Anyone buy hip-hop magazines anymore?

BigK

I used to buy The Source back in the day, I stopped around the mid-90s (I think around the time they got in some "proper" writers, i.e. boring writers who didn't know as much hip-hop)

I recently picked up a copy just to peep how it is now (I missed the whole Benzino thing, thankfully), and it's err, kinda odd. It has a bunch of stuff on random topics, the environment, some bits of politics, gadgets... I can't really see what they're trying to do with it

Does anyone here still buy hip-hop magazines, or even magazines of any kind?
Nowadays I just read interviews online and rather than read reviews, I just peep albums on youtube when they drop

batmon

Beatnicholas

not since grand royal went out of print

dj_cityboy

yeah i used to ride for the Source as well in the early 90's, i used to buy Spice magazines as well and up until 2002 or so i used to buy Fatboss magazines, but man all the mags now-a-days are overrun with ads and bullshit, you pay $15 bux for an imported magazine and 50% is ads, and the rest of it is crap (imo)

i would really like to see a mag that caters to the 4 elements, interviewing writers, b-boys, emcees, and dj's with no real focus on one or the other...but in this day and age, thats highly doubtful...

pickwick33

Was never a hip-hop fan, but this question applied to me:

Does anyone here still buy hip-hop magazines, or even magazines of any kind?

Well, maybe I would if there were still magazines around.

What few there are are shrinking in size and content, so there's no need in forking over the cash.

When I found out that the new issue of Ugly Things was out, I called around from store to store wondering who had a copy. Finally found one the other day, but it's been quite a while since I've had that kind of devotion to a magazine's publication.

There used to be a time where there'd be as many as 9-10 free fanzines by the record store door to keep my mind occupied on the train/bus ride home. Those days are gone, long gone.

Gary

I love Rue Morgue magazine but my subscription ran out. I need to renew it but it's a little expensive. But that was the only magazine I would read cover to cover.

BigK

dj_cityboy said:

i would really like to see a mag that caters to the 4 elements, interviewing writers, b-boys, emcees, and dj's with no real focus on one or the other...but in this day and age, thats highly doubtful...

Word, that would be ill, even as a proper website even

batmon

After Wax Poetics I really have no desire to read a Hip Hop Magazine.

Save the paper - the internet has way too much shit.

deathvalley90210

i subscribe to bon appetit and pick up wax poetics in stores. there was a time--15ish years ago--when i was buying and reading 8-10 magazines a month. the internet pretty much killed that.

dj_cityboy

^^ yeah that i will agree on, most of the shit in magazines dont appeal to me, so having the interwebs is a huge payoff for me as i can research and read only oabut the content i am interested in...

i used to buy MIX magazine (not the rave or die one) so i could keep up with the haps in whats new as far as equipment and gear goes, but that became hard to find and i was only able to find it in one store 5 miles across the city..the only magazines that i will buy now are graffiti magazines and books, i have a huge collection of graffiti books and shit that i started collecting in the early 90's and continue to buy....

but thats about the only real magz i buy unless i find sumthin that um totally in to....

BigK

^^ Don't know if it's the same one, but I used to buy the UK version of MIX magazine, and it was JUST hardware, amazing magazine, at a time when a lot of people wanted to make dance music as well. It became part of Future Music I think, one of the other magazines at the time

DJ_Enki

I might pick up a copy of XXL if I'm about to get on a plane. Might. That's about it, though. (I do grab WaxPo, too, but I don't really think of that as a hip-hop magazine so much as a record nerd magazine.)

dj_cityboy

^^ yeah yeah MIX was all about the "underground scene" in the UK mainly focusing on house, breaks, jungle, drumandbass, garage and other electronic types of music, although i used to buy that the actual MIX i was talking about can be found here: http://mixonline.com/ -- i was buying that for a bit, but it became hard to find, so i stopped, sumthin else i pick up from time to time are PC hardware mags, although they get mega outdated fast and arent worth the money they are printed on most of the time...

smoking_robot

batmon said:

After Wax Poetics I really have no desire to read a Hip Hop Magazine.

Save the paper - the internet has way too much shit.

this.

JUD

I would absolutely buy a magazine or even online subscription if there was a solid rap magazine publication, but there hasn't been anything to check for since Elliot Wilson was fired from XXL.

As an archivist it also really bugs me that The Source and other rap mags haven't made an effort to make their back catalog available.

bassie

I picked up The Source at the beginning of the year for the first time in years.
I was floored at how bad it was.
I would not even call it a shadow of its former self.
Nevermind the writing, but some pages were not even readable due to lay-out and colour schemes.

Oh yea - I buy XXL. Internal politics aside, I like to support them.

I would like a subscription to Ozone, but don't see anything in their rates about shipping to Canada - can someone talk to them about that for me? Thank You.

The_Non

I used to read Rap Pages. Great photos and the album reviews were more honest than The Source.
Now? Use the interwebs.

LaserWolf

magazines:
Wax Poetics, subscribed starting number 2.
They have never, ever sent me a renewal notice.
l have reupped numerous times when l noticed my subscription ran out.
l am done with them.

l get the Nature Conservancy mag, which l read.

