Was The Source in its prime any different from Pitchfork?

[mobbinfms]

Hiphop was hipsteriish, that's where it developed among college kids; smart brothers with big glasses and tight jeans in the northern universities. Whether it was Puff throwing parties at Howard or superfeminist Dream Hampton doing documentaries about Biggie for her NYU homework or Rick Rubin making beats in his dorm room or Mays creating a newspaper in his dorm room. The clubs for the big rappers were in shady areas like Hells Kitchen and Soho in NY with cats like Basquiat, Madonna and Andy Warhol and on.
The Source is not like Pitchfork, cause hiphop was more of a face-to-face culture back then. Today the culture is digital, so you don't have to dedicate anything but internet hours to be fully involved. Artists are invited to the same festivals as pop and rock artists, same channel (youtube), same radio (Spotify), same awards and on. Which is also why people can be fully integrated in mad different genres today by dedicating less time and money.

So it's hard to be the same, when times are different but the fact is still that it's often privileged hipsters (black and white), from small towns (with the occasional smart brother from the hood) that moved to "shady parts" of NY like Brooklyn that wrote for magazines back then and today.

Receipts on the last paragraph?

 

[Harry B]

Receipts on the last paragraph?

1. google.com
2. If you really were interested you would know.

 

[SteelCitySoldier]

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.

Any links to this? Sounds like a great read

 

[mobbinfms]

1. google.com
2. If you really were interested you would know.

I've tried to google the identity of all Source writers, with no luck. Apparently you've been able to get the names and background info, post the links breh!

 

[SteelCitySoldier]

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

Great read so far

 

[Harry B]

I've tried to google the identity of all Source writers, with no luck. Apparently you've been able to get the names and background info, post the links breh!

This is observations one has made from reading the source since elementary.
Some hiphop history might be hard for the ones that had a delayed entrance to the culture.

Finding the current staff is not hard, there's this site called Linkedin, you might've heard about it .

The main difficulty is that smaller magazine use an good amount of freelancers.

 

[SteelCitySoldier]

Just finished part 2 of that interview the fukkery

I knew a lot about the "rise and fall" of The Source but this is some next level shyt. Only reason Benzino got away wit that shyt though was because Mays was a bytchboi. nikka wasn't bytchin nobody else there but him. If Mays had told him to fukk off then The Source would have been OK but Mays wanted to be that nikka...or should I say cracka so he sided wit Benzino.

Mays basically fukked up an entire company because he wanted to be a thug. Money wasn't even in play here, RSO wasn't going to blow, Benzino wasn't a business partner or anything just a nikka from the hood who befriended a CAC with a degree from Harvard and took advantage of him and still continues to do so to this day because they run Hip Hop Weekly or some shyt...smh. Dave Mays got to be one of the dumbest muthafukas in Hip Hop History.

 

[SteelCitySoldier]

And speaking of Source Awards, here’s something that you might find interesting. Did you ever wonder why Suge called out Puffy during the 1995 broadcast? Well a couple of Source staffers were hanging out at the venue during the rehearsals when Biggie and later Suge happened to wander by. Biggie began to voice his displeasure about being on Bad Boy and was talking about possibly making a change. Suge told him that he would be happy to have him at Death Row and that they should talk about how they could make that happen. And that’s how the whole mess started.

 

[mobbinfms]

This is observations one has made from reading the source since elementary.
Some hiphop history might be hard for the ones that had a delayed entrance to the culture.

I started reading the Source religiously in early 96, the issue with Ice Cube on the cover throwing up the W. It was hard to come across in CA. Eventually, you could find it in any Walgreens, but at first I had to go to record stores to cop.

I don't remember there being much information about the backgrounds of the writers and there was no way to find out more because this was pre internet. Tell me about some specific observations you made back in elementary school? Names and background information.

When did you start reading it?

Finding the current staff is not hard, there's this site called Linkedin, you might've heard about it .

I could care less about the current staff.
I'm interested in 90-97. Especially 90-91 when they were giving out 5 mics more freely and the identity of everyone on the Mind Squad when Illmatic got 5.
Do you have those names/background information?

 

[Harry B]

I started reading the Source religiously in early 96, the issue with Ice Cube on the cover throwing up the W. It was hard to come across in CA. Eventually, you could find it in any Walgreens, but at first I had to go to record stores to cop.

