Today my problem is with Hashim. He keeps referring to XXL as the #1 Hip-Hop magazine by default. I think I know what he means, but there are a few magazines that are better than XXL out there.
Now, don't get me wrong, I like XXL because it's Hip-Hop mixed with RIDES (another Harris Publication) and KING (another Harris Publication) however there is one Harris Publication that beats out XXL by miles.
SCRATCH hands down is the best Hip-Hop magazine out there, well atleast out of Harris Publication's stable of magazines. I like them because they focus on the cornerstone of Hip-Hop - The DJ/Producers. They even give some light to the emcee. But what makes them better than their in-office competitor is that the content is not immediately dated. If you are a daily reader of SOHH.com, All Hip-Hop.com and Hip-Hop DX, all of the content in XXL, The Source and VIBE seems pretty dated.
"I think traditional media like print had to step their game up after sites started breaking stories minutes after they happen," adds burgeoning media maven DJ Vlad. "When I read a Hip-Hop mag these days, I usually know a lot of the stuff already." »
The Ave - This magazine focuses on Hip-Hop, street issues and politics. There are a couple of sections that I don't like, but for the most part this magazine could easily replace your subscription to The Source.
I like Ozone too but I only have a few issues so I can't really give you my take on that.
Finally something I TOTALLY AGREE ON !
SCRATCH MAgazine . GOTTA HAVE Every ISSUE!
XXL Mag . Depends on Cover.
Source Mag Never . . . .
Because it resembles VIBE mag (which is All Homo All the Time)
AVE Mag Hard to Find
FEDS MAG . Id go without LUNCH to buy it
Scratch is the shit. I just got the Just Blaze cover and sent in my subscription. XXL is better than the Source to me, cuz they dont hate on certain artists, although XXL does ride the Interscope dick often. I got subscriptions to both, though. But Murder Dog and Rhyme hold it down too. But the biggest point here is that other than the interviews and feature articles, most of the stuff in these publications is dated if you get on those websites everyday, like myself.
OH, SHIT! I cant forget Juice Magazine, shouts out to the A-Town holdin it down. I read the initial issue and it was dope. GA ALL DAY, BABY
You're right XXL is overrated and the last time I picked up an XXL magazine is when Esther Baxter was in the eye candy of the year issue. The only time I do skim through XXL is the eye candy.
XXL still shits on The Source, which isn't even worth flipping through in the store anymore. XXL does push Interscope's flavor of the month, but if that keeps them selling mags I'm cool with it. The point is that the quality of the interviews in XXL is very high (as is with sister mag Scratch), and it is the most entertaining read of them all. I love Scratch, but the last third of the zine is way over my head- being that I don't have any producing experience. I'll be curious to see how they do once they have gone through the handfull of celebrity producers that an average fan might recognize (which is about now).
All the big hip hop magazines have their faults. I prefer XXL, its true that they ride with Interscope a lot, but it isn't nearly as embarassing as the Source's ties with Benzino & Ja Rule. VIBE tries to be too hip with the newest trends and all, while Scratch is nice but it only caters to the production nuts.
Ozone Mag is the issshhh. I like Juice but i can't find it down here in Miami. But i always look forward to my XXL. But Ozone is the new crack!!!!
SCRATCH.....hands down....easily da best hip-hop mag......if u not feeling dis mag......u can't be feeling hip-hop and das real.....i've sat at work and read da same issue w/ Just Blaze on da cover 3 days in a row....as an aspiring DJ....dis is my ear to da street
I agree wit what Matt L said about the Source and their stupid infatuation with Benzino and Ja Rule. Has anybody noticed that every issue when they do the Fat Tape, there is always a song by Bensino or the Untouchables that you never heard of and probably don't wanna hear? C'mon man. And I definitely dont got a problem wit XXL tryin to push units and I happen to think that Interscope is the new dynasty, for now. Its just that their are so many other deserving artists you could put on the cover who could move you units too. MIAMIMAC, try goin to FYE at the mall down there, thats where I got mine in Indiana. I mean, shit, if you can get it in Indiana, where hip-hop goes to die, it'd be a sin not to be able to find it in MIA. Shit, its based in Atlanta! Anyway, XXL does have a better magazine overall than the Source or pretty much any mag out there. Their articles, their opening departments, the fashion and entertainment shit, and one of the biggest things, their reviews and Show and Prove, are all better man. I aint hatin on no other mags, Im just sayin though. Keep it real ya'll.
I love The Ave. Part of me hopes that the mag doesn't really blow up that big because i'm afraid that will effect the editorial quality.
THE SOURCE STILL COMES OUT?!?
ALTHOUGH SCRATCH IS HANDS DOWN THE BEST. YOU COULD MAKE AN ARGUMENT FOR EITHER THE SOURCE OR XXL. THE SOURCE IS MORE IN TOUCH WITH THE UNDERGROUND AND POLITICS AND XXL IS STRAIGHT INDUSTRY AS EVIDENCED BY THE CONSTANT G-UNIT/SHADY/AFTERMATH COVERS.
THE SOURCE HANDS DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!
Murder Dogg & Ozone Shits on XXL, Source, Vibe combined
I gots to have my Source every month!
U Guys need to stop hatin
SOURCE! WHUT!
