Rapspace in XXL

With social networks like MySpace and Friendster running at full capacity, it's no surprise that Web sites have started turning separate forming separate cliques. Lately the Internet has seen the spin-off of sites that provide social playgrounds exclusively for hip-hop enthusiasts.

This past November, Web entrepreneur McLean Mashingaidze-Greaves and his two partners launched a test version of RapSpace.TV, a site that showcases unsigned rappers. There, it's more than 13,000 members can spit rhymes with either a microphone or a Webcam and upload and share their music with other users. Also joining the fray is crackspace.com, the brainchild of Babygrande Records founder Chuck Wilson. Launched in November, the community of 13,000-plus allows members to sell their own ringtones, MP3s and digital wallpaper. Similarly user powerd moob.com was created in July 2006 by Australian tech company Gravity in an effort to pacify the country's emergent hip-hop scene.