I don't remember there being much information about the backgrounds of the writers and there was no way to find out more because this was pre internet. Tell me about some specific observations you made back in elementary school? Names and background information.

When did you start reading it?

I could care less about the current staff.
I'm interested in 90-97. Especially 90-91 when they were giving out 5 mics more freely and the identity of everyone on the Mind Squad when Illmatic got 5.
Do you have those names/background information?

If I remember this, I'll ask my mum and my big bro if they have magazines from the 90s in the basement. Or you can google the reviews you are looking for and find the names of the reviewers in the bottom. I can give you the first one, Miss Info, gave Illmatic 5 mics. From Chicago her parents owned a toy store, factory or something, moved to NY to study at an Ivey League school and took it from there.

It will be hard to find as much info about freelancers from 25 years ago unless they became famous.

Some names.

Her passion for hip-hop was just as encompassing, and while she was still in college, she wrote letters to the editors at The Source, and eventually convinced them to let her work as an unpaid intern. “Instead of staying up all night working on the sociology paper that I was supposed to be working on, I’d rather go downtown to the The Source and sit up all night listening to mixtapes and writing about why Outkast is so important.”

Oh transcribed interviews and made copies, and started to pick up assignments from Source editors Jon Shecter, Reginald C. Dennis, and James Bernard. “All of the people that really believed in me and mentored me were men,” Oh says. “A guy is just like, ‘I need this. This person is gonna get it done for me.’” Her bosses saw her as an industry outsider capable of writing impartial, accurate album reviews. In 1994, with their blessing, she famously awarded Nas’ debut Illmatic five mics, The Source’s super-rare, highest award.

 

[The Ruler 09]

Can't speak for anybody else but no-one told me how to feel about anything.

 

[mobbinfms]

If I remember this, I'll ask my mum and my big bro if they have magazines from the 90s in the basement. Or you can google the reviews you are looking for and find the names of the reviewers in the bottom. I can give you the first one, Miss Info, gave Illmatic 5 mics. From Chicago her parents owned a toy store, factory or something, moved to NY to study at an Ivey League school and took it from there.

It will be hard to find as much info about freelancers from 25 years ago unless they became famous.

Some names.

I know about Miss Info.
But what you quoted is inaccurate. She did not singlehandedly award Illmatic 5 mics. All of the ratings were done by committee. The mind squad. I'm surprised you don't remember that.

I have pulled an interview from her before where she admitted having no say in how many mics Illmatic got.

So when did you start reading the Source? Sometime in the 2000s? And are you from the UK?

Schector and Mays were the white guys from Harvard. Bernard and Dennis are African American.

 

[mobbinfms]

Can't speak for anybody else but no-one told me how to feel about anything.

Can't nobody tell my breh @The Ruler 09 shyt

 

[Harry B]

I know about Miss Info.
But what you quoted is inaccurate. She did not singlehandedly award Illmatic 5 mics. All of the ratings were done by committee. The mind squad. I'm surprised you don't remember that.

I have pulled an interview from her before where she admitted having no say in how many mics Illmatic got.

So when did you start reading the Source? Sometime in the 2000s? And are you from the UK?

Schector and Mays were the white guys from Harvard. Bernard and Dennis are African American.

Around 94-95, no I'm not from the UK.

And yes, it's obvious that they wouldn't let an unpaid teenage intern give out 5 mic ratings, she wrote the review.
Are you trolling and wasting my time? If you know of the mind squad, you would already know about 6-7 dudes from that period and by googling them and checking their social media/interviews etc you could find more.

Last time I use google for you, Rap Research Archive: Reginald C. Dennis interview (Source magazine)

 

[mobbinfms]

Around 94-95, no I'm from Brooklyn in New York (note that I'm using your rhetoric).

I have no idea what you mean by "using your rhetoric".

And yes, it's obvious that they wouldn't let an unpaid teenage intern give out 5 mic ratings, she wrote the review.
Are you trolling and wasting my time? If you know of the mind squad, you would already know about 6-7 dudes from that period and by googling them and checking their social media/interviews etc you could find more.

Last time I use google for you, Rap Research Archive: Reginald C. Dennis interview (Source magazine)

Just seeing you edited your post.
I'll check the link.