In a number of album reviews on HipHopDX over the past several months, a HipHopDX writer appears to have wrongfully appropriated wording and passages published by other websites.
The writer, Navani Otero, reused language from NotAFuckingBlogger.com, RapReviews.com, PlanetIll.com, and BlindedBySound.com without attribution or acknowledgement.
HipHopDX was alerted to the issue by our readers and artist Danny Swain on Wednesday, February 15, 2012. They pointed out numerous similarities between a review published on HipHopDX for The Payback by Danny! on Feb 15 around 12pm EST, and a post on NotAFuckingBlogger.com published on January 17.
HipHopDX subsequently discovered other cases of wrongfully appropriated passages in Ms. Otero’s work, including the review of Well Done by Action Bronson and Statik Selektah, and For The Record by Torae.
Copying text or intellectual ideas from another publication without attribution is a serious violation of HipHopDX’s editorial policy. HipHopDX will take appropriate action to safeguard the integrity of our editorial standards, and we sincerely apologize to our readers and the writers whose work was misappropriated by Ms. Otero.
Burn.
Thats what happens when you let a woman out of the kitchen!!!
I applaud you guys admitting fault but don’t know if I agree with you outting Ms. Otero on your site. That’s internal politics and you all should handle that internally. Outting her to us is just lacking a little class.
Im sure she was thinking about HipHopDX when she stole all that work and passed it as her own right??? Im sure she really thought about DX’s credibility and well being when she did it…..she deserves everything she is getting, sorry.
Plagiarism is never internal politics. HipHopDx did the right thing, and any respectable publication would have done the same.
*Burps* “its tacky and just not G”
tsk tsk tsk
Damn, was she even listening to the music?
I salute yall for actually doing something about this. But I better not ever read another editorial or review from him on DX. People be trying to make it to the top of journalism & creative writing and he can’t do it himself? Pick up a free agent I’ll say.
It was a girl homeboy.
You don’t need to mention names. Just fix the issue and quietly dismiss her.
Her name is all over the articles so why does it matter? lol She obviously didnt care about the integrity or credibility of the site so not post her name so she doesnt do this again somewhere? Maybe you’re a friend!
I think her name should be mentioned so potential employers can see what kind of a writer she really is.
So if I see my neighbor breaking into my apartment and going after my flat screen, I need to tell everyone else in the building it was an unnamed burglar?
Great analogy!!!
a blogger copying a few paragraphs is not even remotely close to a robber burglarizing a community. i see what you were trying to do but fell short.
Ms. Navani why are you out of the KITCHEN???
R.I.P. HipHopDX.
You are an idiot!
hey they got to put it out some way so it goes on her permanent record.. it’s like in college, once you plagiarize and get kicked out and try to look for another school – they know what you did. now when she tries to go for another job they can find this article and they’ll know
Saying names in the media industry is good, hopefully future employers that she tries to work for sees that she had plagiarized more than 1 occasion on the same site. Probably others if you go to her page and see her resume.
there goes her future prospects..
Who cares bitch is fucking lame. She has a dope job then cheats. Burger King is hiring.
cool, i was badmouthing the whole site in a few comments on the Danny Swain payback page. i see that you guys are taking the right actions against this, so i am sorry that i grouped the whole site in the fiasco and not just the writer
I’m a professional editor, writer, & photographer with almost 15 years of experience in the music & entertainment industry. My work has appeared in COUNTLESS reputable outlets, including MTV, Vibe, Uptown Magazine, & The Source.
I’m always looking for new opportunities to flex my editorial, writing, & photography muscles, & bring a legitimate voice to Hip-Hop as an art form (yes, I’m sort of being forward with HipHopDX — hire me!).
I don’t mind when women are given opportunities in the industry. In fact, I applaud it, & I encourage it. But when I hear about women like Ms. Otero given an opportunity, & then half-assing it the way she has, I can’t help but get angry. Number one, it closed up the opportunity for writers/editors/photographers like myself who busted our backs for YEARS to establish ourselves — all while having to face ignorant comments from trolls like “go back into the kitchen, go make a sandwich, stupid little girl!” — and, number two, it denigrates the art of hip-hop AND the art of journalism.
How low can you go, Ms. Otero? You’re a disgrace to ALL women.
In closing — HipHopDX staff, I’m sure you know that not all women writers are like this Otero idiot. Some, like myself, take pride in our craft. So…if you’re willing to give a REAL woman writer like myself a chance to prove herself, all of my information (including my website) is up there. And all of my claims can be verified 100%. 🙂
lol i don’t think gender should be included at all in this argument.. it’s quite irrelevent
Ryan: You’re correct, but my comment wasn’t about being a woman…it’s about knowing what we, as women, are up against in the industry (refer to earlier “go make a sandwich & get back in the kitchen” comments).
