Section One: Submissions Policy

OHHLA.com is an archive dedicated to preserving and providing the lyrical works of established hip-hop artists. Valid lyrics submissions to OHHLA may come from any rap album in stores throughout the U.S.A. or North America; or released regionally within this territory but available nationally through the following websites: Amazon, Best Buy, CDNow.com, Sandbox Automatic or Tower Records. All submissions must be verifiable via retail or one of the aforementioned sites; which excludes most "mixtapes" as such that are not nationally available via record labels. Exceptions to this rule would be Funkmaster Flex CD's on Loud/RCA, DJ Clue CD's on Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam, and other such legitimate retail "mixtape" albums.

OHHLA.com does NOT accept unreleased songs. This includes but is not limited to the following: songs only available as MP3, songs that are only on street mixtapes, and songs from promo copies of albums that did not appear on the actual in-store release. Singles from forthcoming albums (released to radio or video) will be accepted on a case by case basis at the sole discretion of the webmaster. OHHLA.com also does NOT accept skits such as intros, outros, and interludes as of January 1st, 1998. Skits are clearly defined by the lack of any rapping being performed during the track; some skits which do include raps may be accepted on a case by case basis at the sole discretion of the webmaster. Some skits archived prior to 1/01/98 may still be available via the site, but this does not validate new skit submissions.  

Section Two: Searching the Site

Please search to make sure your lyric submission isn't already included. If you receive a reply pointed to this section of the add lyrics page it's an indication that your submission was already on OHHLA before you sent it. Irate e-mails reading "I sent it first" or "my version was better" will be ignored; but corrections to the lyrics will be accepted. To summarize the ways to search:

1. Check Most Wanted for the top 30 songs.
2. Check New Lyrics for the latest additions.
3. Check All Lyrics for the artist you are adding.

OHHLA is working on an improved search capability to reduce the number of duplicate entries received; this should hopefully be available before the end of 2002. Effective searching via the already available methods should reduce wasted time for both the typist and the webmaster.  

Section Three: Formatting

OHHLA.com reserves the right to reject lyric submissions for quality reasons. This includes but is not limited to poor usage of punctuation, incorrect abbreviations ("u" instead of "you" or "2" instead of "to") and improper capitalization ("i" instead of "I" or "im" instead of "I'm"). Also important is to NOT send lyrics that look and read like one endless paragraph. Break each line at either the logical rhyme point (where the rapper ends with a rhyme) or at the place where the artist him/herself pauses for breath. Keep lines of lyrics under 80 characters and don't allow word-wrap to start the next line for you -- break each line at the stop point by hitting enter or return. Lyrics should always be submitted in the body of an e-mail or as a .txt file, but NEVER as a .doc file or in an HTML formatted e-mail (a default on programs such as Outlook which can be easily turned off). All word processing programs include the option to save documents a plain text, so there is no reason the webmaster should have to convert from .html or .doc to .txt for you.

Additional tips for faster processing:

Do not submit entire albums, or more than four lyrics, at any one time. Start each line with a capital letter. Do not finish any lines with a comma or a period. No lines should end with punctuation unless it is ", ?, or ! Please spell out the following words: motherfucker (not "MF" or "mothafucka"), the (not "tha"), fat (not "phat") and y'all (not "ya'll"). Don't write a word incorrectly unless the artist mispronounces it on purpose -- such as Nas saying "men-e-straul" instead of "menstraul" on "It Ain't Hard to Tell". No submissions with self-censoring (as in sh*t, f*ck, d-mn) will be accepted. Choose another site if you are uncomfortable with profanity.

Lyrics can be rejected for any of the reasons listed above; including formatting, spelling, punctuation, and legibility. Lyric rejection is based on quality standards and does not reflect on the individual submittor unless he or she is a known biter. If your contribution is legible, properly labelled, and hip-hop related your submission will be accepted with our thanks and gratitude.  

Section Four: Labelling

When sending contributions, always write the full name of the artist and song which you are contributing in the subject line of your mail. Contributions to OHHLA.com must be properly labelled in order to be processed. At the start of each lyric submission please label contributions as appears below, without using the () brackets, and with the exact spacing shown in these lines:

Artist: (stage name)
Album:  (source of the lyrics)
Song:   (song name)
Typed by: (e-mail address)

The first line should be followed by one space after the colon, the second by two, the third by three, and the fourth by just one. Do not add any additional "written by XXX" information on these lines or append it to the end of your lyrics unless you are in fact the actual rapper him/herself. "Typed by" is the normal credit used on OHHLA, and must be from a valid e-mail address for purposes of lyric updates or corrections. Submissions without a valid e-mail may be rejected by the webmaster.  

Section Five: Lyric Content

Contributions must be songs by an established hip-hop artists or prominently featuring an established hip-hop artist. This may include duets with R&B, Reggae, Metal, or Funk artists. OHHLA does not accept R&B lyrics such as 112, Allure, Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, Jewel, or Mark Morrison UNLESS they feature a hip-hop artist. Mary J. Blige alone is R&B, but Mary J. Blige with Grand Puba is hip-hop. Whitney Houston alone is R&B, Whitney Houston with Wyclef Jean is hip-hop.  

Section Six: Where to Send

Send only RAP LYRIC submissions to ohhla@pobox.com. For any and all other questions please read the FAQ or contact the webmaster - use the lyrics address for your submissions only.

Allow up to three weeks for submissions to be processed. The webmaster reserves the right to reject submissions for reasons stated or unstated at his discretion.