Daily paper which includes Parade, which l read. :red:

l like to read Time or Newsweek while sitting in waiting rooms.

That's about it.

pickwick33

One thing I'll say about WaxPo...

even when the article tells you nothing you don't already know, they dredge up these amazing, seldom-seen photos (possibly by tracking down the original photog?). Case in point: the Gil Scott-Heron piece that runs in the new ish.

BigK

I don't really know how something like the Source is still going... older heads know it's bullshit compared to what it was, and I'm pretty sure kids today don't even know what a magazine is

faux_rillz

pickwick33 said:

One thing I'll say about WaxPo...

even when the article tells you nothing you don't already know, they dredge up these amazing, seldom-seen photos (possibly by tracking down the original photog?). Case in point: the Gil Scott-Heron piece that runs in the new ish.

That's the chief reason I check for it--the writing is typically really bad.

BigK

faux_rillz said:

pickwick33 said:

One thing I'll say about WaxPo...

even when the article tells you nothing you don't already know, they dredge up these amazing, seldom-seen photos (possibly by tracking down the original photog?). Case in point: the Gil Scott-Heron piece that runs in the new ish.

That's the chief reason I check for it--the writing is typically really bad.

Honestly, I never really properly checked out Wax Poetics... what's bad about the writing?

pickwick33

BigK said:

faux_rillz said:

pickwick33 said:

One thing I'll say about WaxPo...

even when the article tells you nothing you don't already know, they dredge up these amazing, seldom-seen photos (possibly by tracking down the original photog?). Case in point: the Gil Scott-Heron piece that runs in the new ish.

That's the chief reason I check for it--the writing is typically really bad.

Honestly, I never really properly checked out Wax Poetics... what's bad about the writing?

To me, it varies depending on the writer.

incompletejigsaw

I'll pick up Wax Poetics if the topic interests me. I wanted to pick up the Africa issue with Fela on the cover, but the last one I've read through was the jazz one with Coltrane on it. It's been a while. I remember in middle school The Source was "the magazine." We'd be reading it during lunch and sometimes on the benches during recess. I liked XXL, but I would browse through the pages before CONSIDERING to buy it. But yeah, magazines are basically on the same ship with newspapers. Not yet obsolete, but never will be as impactful as it was before.

haze25

I stopped reading The Source after i read my first issue of "Ego Trip"

i now only read mags (wax poetics/xxl/record collector) in Borders on friday nights as i watch the open mic they host.





peace,xavier

BigK

JUD said:

As an archivist it also really bugs me that The Source and other rap mags haven't made an effort to make their back catalog available.

Word, especially that 88-94 period, that should be available to go through, that's some fundamental history right there (after that, not so much)

Mjukis

BigK said:

faux_rillz said:

pickwick33 said:

One thing I'll say about WaxPo...

even when the article tells you nothing you don't already know, they dredge up these amazing, seldom-seen photos (possibly by tracking down the original photog?). Case in point: the Gil Scott-Heron piece that runs in the new ish.

That's the chief reason I check for it--the writing is typically really bad.

Honestly, I never really properly checked out Wax Poetics... what's bad about the writing?

Even though I like Wax Poetics, some of the interviews kinda seem like missed opportunities. The Ice-T interview for example. Sure it's cool to hear him reminisce about Uncle Jamm's Army and how he got started, but I'd rather hear him tell some crazy stories from, you know, HIS OWN CAREER AS AN ARTIST.

I'd want longer interviews with the rap producers too, not just their top ten James Brown/Curtis Mayfield/Sly Stone albums. I miss Big Daddy.

WP is still maybe the only mag worth buying though. I've never picked up Shook yet, but I might give it a chance. There's still something about reading a mag, versus the internet. I'm not about to sit on the toilet with my macbook on my lap just yet.

BigK

Mjukis said:

I'd rather hear him tell some crazy stories from, you know, HIS OWN CAREER AS AN ARTIST.

Same, I find most interviews are kinda odd, they're either ones where they ask a bunch of questions that are going to seem pointless/out-of-date in a week or two - (what was it like shooting the video? it was cool. when is your next album coming out? soon. what was it like working with Big Rap Producer? it was great.)

Or the interviewer thinks they're being "different" and they have a convo all about sports or politics or whatever. Which is like interviewing a baker and asking them about teaching Japanese.

I recently saw this dope interview with Kool G Rap, where they actually asked him about his actual job for a change, which was refreshing -
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/interviews/id.1544/title.kool-g-rap-teaches-rapping

batmon

I think the Ice T interview was cool. He's been quite accessible to the public and magazines overtime.

Im glad they didnt give an overveiw of his career having him talk about Body Count for the 400th time.

Or his New Jack Swing/ Acting career nonsense.

I never knew about his roots in LA and what dudes were influential to his early scene.

novocaine132

Word, that would be ill, even as a proper website even

extra evens - automatic penalty

Beatnicholas

Mjukis said:

. I miss Big Daddy.

yep. that was pretty special. apparently george is writing a book these days.

if you do read shook, let me know what you think mjukis.