From the archive
10 selections from the blog years. These are retrospective notes with related listening selections; follow the Wayback links for surviving historical pages.
The MuSiK Box booked his first out-of-town headlining show at The Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights. The August 21, 2010 show took place eight days after the release of his breakthrough mixtape K.I.D.S. and nearly 15 months before his debut album, Blue Slide Park, arrived in November 2011.
Interview · The Arroyo Show, October 2011
The Wayback link below is a later surviving record: Futuristic Funk, March 2011.
The MuSiK Box was among the first blogs to post Mike Posner’s music while he was still a student at Duke. Reflections of a Lost Teen Mixtape, from December 2009, is the earliest salvaged entry from that coverage, not the site’s first post about him.
Earliest salvaged record · December 2009. Earlier Mike Posner posts have not been recovered.
The February 2011 catalog introduces Childish Gambino through his Donald Glover, Community, and Derrick Comedy connections. Freaks and Geeks is included as a listening companion.
Related listening · selected for this retrospective
The MuSiK Box was among the first blogs to publish J. Cole’s music in 2009. Its November 2009 Artist of the Week feature appeared nearly two years before his debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, arrived in September 2011.
Related listening · selected for this retrospective
Surviving post · Artist of the Week, November 2009. Recovered photo · December 2009. Return of Simba is a later listening selection.
The MuSiK Box was widely credited with discovering Chiddy Bang while they were still Drexel students with only a MySpace account. The blog interviewed the duo and published their earliest work. In the months that followed, dozens of publications linked back to and credited The MuSiK Box as Chiddy Bang rose to prominence, bringing substantial attention to the blog.
Related listening · selected for this retrospective
The linked Bad Day post is a later surviving record from October 2010, not the start of the blog’s Chiddy Bang coverage.
This March 2011 catalog entry follows Machine Gun Kelly at SXSW. The Cleveland school parking lot interview discussed in The Story is a separate moment in the site’s history.
Related listening · selected for this retrospective
A July 2010 record for The White Panda’s Rematch mixtape. Shake Drop on Video accompanies this retrospective as a related listening selection.
Related listening · selected for this retrospective
An October 2010 entry for Brenton Duvall’s remix of Gucci Mane’s That’s All, preserved in the catalog from The MuSiK Box.
Related listening · selected for this retrospective
The site’s first album reviews in 2009 covered hometown legend Kid Cudi’s debut, Man on the Moon, alongside Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3. Those reviews predate the salvaged archive. The site’s Cudi coverage began well before the later records that survive here.
Related listening · selected for this retrospective
Later surviving record: Maniac ft. Cage · October 2010.
A Cleveland freestyle selected for this retrospective. The source link leads to an archived Chip Tha Ripper tag page; a complete original review or tracklist is not reproduced here.
Related listening · selected for this retrospective
