This year not only did we get voted ‘Best Blog’, we’ve also broadened our coverage and published more stories than ever before!

Tropicult’s 2k15 Milestones:

Big thanks to all of our contributors, readers, and followers for the love and support. Here’s to Miami! To another wonderful year in art, culture and magic!

The Most Popular Tropicult Posts of 2015

1. Carmel Ophir’s Top 3 WMC Event Picks

Coming in as the most read post of the year, Miami music man Carmel Ophir sharing his top event picks for with Tropicult for this year’s Winter Music Conference Industry Insider Series.

2. Miami Music Week Party Guide

Tropicult’s guide’s are packed with events so you don’t miss a beat! This year’s Miami Music Week / WMC party guide was the second most popular post, featuring abundance of giveaways, links to full event and venue information, plus a curated playlist.

3. Magic City Vanishing Venues Act

Next, up a guest post discussing why Miami became the “Magic City” in the early 1900’s due to its rapid development, apparently rising out of the sea as a full blown city seemingly overnight, and how now, with same rapidity, is perverting the soul of the city and performing a vanishing act with our most vibrant and historical entertainment venues including Grand Central, The Vagabond, and The Stage, to name a few.

4. Uncensored: Miami Sunset Senior High-School’s Awful Health Conditions

Miami Sunset Senior High had long been facing horrid health conditions. This school already has a bad reputation (on Yelp, the school hovers at a 2-out-of-5 star rating), but this latest affirmation came in the form of a story online that featured a young student and Tumblr blogger, 16-year-old Ana, who had shared pictures of the school’s condition on her blog.

5. The 32^nd Annual Miami International Film Festival Guide

Whether you’re a patron of the arts looking to enjoy international cinema, a filmmaker looking to learn and network, or just someone who enjoys a good party when they find one, MIFF has something for all. Here are our top picks for the most anticipated films and events (plus: ticket giveaways).

6. Ankara: A Celebration of African Style

Ankara kicked-off this year’s Miami Fashion Week, and in honor of Black History Month, local event planning company and promoter of African culture, Ankara Miami, hosted the first ever African Fashion Week in South Florida. Ankara Miami Fashion Week (AMFW), featured an array of designers, with pieces made of Ankara, a traditional West African cotton fabric.

7. Here Come The Mummies

Here Come The Mummies brought their death march and funkadelic sound through Fort Lauderdale once again on Friday night. The best way to describe HCTM is if George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Miles Davis, Branford Marsalis, Freddy Mercury & King Tut all had kids at the same time and formed a band. Legend has it that there are at least 4 Grammy awards between the group of musicians and countless other accolades. Obviously there is no way to verify the accuracy since their identities are always kept “under wraps” if you will.

8. Behind The Music: Dark Horse Flyer

Dark Horse Flyer was a dream that started back in 1974 when two close friends decided to make awesome, loud music. Don Mularz and Scott Lane, both guitarist and vocalists, enlisted the help of guitar virtuoso John Tillman and a few others to create a classic rock powerhouse called Breeze. It was promising. The music was good, the drive was there. They had a full album written. Then, it suddenly came crashing down as business out of their control sent things into a tailspin. The album was never released. Everyone went their separate ways. Don kept pursuing music while Scott took to the corporate world. Tillman became a session guitarist. Everything was calm.

9. Tim Okamura’s Love, Strength, and Soul

The first thing a friend asked me when she found out Tim Okamura isn’t in fact African-American was “What do you think about that?!” As if to question why that didn’t bother me, and subconsciously insinuating that I somehow should be upset or that the artist is appropriating the image of Black Women in America. Sorry, I don’t subscribe.

10. FIU’s College Radio – WRPG – Gets A Fresh Look

After years of having a small green radiation symbol represent Florida International University’s College Radio Station, WRPG – Radiate FM, the station has decided to give itself a completely new name and look.