Was The Source in its prime any different from Pitchfork?

[DANJ!]

yo @mobbinfms

Here's some names to look up: Reginald Dennis, James Bernard, Kierna Mayo, Matteo Capoluongo, Chris Wilder, Jon Shecter, Allen S. Gordon, Adario Strange, dream hampton, Carlito Rodriguez, Rigo Morales, Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, Upski Wimsatt, P-Frank Williams... these are mostly writers from the time period youre talking about... some of them were also the original XXL staff.

 

[DPG]

This isn't true. I will post a link to a thread I made about the Sources top 100 albums list from 98 that morphed into a discussion about regional bias that the breh @DANJ! completely shut down with recollections of reviews. A lot of reviews were posted too.

From what I can remember reading, they had an East Coast bias. Still, the Source had a significant decrease in quality and every coast was getting poor ratings and reviews at one point or another.

I'll read through the thread and see if it changes my point of view.

 

[mobbinfms]

From what I can remember reading, they had an East Coast bias. Still, the Source had a significant decrease in quality and every coast was getting poor ratings and reviews at one point or another.

I'll read through the thread and see if it changes my point of view.

Yeah the conventional window has always been that the Source was biased against the West and South, the classic examples being the Chronic not getting 5 and Doggystyle getting 4. But read through the thread and let us know if you see enough counter examples to change your mind or at least think twice about the whole thing.

 

[mobbinfms]

yo @mobbinfms

Here's some names to look up: Reginald Dennis, James Bernard, Kierna Mayo, Matteo Capoluongo, Chris Wilder, Jon Shecter, Allen S. Gordon, Adario Strange, dream hampton, Carlito Rodriguez, Rigo Morales, Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, Upski Wimsatt, P-Frank Williams... these are mostly writers from the time period youre talking about... some of them were also the original XXL staff.

I've been looking up some people here and there reading that interview with Reginald Dennis. Seems that the idea that the people giving out the mics were white people from small towns was a myth.

 

[SteelCitySoldier]

Bout to see if there are any interviews from anyone else at the Source

 

[nieman]

Does the OP know that people also bought The Source for the actual articles, and the mic ratings was last? What about all of the political articles, health pieces, social commentary pieces, writes-ups on forgotten figures in the 4 elements, etc. Verse of the Month was more popular than mics at one point. When the mics became the focus, that's when it lost everything else. But by this time, it's like '97-'98, and XXL has debuted. And XXL eclipsed The Source for it's articles, not rating system. Actually, the XXL rating system has always been wack.

 

[Juneya]

when was The Source in its prime ?

Young nikkas lol

 

[Juneya]

Does the OP know that people also bought The Source for the actual articles, and the mic ratings was last? What about all of the political articles, health pieces, social commentary pieces, writes-ups on forgotten figures in the 4 elements, etc. Verse of the Month was more popular than mics at one point. When the mics became the focus, that's when it lost everything else. But by this time, it's like '97-'98, and XXL has debuted. And XXL eclipsed The Source for it's articles, not rating system. Actually, the XXL rating system has always been wack.

Naw he don't. We don't know our history bruh.

 

[Juneya]

They don't know because we don't teach them tho
We talk down on them for not knowing.

Man all the way up until the benzino/Eminem beef... The source was the shyt. Period. All around. Fat tape. The articles. Everything. The source was like ESPN on paper. Lol... Had to have it. Every month.

 

[SteelCitySoldier]

They don't know because we don't teach them tho
We talk down on them for not knowing.

Man all the way up until the benzino/Eminem beef... The source was the shyt. Period. All around. Fat tape. The articles. Everything. The source was like ESPN on paper. Lol... Had to have it. Every month.

Can't agree wit this statement. Nobody taught me bout the Source it was somethin I saw and gravitated towards it, just like XXL and Murder Dog.

Younger generation don't give a fukk bout the past

 

[DPG]

Yeah the conventional window has always been that the Source was biased against the West and South, the classic examples being the Chronic not getting 5 and Doggystyle getting 4. But read through the thread and let us know if you see enough counter examples to change your mind or at least think twice about the whole thing.

@mobbinfms Props for that thread. I definitely exaggerated with the whole "East Coast bias" thing after reading through it and looking at the ratings again, so I stand corrected in that regard. But I still feel there is a slight bias towards the East, just not as much as I initially implied though.

I disagree with quite a few of their West Coast ratings; Illegal Business, It's a Compton Thang, Season of da Siccness, It's On (Dr. Dre 187) Killa , G Funk Era, 187 He Wrote, In a Major Way and Real Brothas to name a few.

 

[nieman]

They don't know because we don't teach them tho
We talk down on them for not knowing.

Man all the way up until the benzino/Eminem beef... The source was the shyt. Period. All around. Fat tape. The articles. Everything. The source was like ESPN on paper. Lol... Had to have it. Every month.

I think that we attempt to, they just refuse to embrace. We can only try but so much before we realize it's a lost cause.

 

[hex]

Well for one, I was one of those checking The Source during its prime and I've never been a NY resident and even while I acknowledge Illmatic's greatness I know I damn sure copped it as a result of that Source review (I had never heard that so called 'Live @ the bbq' verse)

And its not about being geeked off, during the early Source era hip hop was way regional and the only way to find out what others were listening to was through your college friends from outta state or mainstream mags such as The Source (with all the fukkery that encompassed i.e east/west beef etc) So they were not supplementary to any conversation, they literally created the east/west beef.

If not for the pseudo in depth journalism of The Source not only does this forum not exist, hell this thread where the OP asks us to compare and contrast some obscure element of the artform does not exist. And Future would just be some catchy shyt I heard on the radio and maybe copped the album and then talked about it with my friends when chiefin while Run The Jewels would be a "what the fukk is a run the jewels?" (because I first read about The Funcrusher Plus ep on...you guessed it, The Source)

Even LL has got that fukkin mike tatted on his arm

Breh "The Source" didn't start conversations about anything. Let alone rap forums as a whole. If you were in an urban environment all of this was a topic of conversation. Who had the best verse, what the best song was, what album was good, etc. That was common place. Forums like this are just an extension of that.

The biggest point of contention among fans was who got the Hip-Hop Quotable, not the ratings. That shyt would spark an argument real fast.

And for the record I'm from Kansas City, Missouri. Which isn't some kinda cultural mecca. But between The Box, Yo! MTV Raps, Rap City, magazines, friends/family/class mates out of state it wasn't hard to follow rap in the 80's. I knew who Nas was long before his debut. Honestly I had no idea "Illmatic" even got 5 mics until years later. Dudes wasn't checking for that kinda shyt back then, not in my age bracket anyway. I was 18 in '94.

Hell, never mind all that. Look at how "The Source" went back and adjusted a gang of their old ratings around 2001 or 2002. This isn't the actions of something that ever dictated what is hot....they voiced their opinion, history unfolded and they realized fans crowned certain albums and rappers totally independent of their ratings, so they had to concede the point.

Fred.

 

[licktheballs]

Rap Research Archive: Reginald C. Dennis interview (Source magazine)

Great read so far

Dapped and Repped for the link

Great read

 

[Gains]

Young nikkas lol

the question was rhetorical