100 To 3
ARTIST WEEKS By MZ on August 9, 2008 at 8:51 pm
What better way for The Source to ring in ‘98 with their 100th issue? With LL on the cover holding five golden Mics, the house that Mays & Benzino built was living the life as the industry standard when it came to magazines. Looking back on their 9-plus years covering the music we all enjoy, they provided top 100 lists for the best singles, albums, covers, athletes, etc as they not only celebrated their existence but the culture as well. This was evident in all of the congratulations from labels and artists in the advertising. Not satisfied to just recollect on the past, The Source also looked to the future technology would play in regards to the music and how its influences were making the music a global phenomenon.
However, a group of disgruntled staffers had defected with the sole focus of creating a magazine to knock The Source off its pedestal. Unhappy with Benzino’s increasing influence in the editorial and ratings, they fashioned XXL in The Source’s template. After using ‘97 to lay a foundation, XXL started a consistent publication cycle starting with issue #3 in ‘98. Double covers and Eye Candy were two of the few things that differentiated to two as XXL scrambled to secure an audience. At least to me XXL also seemed to be better connected to the audience in it’s writing, but perhaps that was just because they used a lot of new writers, but album reviews has always been a weak spot for them.
For the first time, The Source actually had competition for artist profiles and cover. Sure Vibe was around, but they had their own lane and weren’t Hip-Hop specific. At least in ‘98 it was the readers who benefited the most as more coverage was given to the genre. Back then the internet was really just getting started and magazines were still king of the hill when it came to access of artists. Fast forward to now and The Source is trying to recover from the wrath of ‘Zino and XXL is the leader almost by default as magazines are trying to figure out how they fit in when news happens on a daily, not monthly basis.
Posted in ARTIST WEEKS, GENERAL, SMOKE BREAK — Tags: 1998 Week, Benzino, Goodie Mob, LL Cool J, Source, XXL
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16 Comments
first?
XXL is garbage now
wasnt there an alternative cover to that goodie mob issue?
I was wormin in 98 bitches.
before “Babies Making Babies”, there was “Kissin’ In The Crates”, a 4 volume set of soulful gems compiled by my homeskillet Apple Jac. these compilations were recorded between 2001 & 2002 and for those of you who may be like “where have i heard the name Apple Jac before?”, i posted a dope mix of his entitled “Obscurely Familiar” around these parts earlier this year.
some of these joints may be familiar to us because they’ve been sampled by some of our faves recently, and some haven’t but all and all, this is good quality music that we can all get down with point blank period.
Vol. 1 http://www.zshare.net/download/16790325f02e0f83/
Vol. 2 http://www.zshare.net/download/167914996ea1f67d/
Vol. 3 http://www.zshare.net/download/1678630284f4e2d9/
Vol. 4 http://www.zshare.net/download/16786376d427a334/
and here’s the director’s cut, which is basically songs that didn’t make the transfer from 90min cassette to 74 minute cd’s.
Director’s Cut http://www.zshare.net/download/167926974e361765/
give the homie a holla at myspace.com/applejac, let him know what you think. more heat on deck, we got crates mane…
What a time. The Source was getting worse with each issue and XXL and Blaze (R.I.P.) were kicking it’s ass every month. Meanwhile ALL of those magazines couldn’t hold a candle to Ego Trip (R.I.P.), Stress (R.I.P.), Mass Appeal (R.I.P.), On The Go (R.I.P.) or Subculture (R.I.P.).
I still got shoeboxes full of those mags along with every graf mag you can imagine.
*Reads an old Graphotism*
One.
Does anyone have the first Black Rob Album and also the Fubu Compilation album?
TSS > The Source AND XXL
yeah I said it, what
for one, TSS has better writers/contributors AND a better readership/patrons
two…TSS is free…back in the day I used to boost issues of XXL and The Source by slipping it under my jacket or hoody…nowadays, you couldn’t pay me to read that trash put together by amateurs
props to the TSS Crew for doin’ this shit pro bono
Blaze was trash, I still got 3 issues though. I have tons of old magazines (as evidenced this week) but you can’t front on them cuz back then it was all we had.
i remember BLAZE. had such high hopes for B. it was like remedial hiphop… Word Up mag though Blaze was immature.
100% cosign what teef (misfit, yeah i’m old school) said…TSS is my shit, fa sho…u know what magazine i really miss? Plush…yall ever seen that shit? it was like Dub but for the real hustlin dudes on the block…a big shiny glossy magazine full of “contractors” and “self-emplyed” dudes off the block with DOPE-ASS whips…louis vuitton paint jobs and 26″ rims on a sedan…if u can find a copy, get that shit…as far as music goes, i used to be an xxl fan but tss got me
Gotta cosign on TSS making the grade and then some. Although entirely true, It’s not the “medium/mode of delivery/internet on the daily rather than monthly” argument than completely explains why TSS beats out Source/XXL either. The variety of writers, variation in writing styles and topics all pack the punch that fucks any magazine up. Plus the grit to keep it both gutter enough and willing to branch out allows TSS to have been a regular stop for a good time now. Oh and the countless 5 Mic controversies over who pulls the strings on all that added with Can Ox in 2001 alone would have been enough for me to say, “lemme get some other shit to check”.
XXL was a nice little competitor to the Source back in ‘98. They both had their faults but the Source kept the edge and they both had an audience because darn near no one was checking the ‘net for hip-hop info back then. The Source actually began its downward spiral after the November ‘94 issue and the subsequent Benzino takeover. And in case you’re interested in the older and better versions of Source mags, check them out here:
thimk.wordpress.com
LOL I gotta a extra copy of The Source 100th Issue in shrink wrap ever opened