Welcome to the new Word Is Bond

Hi everyone.

Harvey here, founder of The Word Is Bond.

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already noticed: The Word Is Bond looks a little different today. After months of late nights and a lot of love, I’m proud to finally welcome you to the brand new Word Is Bond.

When we started this back in November 2009, the plan was simple: give love to conscious, independent and underground Hip-Hop, and give you something new and dope every single day. Seventeen years and over 25,000 posts later, that hasn’t changed one bit. What has changed is the home we’re doing it from. You deserved a site that does justice to the music and to the artists we’ve been championing all these years, so we rebuilt it from the ground up.

Here’s a little tour of what’s new. And don’t just read about it: there are a few spots below where you can try things out right here in this post.

01 · Bond Radio

This is the one I’m most excited about. Press play on any track, video or show and Bond Radio keeps the music going while you browse the rest of the site. Queue up what you like, skip what you don’t, and let it take you somewhere new. It plays our Rap Radio shows too, so years of mixes are just one click away.

02 · The Time Machine

We’ve been doing this since 2009, and there is a LOT of great music in our archive. The Time Machine lets you dial back to any year and see what we were spinning, who we were talking about, and the tracks that defined it. If you’ve been with us from the start, get ready for some serious nostalgia. If you’re new, welcome to seventeen years of the underground.

03 · Artists and Interviews

Every artist we cover most now has their own page with their tracks, their interviews, our reviews and everything we’ve ever written about them, all in one place. And our interviews finally have a proper home too: more than 300 conversations with the MCs, producers and DJs who make this culture what it is.

04 · Your own corner of TWIB

You can now join The Word Is Bond for free. Save the tracks you love to your favourites with the star, follow your favourite artists, build playlists and keep a history of everything you’ve listened to and watched, so you never lose that song you heard last week. You can also rate tracks as Classic, Hot or Mid, so let us know how you really feel.

05 · The Bond Weekly

Every Friday we’ll send you ten tracks picked for you, based on the music you love and the artists you follow. No filler, just the good stuff landing in your inbox to start your weekend right.

06 · Backers

Some of you might remember that back in 2013, on our fourth birthday, I told you we were cooking up a “WIB Membership” behind closed doors to build a better relationship with you, our readers. Well, it took a little longer than planned, but it’s here. Becoming a Backer unlocks everything on the site and, more importantly, directly supports independent music journalism and the artists we cover. If The Word Is Bond has put you onto something special over the years, this is the best way to keep it going.

07 · 100% human made

This one matters a lot to us. Every track we feature is made by real artists and picked by real people who love this music. No AI playlists, no algorithms deciding what’s worth your time. Just us, digging the crates like we always have.

08 · Bringing the classics back

Over seventeen years, a lot of the videos and tracks in our older posts disappeared from the internet. We’ve been going back through the archive and restoring them wherever we could, so those classic posts play again. Hundreds of old favourites are already back, and we’ll keep digging.

09 · Artists, we want to hear from you

Submitting your music to us is now easier than ever. If you’re making something real, send it our way. Discovering new talent is why we started this in the first place, and it’s still my favourite part of the job.

10 · A big shout out to Tayo

I can’t write this post without saying a massive thank you to our Editor in Chief, Tayo Odutola. Tayo joined us back in 2013 and has written more than 13,000 posts since. That’s around half of everything on this site. Day in, day out, for over thirteen years, Tayo has kept the music going at TWIB, putting people onto artists they’d never have found otherwise. A lot of what you’ll find in the Time Machine is Tayo’s work. Thank you, Tayo. This new home is as much yours as anyone’s.

11 · Thank you

None of this would exist without you. To every reader who’s stuck with us since 2009, every writer who’s given their time and passion to this site, and every artist who’s trusted us with their music: thank you. As I’ve said before, we are here to stay, and as long as you stick with us, we’ll be here for you.

Have a look around, press play, get lost in the Time Machine, and let us know what you think in the comments. There’s plenty more coming.

From the whole Word Is Bond team, MASSIVE thanks.

Peace,
Harvey