What Ms. Otero did was, frankly, playing right into the old, tired stereotypes of women in the business (that we’re hacks, that we’re groupies, that we’re lesser-than because we’re women), instead of combating the tropes with talent & intelligence (and letting the work speak for itself).
I would be disgusted if it were a male writer who did what she did, don’t get me wrong — but as a woman who had to break her back for many years, who had to work twice as hard to be considered “just as good” (until my history became so undeniable that my gender became irrelevant), and who probably got passed up for opportunities so hacks like Ms. Otero to take the spot (the old “overqualified” excuse)…yeah, I take it a little personally when women eff it up.
I’m just saying we can do better. And we should.
Thanks for your unhelpful self-promotion, Bernadette. It humbles all of us to know that you’re forging the path for us women and that you don’t mind when we are given an opportunity in the industry. (brb, eyes just rolled out of my head)
What a whore!
This is a classy way to do it, well done HHDX
Dear Hip Hop DX,
I actually write for RapReviews.com and am appalled to hear about Ms. Otero’s transgressions.
However, I applaud you for dealing with the situation appropriately. It is correct to name her, and to issue formal apologies to the sites in question.
Peace, Jesal
What the fuck, of course you out her. She jeopardized the integrity of your site, why would you not out her? Fuck her.
nope, calling her name is out is a good call. let it be a lesson to any other reviewers using the same tactics.
The shock! The horror! It’s a blog site people. Not The NY Times.
DX isnt a blog jackass, they are a site. Big difference.
Yeah this is a blog site, but plagiarism is still a bad thing whether it’s for a website or a famous news publication.
people dont know what a blog is anymore
I think you guys dealt with this perfectly. It’s a shame to see someone with such a flippant disregard for the reputability of this wonderful site. HipHopDX has been a main news source of mine for quite some time now, and I know you guys have plenty of very talented writers that work hard every day to counteract this kind of laziness. Keep it up HHDX!
i wish y all could hire me.
okay Bernadette, DAMN. we get it
so the artist rating remained the same or what? Is she fired? Also is she being replace by someone u guys have now or hiring someone new?
I JUST WANT YALL TO KNOW I HAVE TAKEN THE JOB AT HIPHOPDX AND WILL RATE ALBUMS LIKE THEY SUPPOSED TO BE
sure, and your first job will be reviewing detox which will drop next tuesday
lol all this site posts anyway is shit thats been tweeted or already been on the blogs or other hip-hop websites, except for a few exclusive interviews every few months
“BREAKING NEWS!! Schoolboy Q said in an interview with another hip-hop website that him and ASAP Rocky once said they should do an album together in passing.”
“BREAKING NEWS!! 50 Cent tweeted that he’s mad at his record label!!”
Was curious to see whether this held true in other work of hers, and it does. ‘Navani Knows Afro-Latinos’ on her wordpress blog (Navani Knows) directly lifts entire sentences from Black Radio Network’s ‘New Documentary Series “Afro-Latinos, The Untaught Story” Begins With Web Launch’. It makes me wonder how many other people are building their “personal brands” on lazy thievery other people’s work. Sigh.
WOW SMH. THE SAGA CONTINUES. NAVANI IS GONNA OFF HER SELF TONIGHT, WATCH AND SEE
this isn’t surprising, with the amount of typos and disinformation on this site. Editors need to supervise the content they release more closely or hire more eyes to review your material before it is published
Ummm No –
Of course it’s a site Corky, but what are you doing right now instead of mopping the floors at Mcdonald’s? Posting a comment, which means you’re blogging. Don’t let this turn into a pattern.
You really dont know the difference between a blog and a website do you? A blog is 2dopeboyz, nahright, onsmash, etc….They post music, videos, mixtapes, etc……They have a standard blog theme which has about 6-10 items per page and you click “older pages” to skim backwards to view older material.
A site offers music, videos, mixtapes, etc….but they also do album reviews, interviews, editorials, etc…..They CREATE material, not just post it.
You have no response, thanks.
your both fucking dumb. Blogs are, most of the time, just one author and his or her thoughts oppinions, likes dislikes VS a standard website like this that reports all news, songs, videos about all rappers in the game.
Editorial standards? There’s a million typos on this site every week!
get her: http://www.facebook.com/Navaniotero
Navani Otero makes me sick.
