Old On the Go issues. But I was asking M****** since he's in my area. I'm reading up on older rap mags to an essay I have to churn out. Going through the old Ego Trips was a, uh, trip. Their first year was a bit uneven which makes sense: they were still feeling out their identity, the art direction hadn't come together yet, but damn, by midway through year two, they were . By the end of their run, with the 4th anniversary issue, it was seriously .
The review writing - like EVERY rap magazine in history - was uneven at times. Hell, I wrote a rather shitty Mad Skillz review for them at one point; embarassing really. But in general, their feature writing, especially by year two and on, was really solid for what it was. And conceptually, they were far, far, far ahead of the game compared to other mags. I can't speak for On the Go - I probably only ever read a handful of issues and I honestly don't remember anything from them.
Reading the old Rap Pages was painful. Decent features at times but my god, the review writing was insanely bad. I'm sure the URBs from that era would be just as bad, if not worse.
Sorry, *liver, I threw out all my rap mags ten years and several moves ago. The issues of On the Go were the only thing I thought twice about keeping. OTG had perceptive writing, was funny as fuck and had the best reviews I've seen outside of a few things that appeared in Vinyl Exchange.
1) Ice Cube: AmeriKKKa's Most 2) LL Cool J: Mama Said Knock You Out 3) ATCQ: People's Instinctive Travels 4) BDP: Edutainment 5) Kool G Rap: Wanted Dead or Alive 6) Eric B and Rakim: Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em 7) PRT: Holy Intellect 8) Three TImes Dope: Live From Acknikulous Land 9) Nice and smooth: Nice and Smooth 10) X-Clan: To The East Blackwards
Singles:
1) PE: Brothers Gonna Work It Out 2) Kool G Rap: Streets of NY 3) Main Source: Lookin at the Front Door 4) ATCQ: Bonita Applebaum (Hootie Mix) 5) King Tee: Ruff Rhyme 6) LL Cool J: Jinglin Baby 7) BDP: Love's Gonna Get 'Cha 8) DU: Humpty Dance 9) 3rd Bass: Gas Face 10) De La soul: Buddy (remix)
wow. Can you imagine 10 albums of that caliber coming out now????!
Goddam. You can talk all you want about how rap today is better than it ever was, but that list begs to differ....
Comments
"Mad Skillz' Debut: What Southern Rap Should Be!"
Correction: it wasn't Skillz, I reviewed the Blahzay Blahzay LP.
Sorry, *liver, I threw out all my rap mags ten years and several moves ago. The issues of On the Go were the only thing I thought twice about keeping. OTG had perceptive writing, was funny as fuck and had the best reviews I've seen outside of a few things that appeared in Vinyl Exchange.
Hit me on the PM.
word word. I woudn't mind buyimg some old back issues of OTG and Ego Trip. I woudn't mind tracking down and old Ego Trip shirt as well.
wow. Can you imagine 10 albums of that caliber coming out now????!
Goddam. You can talk all you want about how rap today is better than it ever was, but that list begs to differ....