In the ever-shifting landscape of Chicago’s media ecosystem, few platforms have demonstrated the cultural staying power and community impact of Whats the Word. Founded in 2011 by Cordaro “Cody” McKee as a college publication at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Whats the Word has evolved into one of Chicago’s most influential cultural platforms, providing space for underrepresented voices while documenting the city’s rich musical heritage and cultural movements for over a decade.
What began as a resource for Black students on campus has transformed into a multifaceted media organization that amplifies local talent and shapes conversations around Chicago’s cultural identity. Through interviews, event coverage, and thoughtful cultural analysis, McKee has built Whats the Word into more than just a publication—it’s become a movement with lasting impact on Chicago’s artistic community.
Let’s start at the beginning. What inspired Whats the Word?
It is just to give people without a voice, a voice. I started a publication back in 2011 in Carbondale, Illinois, when I was in college. It was my sophomore year in college, and it all started because I just wanted to give the Blacks on campus a voice. Let the students know what’s going on, how they can get in tune with different activities, and then just give different curators a space to display their talents.
Started off with interviews covering campus events. Even had a web series where I was the first shot, where I gave a lot of local talent a chance to be an actor, even people that was in the College of Communication. They was major; they got a chance to be in an active series while they was in college, and I worked on their acting skills and stuff.
In terms of the platform itself, what kind of impact do you feel Whats the Word has had on the Chicago music and media scene?
I feel the impact it had was that it allowed the everyday person to get more of an insight on new artists, because majority of our audience are fans. I remember when we first started getting notoriety and getting traction and getting that respect. People was trying to compare us to Andrew Barber, and shout out to Drew. That’s a great guy; definitely a person who’s putting on for Chicago hip-hop, for sure, in the media. But the difference between us and Drew was Drew’s following and fans is strictly music. I don’t know too many people that know about music, rap, and stuff Andrew does, and he’s really one of them.
What we done as a publication is Hip Hop not as music, but just Black American culture, Black and Brown American culture. So that’s from the way we talk, the way we dress. That’s the sports. That’s the community stuff. That’s the culture conversation, the conversations that we have right now, even the simplest one is a hundred people versus a gorilla. But when we start talking about how we have these cultural bases that just be with us, and then we understand it was a platform for that. It’s a Chicago platform.
We could talk about everything outside of Chicago, because they say Chicago people when they go places, all they talk about is Chicago. I believe with this platform it allows people that’s not from Chicago to understand that okay, we love our city. But when it comes to just media and just knowledge of what goes on in the world outside of Chicago, people from Chicago are very knowledgeable, and we are some of the dopest people.
What do you think it is about Chicago culture that is so compelling and so different?
You can’t name one sound. I hate that they put the drill on us. You go to these different small pockets I talk about. But you got all these different groups of people, different sounds. You can’t put one thing on us. Sinéad just came out, and now everybody just remembers that Chicago is one of the best blues scenes in the world, if not the best blues scene in the world.
We got so much music here. That’s what makes our culture so unique because New York is New York. LA, you know where people from. But even if you come to Chicago, I can tell exactly where you’re from because there’s something that’s different from where you’re from.
Where do you see Whats the Word in the next 10 years? What’s the ultimate goal for the brand?
The ultimate goal for me is to get into media education. Somewhere trying to figure out how to just keep a pipeline and resources going for Chicago creators to get in the industry. I know the best way to do that is through education.
That’s gonna be one of my goals for 10 years and just continue to be a resource. But of course, I want to pivot into other things. I’ve positioned myself to start thinking about other avenues, because you do something for so long, you grow and expand. But the platform itself I feel is such a gem that I want to allow it to keep going to keep giving those other voices and those other curators a platform.
And just to be there for this homegrown thing. So, 10 years from now, Whats the Word will probably still be doing what it’s doing, but on an international scale. But for myself, I’ll probably not be a hands-on CEO; I might have somebody else doing that.
What advice would you give someone who’s looking to follow in your footsteps and build their own platform?
I would say, don’t. I think that was the thing that I wish that I had. I wish I had a system and an infrastructure, because that’s the Chicago way — everybody want to be the man, we all want to have our own thing.
We all want to have our own thing, and that kind of messes us up because that limits our superpowers that limit us to becoming… I want to say Voltron, but I know I grew up on Power Rangers. So when all the Power Rangers always used to come together, it stops us from doing that, or if you’re an anime, from Goku and Vegeta joining together. It stops that because it becomes a competition instead, and we should be collaborating.
So I would say, don’t start a platform. I would say, build yourself as an individual. So if you are a dope camera person, be the best camera person you can be. Be the best vlogger. Be a good person and build other people up. If you have a media personality, be the best media personality, and figure out what that means for your brand and how you conduct business and stuff like that. Collaborate.
