On my first commute to work, I decided to have Kanye West’s Graduation Album on rotation. Isn’t it crazy how your song selection in the morning can affect your mood for the rest of the day? As I walked out of the elevator doors, I was reintroduced to all of the employees of XXL Magazine. XXL Magazine is one of the many media outlets owned by Harris Publications (among others, Slam, KING, and Ride.) I was surprised when I was given my own desk/cubicle/work station, with my own phone and brand new iMac desktop. I then had to open my AIM Account for the first time in years, and add the rest of the staff, since IM-ing is how the office communicates. My work email address was set up (xxl-bonoan@gmail) and I was given a mini run through of tasks I had to do. First and foremost I would be handling and checking two of the staff twitter accounts (@xxlstaff & @xxlintern) and my first job duty was to compile thirty funny tweets regarding the XXL 2012 FRESHMAN CLASS. After that task was finished, the remainder of my day consisted of refreshing and checking up on news stories, new song/video releases, and pretty much anything new in the hip-hop world. The Drake & Common beef, Amber Rose & Kim Kardashian beef, and Blue Ivy Carter were the biggest stories of the day. I was working as hard as I could all day, and many of the employees approached me, and thanking me for “gettin busy.” Around 3pm, on my first day of the internship, I was giving the opportunity to conduct a phone interview with former Bad Boy Rapper, Shyne, who is currently banned from the US and living in Belize. In order to prepare for that interview, I had to listen in (via phonetap) to a fellow XXL employee interview 2 CHAINZ ( IM RIDING AROUND AND IM GETTIN IT!!!!!!!; ITS MINE.. I SPEND IT.) I wish I could tell yall how the Shyne interview went, BUT my contract states Im not allowed to disclose that information until the issue comes out in MARCH. I was happy to be doing BUSY WORK rather than GRUNT/ERRAND WORK. I know it was only my first day, BUT I was convinced I was going to love what Im doing. Browsing through the internet, seeing whats new in hip-hop culture, while every iMac around me plays music of their choice. I didnt have to work, just being able to enjoy the ambient sound of different hip-hop was satisfying enough for me.

DAY TWO… UP NEXT!!