Meet The Blackout Team

Today marks exactly 15 years since blackouthiphop.com was launched. Our first post was written on October 13th, 2009, it wasn’t actually a Hip-Hop related post, but The Brand New Heavies US Tour announcement. Phat Phillie was at the time helping The Heavies with their New York show (Oct 19, 2009) where he invited a few NYC heavyweights Sadat X, Large Pro, Masta Ace, Pharoahe Monch & Torae to join them on stage —> https://blackouthiphop.com/blog/the-brand-new-heavies-us-tour/

Blackout blog is an integral part of the Blackout Hip-Hop organization that started as a Radio 1 Blackout Rap Show in November, 1993 (co-founded by DJ Frx & Phat Phillie). Since then, Blackout has become a household name and a staple for Croatian, regional and European Hip-Hop promoting international shows (over 100 US rappers performed only in Zagreb including Big L, Sean Price, Redman, Big Daddy Kane, Ghostface Killah…), running EU project She Raps, planning different historical releases (Zagreb Rap Demo 1985-1992, Blackout Project reissue, DIFFO unreleased album…), documentaries, Hip-Hop exhibitions (Feb/Mar 2025) and of course running a blog (voted top 100 Hip-Hop website in the world, currently at number #27.)

jxd (Sofia, Bulgaria)

jxd is based in Sofia, Bulgaria. Hip-Hop head for 30 years. Used to be an MC and a DJ, now running the indie label Dope Cut Records. A father of 2. Balancing between family, corporate life and music.

Re:tro flava (Zagreb, Croatia)

Re:tro flava, real name Irvin Štral, is a Croatian DJ, hip-hop aficionado, general music lover, music journalist, PR, booking and band manager. He started his career in music at the 2008 protests in Rijeka, when he played music on the improvised sound system at the iconic Kont, along with a couple of friends. He soon became part of the Rijeka collective Gerila Kru and a few years later the Novi Sad collective Real Onez, while in 2019 he officially became a member of the Blackout Hip Hop team as a content editor and finally the chief editor for the Balkan Hip-Hop scene.

T.I.N. (Zagreb, Croatia)

T.I.N. or Tin Matić is the newest and youngest member of the BlackoutHipHop.com lineup. In addition to almost daily activity on the blog, the young devotee of Hip-Hop culture, originally from Zagreb, is also a collector and music artist. He is currently preparing his official debut project. He joined the team in December 2023.

da2handz (Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia)

Simon (da2handz), former editor and now the mastermind behind Blackout Hip Hop’s web presence, keeps everything running smoothly as the webmaster. He also doubles as Phillie’s unofficial secretary, handling anything from urgent emails to driving around artists & cooking for them. Whatever needs doing, Simon duz it.

Vlada Stojanović (Valjevo, Serbia)

I stepped into hip hop in 1992 when I was 11 years old, not even knowing it was called Hip-Hop or Rap. I wondered why this guy was talking over the music instead of singing. The artist in question was Del The Funky Homosapien and the song was “Mistadobalina.” All I knew was that I got hooked, and 32 years later, I’m still into it. I got to know Blackout in the late ’90s, and with the emergence of blackouthiphop.com, as someone eager to discover new aspects of the culture, the blog became an endless source of information for me. For more than two years now, I’ve had the honour of being one of the editors, and it’s a great privilege to carry on the legacy of Blackout Hip Hop with the rest of the team.

Phat Phillie (Zagreb, Croatia)

Blackout’s co-founder and overseer, Hip-Hop historian, activist and a fan since 1984. Multitasking 24/7, finagling more than a few operations at the same time and making sure all runs smooth.