Introduction
WorldStar, a social media website, first launched in 2009 as a place to share videos of celebrities and other popular figures. People also used it to post “street fights” and other viral videos.
WorldStar gained popularity quickly but did not last long due to its controversial content. A few years after it came out, it was shut down because of its violent videos and hate speech. Today, there are no plans for it to come back online again.
The origins of WorldStar.
WorldStarHipHop was created in 2005 by Lee O’Denat, born in Brooklyn and better known by his stage name “Q”. O’Denat was a rapper who released several albums and had a few minor hits on the Billboard charts. In addition to his musical career, he also worked as a DJ at block parties in New York City before starting WorldStar.
O’Denat launched WorldStar with one goal: to create the ultimate hip-hop website. He wanted to ensure that people could find the latest music videos from their favourite artists. Still, he also wanted to highlight other aspects of hip-hop culture, including street fashion and sports.
WorldStarHipHop quickly gained popularity for its no-holds-barred approach to covering hip hop news and culture; it has been described as “the TMZ of hip hop.”
Where does the name WorldStar come from?
The name WorldStar comes from the WorldStarHipHop.com website, which was named after a song by the rapper Mims. The song has the line “World Star,” and it has been described as being “the sound of someone slapping you in the face with a pound of money.” It also features another popular hip-hop idiom: “world star status.”
Why did Worldstar shut down?
WorldStar was shut down because of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the site by Papa John’s International, Inc. (PJI), a pizza chain that owns and operates Papa John’s Pizza restaurants across the United States. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on June 20, 2019.
In its complaint against WorldStarHipHop.com LLC, PJI accused the media company of using its logo without permission and profiting off Papa John’s goodwill by promoting other businesses on their website that have nothing to do with food delivery services. PJI also argued that WorldStarHipHop has profited from its brand and goodwill since 2014 by selling merchandise like t-shirts that depict “Papa John” and other third-party brands associated with them, such as Netflix and Hulu.
WorldStar has a Twitter account that hasn’t tweeted in over two weeks.
WorldStarHipHop has a Twitter account, @WorldStarHipHopOfficial. The last tweet from this account was on February 27, 2019, and it has not been tweeted since then. However, the account continues to post promotional tweets and retweets without any intervention from WorldStar staff.
A group of people known for their involvement with the website have set up an alternative version called @WorldstarHitHard, which is currently being run by Onemorejoey33 (who has been banned from Worldstar’s official accounts) and other former contributors who were removed from the site for various reasons (including copyright violations).
There are still new videos being uploaded to WorldStar to this day.
While WorldStarHipHop might be gone, new videos are still being uploaded to WorldStar to this day. One video that went viral on WorldStar recently was when a woman was caught on camera beating up an older man who tried to steal from her store.
The video quickly went viral with over 3 million views in just under 24 hours and is continuing to rack up more views as we speak.
It seems like Worldstar has just always been there.
WorldStarHipHop, the site that’s been around for longer than you can remember, is no more.
It’s not just a thing that happened—it’s the end of an era for many users who have been visiting the site since it first launched in 2005. It also represents a turning point in how people use social media and consume content online.
WorldStar was always something you knew about but didn’t understand until you went there yourself: it’s not like Facebook or Twitter, with their easily identifiable icons and familiar layouts; instead, WorldStar has always been its own thing—an oddity that seemed to exist outside of time altogether (and perhaps even outside of space). Nevertheless, it has become part of our cultural lexicon and everyday language; when someone says “WorldStar,” they’re referencing something specific: a particular video or meme on WSHH.
WorldStar is no longer popular, and it’s gone downhill over the last year.
WorldStarHipHop has been declining in popularity, and it’s easy to see why. The once-ubiquitous site has been a victim of its success: what was once an underground hub for the latest hip-hop news is now filled with the same brand of memes and videos you’d find on any other video-sharing platform.
It’s not that WorldStarHipHop hasn’t made an effort to branch out; earlier this year, they released their app called “Worldstar Vixen”, which provides access to exclusive content from its top models—but even that wasn’t enough to bring back users who were tired of being inundated by similar content on other platforms such as Instagram or Vine.
Conclusion
We had to close WorldStar because we couldn’t find a new owner who shared our vision. However, we are very proud of what we built and will continue working hard to make the internet a better place.
