magazine (2003-2006). Aside from his time as magazine editor, he’s also written about hip-hop for XXL, Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, VIBE and The Source.

He’s appeared on TV as an “expert” for CNN, MSNBC, BET, MTV, VH1, Fox News and others. Parker has also been quoted—on the subject of hip-hop—by The New York Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The LA Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other newspapers and magazines.