// Hip-Hop
5 albums in this genre.
Deflated
The story of Phil Katz, the programmer who created PKZIP and the .ZIP file format — one of the most ubiquitous file formats in computing history. Despite his creation being used by billions of people daily (.zip, .jar, .docx, .apk are all ZIP under the hood), Katz died alone at age 37 in Room 566 of a Milwaukee motel, surrounded by empty liquor bottles.
Distros
The story of Linux told through its distributions. Each track profiles a major distro - its founder, philosophy, triumphs, and struggles. Arranged chronologically from 1993 to 2020, the album traces the evolution of open source: from lone hackers in basements to billion-dollar acquisitions, from purity to pragmatism, from idealism to industry.
SubSeven
The complete history of Sub7, the remote access trojan that shaped early 2000s hacker culture. From a Romanian teenager teaching himself Delphi in Windsor, Ontario, to the tool that powered a generation of script kiddies, to the mysterious disappearance of its creator - and the imposter who claimed credit for over a decade.
Compound Interest
Compound Interest traces the arc of internet fraud from its almost-comedic origins to its current incarnation as a human rights crisis. The album opens in 1990s/2000s Lagos with Yahoo Boys hustling in cyber cafes, moves through the professionalization of romance scams, and descends into the horror of Southeast Asian trafficking compounds where both the scammer and the scammed are victims.
Connection Lost
Connection Lost is bitwize's nostalgic journey through the lost digital landscape of the early internet. From BBS dial-up days to LAN parties, from hacker culture to the corporate takeover - this album is a funeral for the free internet.