Was The Source in its prime any different from Pitchfork?

[Mike Otherz]

owned by privelaged ivy league cacs, most of the writers were ivy league cacs, granted they were self conscious about it so wore Fubu.


they also in hindsight, used mad embarrasing rap ebonics in their prose, i guess to connect to the culture more or what they thought black people who read them sounded like. even though im pretty sure The Source was mostly bought by cacs in middle america like a young eminem, who were into rap.


so a lot of your ideas about rap music and its participants were formed by reading the words of a bunch of privelaged rich kids who were into a new “dangerous” art form, just typical liberal white people exoticising of people unlike them. the same people that write for pitchfork, fader, complex in 2016, would have been writing at the source back in the day.

all your ideas of good rap music and bad rap music comes from these people telling you what to think. man, i think we might need to re-think the whole rap music cannon since its authors are untrustworthy.


how does it feel that miss info, a gossip columnist for life, and a condesending bottom feeder told you how to feel about Illmatic? or Ready To Die?

 

[Gains]

when was The Source in its prime ?

 

[1/2OfDaBruinz]

Yes, the source was very different from pitchfork. First and foremost, it was strictly a Hip Hop publication, unlike a pitchfork, complex, fader, etc....

As well, it was a totally different era in Hip Hop and journalism. Of course the Source had agendas, but anything media involved has some sort of agenda or bias. And however many white people were writing for the Source, they didn't seem to come off as out of touch as these "hipsterish" publications.

When you read shyt like complex or pitchfork, you sometimes get the sense that they look at hip hop as a novelty, or not take it seriously as they do other genres. Like it's cute or something. I never got that vibe while reading the source.

 

[DANJ!]

Breh... the Source was damn near at one point the only hip-hop mag with real content. There were lots of mags with posters and little shytty interviews, the Source really went in with their features and always had the best articles. And sure there were 'cacs', but most of the main writers were actually Black and Latino- Reginald Dennis, James Bernard, Kierna Mayo, dream hampton, Carlito Rodriguez, Selwyn Hinds, etc... and the 'cacs' weren't hipsters tryin' to prove they were hip-hop- they knew their shyt.

 

[mobbinfms]

most of the writers were ivy league cacs

Receipts?

 

[DANJ!]

Receipts?

You know damn well... people just be makin' shyt up, breh.

 

[filial_piety]

The Source was the go to magazine for Hip Hop before Benzino took over. During the mid-late 90s, it actually had pretty good journalism. I don't think I missed a single issue between 1996 to 2004. I still have them all til this day.

But It's been ruled by mob politics ever since. And it's attempt to springboard itself into "social awareness" politics is when it fell off. That and the fact that rap artists in general fell off at about that time.

 

[T.H.E. Goat]

The Source used to be dope back in the day

 

[FeloniousMonk]

The Source was the go to magazine for Hip Hop before Benzino took over. During the mid-late 90s, it actually had pretty good journalism. I don't think I missed a single issue between 1996 to 2004. I still have them all til this day.

But It's been ruled by mob politics ever since. And it's attempt to springboard itself into "social awareness" politics is when it fell off. That and the fact that rap artists in general fell off at about that time.

Benzino was fukking with Dave from the beginnings tho. If Im not mistaken.

I think it was Zinos's plan to bogart/infiltrate/finesse his way into the magazine from his introduction to Mayes.

The nicca did have a group to promote

 

[DANJ!]

Benzino was fukking with Dave from the beginnings tho. If Im not mistaken.

I think it was Zinos's plan to bogart/infiltrate/finesse his way into the magazine from his introduction to Mayes.

The nicca did have a group to promote

Yeah... from what I've read, he was always hangin' around and cool with Dave Mays, then gradually he started 'invading', and eventually became a co-owner. There was this great interview with Reginald Dennis where he broke down the whole Source situation. Said it was started by Mays and Jon Shecter- they were both white but they were different. Shecter loved hip-hop but still accepted that he was a white kid from the suburbs, never tried to be something he wasn't. But Mays resented that about himself and always went seeking acceptance and 'street cred', and that's how he started hangin' with RSO. So as time went on, he wanted to be down so bad he started lettin' Benzino run the show and doin' slick shyt to promote RSO.

 

[JustCKing]

The Source in it's prime (I'd even take a Source review over Pitchfork now) >>>>>>>> Pitchfork because it wasn't "trying" to be anything. When reading a Source review, they weren't pretentious. There wasn't much, if any hyperbolic statements to big up an album or make the reader look un-credible for not agreeing or liking an album that they wrote positively about. If you got a perfect rating from The Source, the review backed it up. If you got a low rating from The Source, the review backed it up. Their album reviews didn't read like an APA research paper that flexes the writer's literary expertise like Pitchfork reviews.

 

[FeloniousMonk]

Yeah... from what I've read, he was always hangin' around and cool with Dave Mays, then gradually he started 'invading', and eventually became a co-owner. There was this great interview with Reginald Dennis where he broke down the whole Source situation. Said it was started by Mays and Jon Shecter- they were both white but they were different. Shecter loved hip-hop but still accepted that he was a white kid from the suburbs, never tried to be something he wasn't. But Mays resented that about himself and always went seeking acceptance and 'street cred', and that's how he started hangin' with RSO. So as time went on, he wanted to be down so bad he started lettin' Benzino run the show and doin' slick shyt to promote RSO.

Yep this was the article.

 

[Deflatedhoopdreams]

You have to be fukking joking me??

 

[Osmar]

When you read shyt like complex or pitchfork, you sometimes get the sense that they look at hip hop as a novelty, or not take it seriously as they do other genres. Like it's cute or something. I never got that vibe while reading the source.

I agree with this description of Pitchfork writers who cover hip-hop

I can easily see them 5 years from now writing how they had a "hip-hop phase" when they were younger and grew out of it.

 

[DANJ!]

You have to be fukking joking me??

Sad part is, he's probably not... he really believes that.