I’ve stated many times on this website my disdain for The Source Magazine. In recent times it has become the antithesis of what it started out to be. It has gone through an editor or two and some style changes, but for the most part was the major hip-hop magazine to turn to if one needed some info or wanted to stay on the cutting edge.

In recent times, the source has become nothing short of a mess of Made Men advertisements, commercialism and soap box rants. Fueled by the creation of another hip-hop magazine, XXL, I initially thought that The Source (or The Sauce as it is called sometimes) would renew its desire. To be hungry and would bring back the essence that made it so successful before. In recent months, there have been several suspect people on the cover of The Source, including Jermaine Dupri who sported red, white and blue for patriotism I suppose on the cover of the annual Sex issue.


Recently I picked up what is going to be (I swear this time) my last issue of The Source, a special 150th issue that I couldn’t resist, because I figured it would at least be about the good old days and not a bunch of b.s. On top of that, hip-hop is pretty stagnate as of late, which is kind of depressing for fans, so I guess I was feeling all nostalgic and so I dropped my $2.99 as a farewell to a magazine I once looked forward to seeing in my mailbox each month.


For those of you who might be interested in The Source, for whatever reasons those may be, I’ll give you an insider’s look at what’s inside, although, I would just skip it all together and go read XXL which is funnier, wittier and hungrier. Before you get to the first real words in the magazine (and I’m speaking only on the March 2002 issue, although typically there are just as many), there are 19 different advertisements (that’s about 38 pages because most were 2 page ads). They range from Calvin Klein to Ecko. The first words in the magazine (besides the table of contents) are from the editor, who at this point in time is Carlito Rodriguez. Having been a reader of this magazine for so long, when Carlito became editor, I was kind of shocked because although I do remember him, I remember his small contributions, but hey – I’m not in charge over there.


Every month there are some static things that you find within the magazine. Letters from readers are some of the most interesting and if you’re reading, you should check those out. From memory, my favorite sections of the magazine are Coast 2 Coast which is a picture section of the magazine and music artists. I formerly looked forward to Graf Flix, which is a monthly homage to the graffiti lovers of the hip-hop world, and I was even known to enjoy the crossword puzzle (yeah, a crossword puzzle, sue me). Undoubtedly what most people look for in the magazine is the monthly record reviews where various hip-hop records get rated on a 5 mic system. The Source has been known to cause much controversy on ratings they have given, it used to be that it was hard to attain 5 mic status, but in recent months both Jay-Z and Nas have gotten the blessing.


If you’re a lyrics junkie, then there’s the Hip-Hop Quotable which features some hot lyrics from someone in the industry who’s creating noise. Another one of the better parts of the magazine is Unsigned Hype which features a young emcee of femcee (thanks Mad) who’s looking for a record deal.


Other than the things that I’ve highlighted, The Source has pretty much turned into a big piece of wasted paper. It seems that they’re always just two steps behind. And in the last 3 or 4 months that I did read the source, I didn’t read not ONE cover story, because I would start them and they all sucked. So, take your chances if you must, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.




Recommended: No

Favorite Type of Music: Other