Elliott Wilson (born January 14, 1971) is an American journalist, television producer, and magazine editor. He is the founder and CEOofRap Radar. In the past, he has worked as editor-in-chief of XXL Magazine.[1] 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,[2]Drake,[3] and Mary J. Blige.[4]
He is currently the Editorial Director at UPROXX.[5]
Wilson has been writing and talking about hip hop and rap music since 1992,[6] 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!".[7][8] 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".[9] Wilson has written for a number of publications, including GQ, VIBE, and Rolling Stone.[10][11]
In spring of 1996 Wilson went to College Music Journal as a beat-box editor. At the end of that year he was promoted as music editor of The Source magazine. In September, 1999, Wilson went to work at Harris Publications as editor-in-chief of XXL Magazine, and in 2005 he launched their website, XXLmag.com. He also co-created Hip-Hop Soul. In 2004, Wilson co-executive produced VH1’s TV’s Illest Minority Moments: Presented by ego trip.[12] In 2005 Wilson co-executive produced three specials for VH1, under the 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.[13] In 2010 Wilson became RESPECT.'s editor-in-chief.
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,[14] 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 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.[15] 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 named Wilson to its list of "Top 20 Music Industry Innovators".[16] Billboard named Elliott to its "Twitter 140" in 2011 and 2012, a list of the most influential people in the music business.[17][18] In 2011, MTV listed Wilson as one of six "Hip-hop Culture MVPs". He has appeared as an expert on ABC, CNN, MTV, MTV2, VH1, BET, among others.
