Overall, 2015 was probably my best year as a writer. A lot of great things happened.
I published two new books, Philadelphia and In Defense Of…, and finally gave my first book the respectable cover it always deserved.
I finally started my very own website and moved my reading recommendation list from Tumblr to a newsletter.
I also contributed to more sites than I ever have before – Cuepoint, The Cauldron, Business Insider, MidCentury Modern, and The Musical Outcast to name just a few along with what I wrote here and on my own Medium page. I was also called all sorts of vile names online, so that was fun too.
Writing a few things for Cuepoint was especially a highlight. Long before I was a writer or even a bad rapper, even before I became a teenager, I was a rap superfan and The Source was my bible. Cuepoint is an online magazine founded by the co-founder of The Source and the co-founder of HipHopSite.com. To me, that is hip-hop royalty and to have my work featured alongside amazing journalists (like Paul Cantor) and hip-hop artists (like Talib Kweli) is not only a dream come true, but still hard to believe.
I’ve collected the best things I wrote this year and separated them by category. Some of them were widely read, some of them weren’t. Some of them went all over the place, others received only a handful of readers. Regardless of the reception, I have no doubt that of the hundreds of pieces I wrote over the past twelve months, these are the best.
Hip-Hop
Cuepoint
Two Decades On: The 20 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 1995
Medium
Longevity and Losses: The Complicated Career of LL Cool J
The Passion of Christopher Pierznik
20 Classic Hip-Hop Songs for Casual Fans
Jay Electronica Should Never Release an Album
Wu-Tang Beer, Inspectah Deck, and Me
Revisiting the Hip-Hop Class of 1998
The Musical Outcast
Sorry, but There’s No Such Thing as “Real Rap”
Sports
The Cauldron
Medium
Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, and the Battle for the Legacy of the Fab Five
The Passion of Christopher Pierznik
The Biggest NBA Draft What Ifs
Kobe, Peyton & Tiger Make Us Face Our Own Mortality
Reading & Writing
Business Insider
What Happens When (Virtually) No One Buys Your Book
Medium
In Celebration of Physical Books
The Passion of Christopher Pierznik
Stephen King is Still Underrated
5 Books That Everyone Loved but I Loathed
TinyLetter
TV & Movies
Medium
The Passion of Christopher Pierznik
I’ll Make You Famous: An Appreciation of Young Guns II
Work & Career
Medium
Seven Lessons I Learned from Working an Assortment of Odd Jobs
Most College Majors are Overrated
The Problem with Pursuing Perfection
The Passion of Christopher Pierznik
Time Maximization: Pursuing One’s Career with a Career and a Family
Life
MidCentury Modern
Medium
The Passion of Christopher Pierznik
The Time I Ruined My Chance at a Threesome
Facing Alcoholism: One Year Later
Miscellaneous
Medium
No Streaming: Why I Choose to Control My Media
The Passion of Christopher Pierznik
The One I Was On Stage at a Comedy Club
Unpopular Pop Culture Opinions
Aside from book sales, I don’t get paid for any of this. I do it because I love it and it’s my passion and, it seems, some people like to read what I write. That’s an honor, one that means more to me than anyone will ever know. So thank you all for reading my drivel, for supporting my endeavors, and for interacting with me online. I value every single one of you.
See ya in 2016!
Christopher Pierznik is the author of eight books, all of which can be purchased in paperback and Kindle. His work has appeared on XXL, Cuepoint, Business Insider, The Cauldron, and many more. He has been quoted on Buzzfeed and Deadspin. Subscribe to his monthly reading review newsletter or follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
The Passion of Christopher Pierznik 