In a kind of evolutionary suicide, this month we're doing something very cool and dangerous -- talkin' 'bout hip hop magazines. This may insure that the operative will never get work from any of them again. Oh well. The truth is more important.
The operative has a real job anyway.
The Source. Oft-called "the bible of hip hop," just as roundly called snobbishly eastcoastcentric. Both are true. No voice is as well heard as the Source, and that pulpit has been abused for groupieism, intoxicants and drama. The current staff has recovered over the excess of the past (the design is lovely, go Carlito!), but is it all bueno? The claim of not covering the West Coast and other markets was supposed to be answered by a regional bureaus. But after teasing the west's finest in job interviews, the program was rescinded and some goon from Details (your "huh???" is well founded, Details don't give a damn for hip hop) got put on. Mas? The Bishop's recent article on 40-Water says Fonzerelli's from Oakland (really from Vallejo -- try calling a Puerto Rican Mexican and you'll get a similar sense of disgust), half the news section is drier than rice cakes ... *tsk* (operative's note: Frank Williams was recently appointed west coast bureau chief of The Source. He's good, but not the best person for the job. We shall see ...)
Rap Sheet? Barely worth mentioning. "Hip hop's first newspaper" is plagued by its lack of professionalism, elitism at its overpriced conferences, and general indifference by the majority of hip hop. It's a dictatorial house run under one rule and one aesthetic, whose major contribution is an annual convention that few people in hip hop can attend (you got $350 to blow flossin?). Next!
Vibe? Cool concept, trendy feel, Vibe follows where it wants to lead. In attempting to enter pure hip hop with new imprint Blaze, it's saying that cash rules everything in writing. It smells like Chris Spencer -- begging for cancellation. Editor-in-chief Jesse Washington's ludicrous claims that Wyclef pulled a gun on him over a bad review (which few industry insiders believe and Washington ain't produced corroborating "witnesses") help the whole organization linger under a cloud of ill repute, a Lugz veneer covering Versace suits, rap game suffocating hip hop culture.
... and they still owe the operative two Benjamins for that Luniz review!
Don't think Rap Pages is immune. Top heavy with people who don't know/care about hip hop, recovering from bad hires, hindered by underfunding, playerhated by second rate industry impressions and struggling to establish a voice after seven years of publication, Rap Pages is far from the bomb it can be. There are strong points (such as this column, the Poetess, improved reviews, etc.), but Massa Flynt reaps all the benefits and hates giving anything back. The staffers may have the culture's best interests at heart, as an entity the magazine wants to grow up and be Vibe, making major cheddar and keeping it, f*&% mutha%@#$as who make it happen.
We're reserving judgment on XXL until we see more of what they sayin.'
There are many others, harder to find pieces like Trace and Ego Trip and Urb and 4080, ad infinitum. Most you'll never see (no skrilla), others are so niche they have no desire to expand (good to be true to their isht, bad because important voices are limited by geography).
What's the verdict on hip hop magazines? BDK said "ain't no half steppin," but most publications walkin' 'round on one foot. Skim pieces that catch your eye at the newsstand (tell the cashier you're comparison shopping and maddog), see if they keepin' it right. Drop ducats for righteous stuff. It's not a jungle out there -- it's an obstacle course -- and this operative don't wanna see us getting caught.
