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Young Money Covers The Source
The current Source magazine features a split cover with the whole Young Money crew, from Lil Wayne to Drake, on one and Pitbull on the other.
Pitbull Covers The Source
Related ProHipHop Coverage:
The Source "Green" Covers: Bun B, Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss
Bun B Covers The Source
The Source drops blog bait in the form of three different covers for their Green Issue.
Busta Rhymes Covers The Source
Busta's the only one that visibly ties into the green of money and a feature story focuses on the green of medical marijuana, which is now a quasilegal business in California.
Jadakiss Covers The Source
Regardless, we'll take the "Recession-Proof" bait!
The Source has just sp@mmed me at every email address I've ever made public on a hip hop related website using a FanBridge account including email addresses that haven't been used for such a purpose in years, literally, years.
This is worse than the MP3 pushers and mixtape merchants' sp@m. At least they're generally up-to-date and their methods fit the sometimes quasi-legal nature of their enterprise!
And, even if I don't like it, I understand why up-and-coming artists and their publicists and even bloggers fall into sp@m practices. It's tough getting visibility in this world and it's easy to be tempted.
But, at this point in time, The Source has no reasonable excuses. Doubly bad for The Source is that I was going to cover what they were pushing until I'd worked through various email accounts and realized just what losers these people continue to be. It's like it's in the DNA of the magazine. Even with a totally different crew, shadiness just seeps out of that company.
I wrote before about the ReverbNation powered sp@m mailings and the folks there convinced me they're doing everything they can to fight it. FanBridge is probably doing the same so I'm not upset with the newsletter providers. Those are important services.
To be honest, I've never contacted one of these services about a specific sp@mmer, cause not everybody even realizes what they're doing is sp@m, but I'm going to contact FanBridge about The Source.
But don't call it snitching! Let's call it, whittling away at the competition!
[lol]
Actually, I don't care what you call it. There's no reason for them to be doing this so any form of name calling will just reveal you to be as big a punk as they're being.
In fact, I would have let them keep sending stuff to hiphoppress(at)netweed(dot)com, where hip hop sp@m has a happy home, but I accidentally unsubscribed myself from that address as well and I think that will remain a policy for The Source's publicity efforts from here on out.
Since I can't say anything good, and that's their own damn fault, I won't say anything at all. Unless I get annoyed like I am at the moment!
Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Artist Sp@m to Kill ReverbNation Email Marketing?
Slav Kandyba posts An open letter to L. Londell McMillan, Esq. (co-owner of The Source magazine) in which he details the work he did for the new owners of The Source and their lack of payment for that work.
You can take these claims as you will, knowing Slav I take them at face value, but Slav was a huge supporter of the new Source, one of the few out of the gate that consistently championed the mag, and I don't believe he'd be sharing this information without having honestly reached the end of his patience.
Lots of people expressed strong connections to The Source during the transition and many wished the new publication well but, truth be told, I don't think most people really care anymore once they get past the nostalgia stage.
But it's sad to see the list of writers ripped off by The Source apparently continuing to grow.
On a related note, their website, which is basically a big blog, doesn't link out and is pretty darn boring.
They're getting closer but they're still pretty clueless about the web.
So much for rescuing that brand. The ambulance got there on time but after an extended period of life support, the visitors are starting to dwindle.
The Source is supposedly getting evicted from their Manhattan offices.
I guess this is one of those "stay tuned" moments.
Target Market News compares the March '08 and March '07 ad revenues for the leading black magazines and shows The Source on the comeback trail up 87.8%, XXL up 35.8% and Vibe up 19% on much higher revenues than XXL or The Source.
Via Hashim Warren.
I'm not sure when this announcement at The Source was first made but I was checking out the Zinio digital version from October and saw this news:
Attention!!
Independent Labels and Artists
The Source Magazine...will now dedicate an additional 20 pages of each issue to independent music and artists. We invite you to call today to register your label and/or artist to become a part of our Independent Hip-Hop Network. Members will receive in-book or on-line profiles, special advertising discounts, giveaways, invites to high profile events, and more...
For More Information Please Contact:
Che' Johnson: 212.253.3712 - cjohnson@thesource.com
Shalinda Flemmings: 212.253.3738 - shalindaf@thesource.com
I can't believe I had to actually type that. But that's the sacrifice I'm willing to make for you, dear reader.
The important thing is that this is exactly the kind of move they need to make to revitalize and focus The Source as a magazine.
The Unsigned Hype feature is the thing I've always heard the most about from other people in terms of positive response to content and it has always struck me as one of The Source's true differentiators. It capitalizes on the positive history of The Source in an honest way.
I'm not sure how the Unsigned Hype Showcases are doing but the YouTube channel seems to be in stasis, the blog is covering the same news as everybody else and the Unsigned Hype forum is not about the features or showcases.
On a related note, The Source's blog and forum both open in new windows from the home page which is not a good look but the move to simpler online tools is a solid move forward. Honestly this is an improvement over the previous version of the site and that's a good thing for The Source.
Yesterday the Associated Press reported that The Source has filed for bankruptcy:
Source Magazine LLC and affiliate Source Entertainment Inc. have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after dishonest business practices by former management caused the hip-hop media outlet's advertisers to flee, according to court papers.
Apparently on December 31st, the "company listed consolidated assets of about $1.3 million and liabilities of $35 million". Furthermore:
LP Harrison III, an attorney for Source, said the company plans to "exit bankruptcy as a reorganized entity."
So that's all to the good rather than a statement of defeat, i.e., this should clear up some crippling debt and would then also give the investors some incentive to adequately fund the magazine's operations.
