Today`s gon` be another one of my Get Your Read On posts, hope y`all enjoyed the last one. I`ve decided that I`m going to start sharing with y`all some scans of some old Hip Hop magazines. So I`m gon` start things off with The Source. If for some reason you don`t happen to know what I`m referring to I will give you a lil` rundown, but honestly this is something that you should know about if you`re in to Hip Hop at all......LoL, unlike what The Source magazine has become today, back in it`s beginning years it was almost considered to be like a 'Hip Hop Bible'. If you were mentioned in that mag, whether thru an interview, an album review, their Unsigned Hype column, their Hip Hop Quotable, etc. it was an Orka BiG deal!!!
The mag` originally started back in 1988 as just a lil` newsletter created by 4 friends who were attending Harvard University at the time. David Mays was the publisher, Jon Shecter was the editor-in-chief, while James Benard was the senior editor & Ed Young took on the role of associate publisher. As time progressed just like Hip Hop The Source magazine began to grow, it`s original editors resigned & others took their place. It was lookin` real good for a few years, things were blowin` up for both Hip Hop & The Source magazine...
Unfortunately though, all good things come to an end eventually & even though The Source magazine is still currently in publication now -- it`s safe to say that the day David Mays decided to make Raymond Scott, or as the Hip Hop world knows him Benzino, a co-owner of The Source magazine was the day that the honor & respect the mag` once held was lost FOREVER!!!
Benzino had his foot in the door long before he became a co-owner though. You see Benzino was a part of this Hip Hop group from Boston called the Almighty RSO, his crew needed some credibility so Benzino stepped to David Mays & asked him to be the group`s manager. Mays accepted, using Mays` connections within the industry Benzino was able to work out a deal for his group with Tommy Boy Records. Later on, sometime in 1994 Benzino stepped to Mays` & pressured him into placing a 3-page article about the Almighty RSO in an issue of The Source against the will of the editors at the time, the article was done & many of the magazine`s staff walked out because of this...
From then on Benzino & his crew (Almighty RSO/ Made Men) were given much favorable coverage in the magazine. An example of this is back in 1999 Benzino`s crew Made Men (a revamped Almighty RSO) released the album titled "Classic Limited Edition" & it was given a 4-and-a-half mic rating in The Source magazine. The funny thing is that apparently the actual writer that 'reviewed' the album doesn`t even exist. Obviously once the word got out that Benzino was able to manipulate the 'mic rating system' in his favor the magazine lost most of it`s credibility in Hip Hop`s eyes...
Fast~forward to 2002, Benzino`s engaged in a beef with Eminem. The beef stems from Eminem DiSS`n The Source magazine because he felt that his "Mashall Mathers LP" should`ve received a 5 mic rating. So Benzino started firing back with his own DiSSeS, he claimed that Eminem wasn`t being 'real' & true to the Hip Hop culture. The two traded DiSS records back & forth for a while, in the end when the smoke cleared it was easy to see that Eminem was the winner of the battle because Hip Hop`s fans made it clear that they hated Benzino for what he was doin`...
Still bitter about his place in Hip Hop Benzino came up with another way to take shots at Eminem`s credibility, his plan was to use The Source magazine to do his dirty work. David Mays & Benzino were able to dig up some old tapes of a young Eminem spittin` some racist rhymes about Black women. There was an entire issue dedicated to the discovery of these racist rhymes of Eminem`s as well as some articles about how Eminem was bad for the Hip Hop culture. With no choice Eminem manned up apologized & admitted to spitting the raps on these tapes, but he also gave his side of the story which was that he did those freestyles after a bad break~up with his girlfriend at the time (who was Black)...
With all this buzz surrounding these tapes The Source announced that they were planning to include a CD of these Eminem freestyles with an upcoming issue of it`s magazine. Once Eminem caught wind of the idea he sued The Source for copyright infringement & defamation of character. The Federal Courts allowed an injunction that would limit the distribution of the tape`s lyrical content, however The Source magazine ignored all that & published the lyrics on their website as well as in their magazine. By doing this The Source was found to be in contempt of court & were forced to pay Eminem a good chunk of compensation...
Eventually, in around 2005 Eminem & his legal team decided to drop the lawsuit claiming that there was no longer any issues between Eminem & The Source magazine. Eventually Benzino stepped down from his position as co-owner of The Source, I`m pretty sure he decided to do this before he ended up actually being forced to leave. There was plenty of other ish that happened following this, but I don`t really feel like spending the time on it....LoL
So that`s my lil` rundown on The Source magazine, I still can`t believe how it was all allowed to happen. It`s kind of funny how Benzino was accusing Eminem of being a fake, an industry clone when in actuality it was he who was just that. Anyway I got a lil` sidetracked with this post, so let me get to the point.....LoL, thanks to Larry2times I`m able to share with y`all issue #22 of The Source magazine originally published back in July 1991. Check it out & enjoy...
Released: July 1991
Here`s a lil` description of the content in this issue...
* The Editorial talks about the fall of big Hip Hop tours like Fresh Fest
* Female rapper Yo-Yo gets the Hip Hop Quotable Of The Month
for her opening verse on "You Can`t Play With My Yo-Yo"
* There`s an article covering the DMC`s in London
* A lil` write~up on Jimmy "E-Man" Castor
* Unsigned Hype features Poetical Prophets a.k.a. Mobb Deep
* Producer`s Profile on DJ Premier
* There`s an interesting article on N.W.A.
* The Regional Reports cover;
New York, L.A., Atlanta, the Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, London (UK), Miami, Twin Cities, Seattle & Washington D.C.
* Microphone Check with Shabba Ranks
* There`s an interesting article on 'Sexism In Hip Hop'
* DJ Quik article (good read)
* The Slick Rick article is in my opinion the best thing in this issue, very interesting read! For those that always wondered about how Rick ended up in prison, you need to read this...
* The Record Report reviews;
Terminator X`s "The Valley Of The Jeep Beats", Ice-T`s "O.G.: Original Gangster", KMD`s "Mr. Hood", Son Of Bazerk`s "Bazerk, Bazerk, Bazerk", Kool Moe Dee`s "Funke, Funke Wisdom", Michie Mee & L.A. Luv`s "Jamaican Funk - Canadian Style", Diamond Shell`s "The Grand Imperial Diamond Shell", PID`s "The Chosen Few" & MC Breed & DFC`s self titled album
* Singles reviewed;
Black Sheep`s "Flavor Of The Month" b/w "Butt In The Meanwhile", Main Source`s "Just Hangin` Out Remix" b/w "Live At The BBQ", Kool G. Rap & DJ Polo`s "Bad To The Bone", Paris` "The Hate That Hate Made" b/w "Wretched" & "Lights, Camera, Revolution", Young Black Teenagers` "Loud & Hard To Hit" b/w "Korner Groove", Grand Daddy I.U`s "Sugar Free", Stetsasonic`s "So Let The Fun Begin (Remixes)" b/w "Peace" & "Hip Hop Band", Success-N-Effect`s "Blueprint" b/w "Rhymes That Thrill Ya"
N`JoY...
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