Are u serious? It’s probably more difficult to do all that copying and pasting than it would be to just write your own opinions on music.
no kidding. You’d have to be borderline illiterate not to be able to listen to some rap songs and spew some meaningless positivity about them. Navani, get at me I’ll ghostwrite for you and we’ll split the dough. I’m Latino so its all goya baby
Now teach the staff proper grammar
It figures, sorry but you guys have amateurs as journalists, it’s very embarrassing lol
Wow..Dx with that ether,The shit that makes your soul burn slow.Navani Otero is a disgrace to journalists everywhere who strive to make their mark.That Scarlet letter will follow you everywhere.DX handled this with some class and dignity.I applaud you coming out and addressing this publicly so people will think twice before pulling this kind of bullshit again.I visited her Facebook and I could tell by her activities and interests she is a poser,hipster douche bag.
It is kind of funny that this site is apologizing. Obviously plagiarism is one of the biggest taboos in journalism, but I never considered this site to have much journalistic integrity… I mean, c’mon, let’s be real–as other posters have said, there’s no real “news” ever on this site. It’s just a bunch of shit that was said other places posted here. The same thing with the artists you cover–don’t act like you guys break artists or do anything else that other sites don’t do. Can I get another Lil B article? Or Odd Future? Maybe an A$AP Rocky tidbit. Hahaha. Oh and can you write “there” when it should be “their” or “your” instead of “you’re”. Don’t you have to fail an English diagnostic site to write for this site? Do me a favor stop apologizing and lock all of your writers in a room with a computer and try to write an original article about someone that isn’t all over every other site…
yeah you’re an idiot. you mean all album/mixtape reviews are stuff that was posted elsewhere? or how bout editorials? or cover interviews between rappers/the site? there’s more to this site than reports/articles, you oaf
Nah unfortuneltly son is right, HHDX don’t giva a fuck about editing and constructing real stories like a journalist should, they are more concern with site revenue and views. This was just to cover they ass, they prolly tell their editors to scour the internet for shit to post and since none of them fools don’t know hip hop from a dusty ass madonna record, thats what they bring: straight garbage. This site is about to be finished.
wow best comment of this whole story
.like button.
you must be a rapper that doesnt get any coverage on dx hahaha, loser.
HipHopDX will take appropriate action to safeguard the integrity of our editorial standards,
HAHAHA hhdx has an editorial standard? Ive see errors both grammatical and factual all the time on this site, its pathetic really. They do just a good enough job keeping new songs daily to keep me coming back.
lol seriously
“I’ve see” grammatical errors? Thanks for for nitpicking Hypocrite McGee.
HHDX, big up for doing the right thing once you found out. Thank you!
damn they even aired that niggas name yall didnt really have to do that. sometimes discretion is alittle less tacky and professional. firing him would have been enough.
DX yall didnt have to ether her like that especially it being a woman keeping up a hip hop blog. she was 100% wrong but that’s very merciless to air her the fuck out. Especially since half your staff cant even construct a proper sentence. everyone deserves a second chance you really didnt have to smear her to make some false example about professionalism and sternness , especially since yall as a collective site have alot of work to do.
Plagiarism is the second most egregious thing a journalist can do. (The worst is fabricating facts.)
Many — though not all — publications will write similar admissions if one of their writers is found to be a plagiarist.
Otero smeared herself when she decided to take the lazy way out.
Agreed with Journalist
you missed point. we all know she fucked. but the point was they could have done all of this without the public persecution of naming calling. its tacky. most publication practice a basic standard of professionalism known as discretion. especially on an open hip hop forum full of trolls and assholes.
GREAT JOB!!!!
This is my first DX comment ever… just wanted to give props for doing the right thing and exposing this info. It doesn’t even make DX look bad in my opinion, especially since you came out and admitted this happened. It just makes that one writer look bad. I’m guessing she won’t be on here any longer, am I right? Peace.
props to hiphop dx
dam son! be original. so many frauds in hip hop.
Thanks for the integrity!
Too bad to hear that but i respect the integrity.
As a regular reader of this site–like for several years now–I’d like to receive confirmation that Otero will be fired. I find plagiarism to be absolutely inexcusable and though I respect you for coming clean with this, your call for integrity will be worth nothing if you keep her on the payroll.
Can you make it up to the Torae fans by doing a feature on “Real Talk”.
FUCK torae
wolf gang
Ditto for the Danny! fans. Oh and the bitch apologized: http://navaniknows.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/navani-knows-the-art-of-an-apology/
Unfortunate situation. Paine keep your head up, you’re still the Vito Corleone of this Hip-Hop journalism ish!
SCOTT TEMPLETON
Plagiarism can be compared to cheating because a person applying such practices is actually running the efforts of another person by taking away the credit from him. Therefore, if you are aware of the harmful effects of using a copied text, you can always make use of plagiarism checker freesoftware so that you can detect whether the same sentence structure is already present in the web space.