I haven't been closely following the gender discrimination lawsuit brought by Kim Osorio against The Source, Dave Mays and Benzino, but justice was served last night to the tune of $15.5 million. It should go without saying that the verdict will be appealed.
Jose Martinez gathers some details for the New York Daily News while Leonard Greene does the honors for the New York Post.
Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond recently interviewed folks with Source connections which leads into a larger discussion of hip hop journalism for the Village Voice.
BIG CED of The Industry Cosign announced in an email that he is joining TheSource.com as the website's "Online Coordinator". However, he assures his readers that The Industry Cosign will not only continue but that he's working on growing that as well.
Best of luck at the new Source!
Previously Rumored Cover Of Hip Hop Weekly Via Allhiphop.com
Former Source overseers Dave Mays and Benzino will be reunited in hell in a new publishing endeavor with former Vibe Editor-in-chief Mimi Valdes entitled Hip Hop Weekly [or Hip-Hop] that's due on newsstands October 16th.
It's a celebrity thing:
Valdes, exec VP and editor in chief at Hip Hop Weekly, said the magazine will try to get in on the celebrity-weekly action, particularly through columns by radio vets Wendy Williams and Star & Buc Wild, but won't leave it at that...
"The rest of the magazine is really about trying to offer some insight, reflection and criticism on hip-hop as it influences everything," she said. "It's not like we only look at hip-hop. We watch TV like everyone else, we go to the movies, but when you hear our discussions of 'Pirates of the Caribbean' they're probably a lot different than other conversations you hear."
Man, I bet those discussions of Pirates of the Caribbean will be fascinating!
Hip Hop Weekly will be priced initially at $2.99 then at $3.99. It is said to be a property of Hip Hop Global Media.
Currently hiphopweekly.com, a domain apparently owned by the folks at HIPHOPDIRECTORY.COM, has the following message:
9/15/2006 Update: We are now in the final stages of transferring this domain name and it's entity to Mr. Mays, the founder of The Source Magazine...
In closing, we are comfortable with the vision that David Mays has for this entity and we strongly feel that with what overall has been accomplished by David in creating The Source Magazine we feel that any and all worthy men should be given a chance to reinvent themselves.
I like that, a "chance to reinvent themselves."
Looks like the rumors were true. I think this is a great idea, for them as business people, if not for hip hop per se. My only question is on hearing the $2.99 to $3.99 cover price, otherwise I would expect this to be a huge hit, especially if someone responsible keeps an eye on the checkbooks.
Initial news via Miraflor.
Update:
At some point rumor had it that the Hip Hop Weekly name was trademarked by the owners of the hiphopweekly.com domain. I'm not sure about the details but according to the trademark registration for Hip Hop Weekly, it was filed on April 26, 2006 by Hip Hop Global Media of New Jersey.
Update 2:
Here's the press release.
Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Slav Kandyba Interviews Mimi, Dave & Benzino From Hip Hop Weekly
Well, assuming this article at AllHipHop is basically correct, it's open season on Dave Mays now that he doesn't co-own The Source. I'd seen speculation online about what would occur and there seemed to be some question about Benzino backing Mays. The reality is, that punk's run dry for Benzino, you won't see them together again unless it involves legal action or fresh sources of revenue.
This whole story is an excellent example of how prison culture and street culture are not separate but continous spheres of influence, at least in hip hop. Once punked, always a punk. Until now, Mays had The Source but everyone knew he was Benzino's punk. Now Mays is useless and Benzino is a nobody.
Update: My bad, I somehow missed the Benzino paragraph with an audio link in the AllHipHop article! So what is the AllHipHop/Benzino connection? Is it that they're simply perceived as the place to break news (that's certainly their current position] or is there a deeper connection?
Since I seem to be in speculative mode, I'll guess that AllHipHop is ready for Benzino to disappear as well but they'll keep using their ability to get him on the phone as long as they find him useful.
From AllHipHop.com comes news of a triple whammy:
Judge Rules In Favor Of Black Enterprise, The Source Gets New Owners
Judge To Take Control Of Suge Knights' Assets
Feds Officially Seek Death Penalty Against Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff
That's a lot of heavy news. Are we in some kind of weird astrological phase or something? Hit me up if you're on to that kind of thing.
Here's more from Billboard on the Suge Knight/Death Row situation.
The epic saga of The Source continues as a judge upheld a temporary injunction on Friday that basically keeps Dave Mays and Benzino in play, for now. Stay tuned!
I haven't found any other details on this latest development at The Source but I'm still surprised I didn't post it earlier, given that Source Drama is one of my favorite channels.
Apparently Dave Mays and Benzino have managed to temporarily restrain attempts to auction off their shares in the company. It's unclear to me whether there's been any verification of the claim that they own 82% of the stock and it doesn't sound like AllHipHop actually had a reporter in the courtroom but, whatever the paper trail would reveal, once you're locked out, it's hard to get back in.
Actually, though this is almost off topic, I remember a bar in Greensboro whose owner was basically being evicted to make way for a new tenant, the locks were changed and he was locked out. He got the landlord to let him back in to remove some things and, as soon as he got in, he said he wasn't leaving and got his lawyer on the phone. Whatever occurred after that, he kept his bar.
I guess that's a reminder that the story isn't over, though my current belief is that what's happening now is an attempt by Mays and Benzino to get out with some kind of hefty settlement in order to make them go away. Considering everything that's been reported to date, there's very little [other than cocaine] that could make them think they could turn The Source around at this point, since they're directly responsible for its problems and seem to have exhausted all possible routes to recovery.
Hey, maybe they should give Suge Knight a call!
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