Help The Source - And Help Hip Hop

Slav Kandyba writes Hip-Hop Files, a hip-hop journalism column at ProHipHop.

The first shall be last, and the last shall be the first. Everyone knows that, because if anyone knows anything it's that cycles are part of existence on planet Earth. With that sentiment in mind, take the following as seriously as you would take death or birth of a loved one. Oh, and just to be blunt before going any further, The Source Magazine is a loved one to me and not just because I write for it and occasionally get a check.

The Source Magazine began in 1988 out of a Harvard dorm room at Harvard. The intent was simply to journalize Hip-Hop culture, nothing more or less. Not Dave Mays, not Ray "Benzino" Scott, not any other person affiliated with the Source knew that the magazine -- and Hip-Hop culture -- would become a billion-dollar industry in the 1990s. The Source certainly had its cake and ate it too back then, just ask Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, its former editor in chief during the heyday (who attended Princeton, not Harvard, how do you like the irony?) In any case, over its almost 20 years in business, The Source has seen the highs and right now, it's seeing the lows. There's no need to explain here what those lows are, suffice it to say that intra-Hip-Hop beef leads to self-destruction faster than the lives of hijackers aiming two planes for the World Trade Center.

With Internet becoming the 'new media' in more ways than one and Web sites such as AllHipHop.com, HipHopDX and XYZ Hip-Hop Web sites trying to do battle each other for the Hip-Hop-attuned audiences, it's no surprise that anybody and everybody is taking it out on the Source at any given chance. While in my four years of practicing journalism professionally I've noticed enough backstabbing, hating and other games people play, I've never observed the sort of hate and ill will wished upon a seminal news source by it's own audience. It's like waking up one day and watching each and every Jew hate the New York Times, arguably the world's best newspaper that, for all intensive purposes, wouldn't have become what it is without a Jew named Adolph Ochs (you gotta love that irony with a name like Adolph).

So as not to consume too much of your precious time, let me jump right into the nitty gritty with a proposal. Since it looks like the Source is up you know what creek these days financially and it's current owners are African-Americans who don't care too much for Hip-Hop as much as they do for publishing, I say it's time that the Hip-Hop nation help the Source. While this is not a call for a fundraising drive by any means, what it is is simply an appeal to common sense of anybody that gives a damn about Hip-Hop. Rest assured, with or without anyone's help, the formidable brand that is The Source will live on. The question is whether it will live on with or without your help.

Slav Kandyba is a staff writer at the California Real Estate Journal where he writes about the commercial real estate industry in the Inland Empire (the 909). A former staff writer for AllHipHop.com and former editor in chief of the Daily Sundial at his alma mater California State University, Northridge, he also writes for The Source.

Comments

[Jarrett Carter]

I think that the Source, and hip-hop pubs in general, are going to have to get out of the MTV mentality.

What I mean by that, is that they are entities who believe that any and everybody should be running to them and willing to work for damn near free just because of their names and the industry that they cover. In order to make these pubs relevant and respectable, there must be a renaissance from the top down.

Trained and credentialed editors and writers who can even the scales on hip-hop journalism will do our media some good.

[Clyde Smith]

The thing is, Slav, I don't really see all this hatred for The Source. I saw a lot by the end of Mays & Benzino for Mays & Benzino and their business & editorial practices, but I don't really get that now.

On the flip side, I think there has been a lot of sympathy for The Source that the magazine has not mobilized. To be honest, I've heard a lot more from you about their plans in your occasional posts than I do from official spokespeople for the magazine itself.

I'm in the dark. I don't know what's going on there. I don't know anything about how they intend to differentiate themselves. And, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how saving The Source will help hip hop, since I don't have a clue as to what they'd do if they did get saved.

I don't get PR from The Source. I could be forgetting, but I don't remember the new guys ever really reaching out to me or other people that have been covering developments at The Source.

I'm not saying they should be buddy buddy or even care but you've got to reach out.

I could say a lot more but The Source has not positioned itself for a revival in the minds of hip hop fans.

[A-Town]

THE SOURCE will come back but it won't be what it was in the early parts of this decade. The only thing that can make them truly relevant again is if they focus on the underground/unsigned scene who would be more open to their shady pass..."The Industry" has already made up its collective mind about where THE SOURCE stands.

[Clyde Smith]

"who would be more open to their shady pass..."The Industry" has already made up its collective mind about where THE SOURCE stands."

Well, I guess you're proving me wrong and Slav right. Unless you're claiming something on the current folks that no one has discussed publically, these aren't the guys with the shady past. They're gone.

So mistaken impressions still abound as evidenced by A-Town's contribution to the discussion.

[Sidik Fofana]

I feel you on that piece, Slav. I feel like the Source can easily be saved. Maybe some of those superstar writers that got their big break from writing from the Source should come back and do some pro bono! In a lot of ways, the Source was a community endeavors and there are many who got big off the Source who are not stepping up and saying, "you know what? this is a beloved magazine for hip-hop!" just gestures would go a long way. i feel you on your thoughts, though.

[Slav Kandyba]

Thanks, Sidik.

I'm starting to think that the only real chance The Source has of getting out of its multimillion dollar financial hole is if people who give two sh-ts about Hip-Hop and have money (like say, Swizz Beats, who said in a rhyme he can write a $5 million check right now or something to that effect) step up and put that money on the table to pay off the debt. Then, perhaps it'd be smart business for Black Enterprise/Greenwhich or whomever the board is to take Source Enterprises public. That may be farfetched just like most great ideas (it may not be so great idea if The Source continues to lack hard-hitting, grown up Hip-Hop journalism not that kiddy, promotional stuff), but it's an idea that I can think can make The Source great again once and for all. The concept of "public trust" is what's amiss on most journalism endeavors these days, but it seems to have worked out just fine for the New York Times. I'm not saying The Source can be the NYT, but it can sure try. I don't think The Source is ready by white boys and girls in the 'burbs anymore.

[Slav]

That should've said "read by white boys and girls in the 'burbs anymore"

oops

[Jah Jah]

maybe they should look at other SOURCEs in hip hop. mainly this white female rapper who is now on her third album.
myspace.com/mcjahjah

[Slav]

Clever, Jah Jah. Clyde is probably going to give me hell for being a smart a$$, but I don't think that Lady Sovereign -- that white female rapper you refer to -- is quite a source of anything other than musings about why Hip-Hop died. just my two pennies, bro.

[Clyde Smith]

Lady Sovereign's early work was quite awesome, thank you. Her recent efforts have been somewhat mixed, especially when teaming with skiffle bands and the like.