I asked the owner of my favorite Mom-n-Pop bookstore where all her music mags went, why the racks were so thinned out. She replied, “It’s not beneficial to anyone to keep magazines on our shelves if they’re not selling.” Following the law of supply and demand, distributors don’t deliver when the demand isn’t there.

All that’s left of this favored magazine section is obscure reads about electric guitars, bass guitars, acoustic guitars and just plain ghyee-tahhrs. These are the mags I thought no one actually bought, until I saw they were the only publications left amidst a peppering of Rolling Stones, Pastes and Filters. No XXL, no The Source, no FADER, no Wax Poetics. I expect Paste and Filter will be gone any day now too.

Disheartening? Sometimes. Read the rest of this entry »

Urb has “suspended” it’s print version until further notice.  Which means we’ll only be blessed with their online version, unless some billionaire decides to take a chance on it. Meaning it’s more than likely gone the way of the dodo, dinosaur & countless Hip-Hop mags which came before it. Read the rest of this entry »

If you thought pop-up ad’s were annoying on the ‘ net, wait until you see this.  CBS has placed pop-up ad’s in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly for it’s new fall line-up.  Read the rest of this entry »

“I’m presently thinking about the future.”

I have the utmost respect for Gotty™ and his taste in music even though at times I have fundamental disagreements with his choices. Case in point. Read the rest of this entry »

All of this talk of 1998, greatness & classics, it lead me to do some thinking and digging. We’re all consciously aware that most Hip-Hop periodicals have lost quite a bit of their relevancy & credibility. But there was indeed a time when what they said mattered. When they rated albums, you were hard-pressed to argue against them because, before payola & scandal beset them, the periodicals & their respective staffs showed a keen knowledge for was/wasn’t that knock.

Looking back left me wondering, where are you on the The Source‘s list of 5 Mic Albums? Read the rest of this entry »