I LIKE SCRATCH BEST OF ALL THE MAGS, BUT THAT'S ONLY BECAUSE I'M AN ASPIRING PRODUCER. MR. IRREVERENT YOU ONCE AGAIN MAKE YOURSELF LOOK STUPID. FIRST OF ALL SCRATCH IS MADE BY XXL, SECONDLY IT ONLY COMES OUT EVERY TWO MONTHS AND HAS GIVEN THE COVER TO BOTH DR. DRE AND EMINEM. THE ONLY OTHER ISSUES HAD LIL JON, KANYE WEST, AND TIMBALAND ON THEM SO SHADY/AFTERMATH ARTISTS HAVE APPEARED ON 40% OF THE COVERS. IF THE SOURCE CAN UNFAIRLY BIAS ITSELF AGAINST INTERSCOPE, WHY SHOULDN'T XXL REEP THE BENEFITS OF STILL HAVING A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE HOTTEST LABEL IN THE RAP GAME. ANYBODY WHO STILL GIVES THE SOURCE ANY CREDIBILITY NEEDS TO HAVE THEIR HEAD EXAMINED.
i agree scratch is hands down the best mag out then xxl scratch puts it down for the producers i am a aspiring engineer show hopefully there will show more love to some engineers. i know they had young guru and duro in the new issue but havent had the chance to read it. hopefully they will get their distrubtion up and come out at least 8 or maybe 10 times a year. finally a mag for producers. i taught the source was coming out with 1? who am i fooling the source hasnt sent me a issue in a year and half.
FYI ARSINIST - XXL does not MAKE Scratch. SCRATCH, XXL, KING, Rides, SLAM and REVOLVER are all published by Harris Publication. If you weren't on the OUTSIDE looking IN, you'd also know that each book is independent of the other and have separate staffs.
So once again ARSINIST, you just prove yourself to be a flaming faggot on my dick.
The Souce took it to the next level all alone. Before that everyone else's magazine (Word UP!, etc) was flimsy and newspaper dry. The gloss, the distribution, the coverage, the Awards show, and the prestige The Source took the game to has yet to be eclipsed -- by nobody.
SCRATCH has got it. Its the only hip hop magazine I'll actually subscribe to! We don't need video chicks all in the mag. Don't need G-Unit. Just the music and the raw elements of hip hop. I still refer to my past issues when looking for nice production gear or vinyl. It is definantly a magazine with great re-read value.
I DONT BUY NO MAG YOU BITCHES I CAN GET ANY KINDA CONTENT ONLINE EVEN THEM BITCHES.SO ALL YOU RICH NIGGAS I CANT WAIT TO JACK YOUR ASSES ON THE STREET FOR YOUR LUNCH MONEY!
Whut about Muderdog. the most gangsta mag in tha US
Mixtape Magazine is also official! www.mixtapemag.com, (They had DJ Sickamore and DJ Drama on their last cover). Once they get their distribution straight...I think they're gonna be a heavy weight contender in the hip hop publishing game.
FUCK YOU MR. IRRELEVENT. I'M ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN? I GUESS YOU'RE IMPLYING YOU'RE ON THE INSIDE THEN? YOU POST LITTLE BLOGS ON THE INTERNET, IT AIN'T LIKE YOU BIG BALLER STATUS YOU FAKE ASS BITCH. WHERE'S YOUR INDUSTRY CONNECTS AT? I TAKE 5 MINUTES OUT OF MY DAY TO POST THESE COMMENTS, YOU PROBABLY LIVING IN YOUR MOMMA'S BASEMENT OBSESSING OVER THE SHIT. I'D RATHER BE ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN, INSTEAD OF THINKING I'M MORE IMPORTANT THAN I AM. IT AIN'T LIKE JAY-Z IS READING YOUR LAME ASS.
XXL was never no. 1
good bloggin
What about Jet Magazine? Fucking sell-outs.
There are a few others you may want to check out:
Elemental
Mass Appeal
Hip Hop Connections (UK Mag = US XXL)
Blag
any body heard of the mag FISH N GRITS???? now thats a mag!!!!
it skeets on all the other mags...(literally)!!!
we need more mags like xxl that keep it young & freash and dont hang from the balls of todays hip hop artist &yo u should have like a bonous issue of eye candy wit like all the hottest momies but yo keep it gutter & gangsta k.i.m
YO, I just got the latest edition of DEEEZZZ NNNUUUUUTTTTSSS. You can have one for free if you want, so read up!!!
i agree with the dated part .. i still read xxl and the source and shit cuz its still interestin and sometimes they got new stuff.. but the september cover is the game.. and the article on him is all bout the beef and shit between him and gunit basically .. and that shits wayyyy old man.. that shits done wit.. but just cuz its old.. dont mean it aint a decent read? i always get the new issues of the source, vibe, xxl, rides, dub .. a few more to
i wanna peep this scratch thing but i aint ever seen any issues around maby we cant grip it where im to
damn i cant even get in touch with the source. main number is disconnected subscription number just rings and rings west coast number is not longer in service. man they have fallin on hard times. the new issue is very skinny. my have the mighty fallen
The problem todays is you have a lot of kids with computers who have been in this hip hop game for a minute and claim to have opinions that should be taken seriously. Unfortunately for them the right to be heard does not necessarilty encompass the right to be taken seriously. Hip hop is a counter culture that was built on going or speaking against the projected norms and mind moulding values of Middle America. A lot of people turn a blind eye to certain obvious transgressions that are transpiring before their very eyes and because The Source takes a firm stand and refuse to comprise its opinions on some things (Eminem) they are labelled as embattled, notorious and untrustworthy. In my very educateded opinion XXL is not worth the paper it is printed on. I buy both and i always find myself givng away the XXL and yet i have archieved all my copies of The Source dating back to late 90's. The Source still remains the #1 #2 #3 magazine for the real hip hop generation and by that i mean those of us that bought tickets to a live Biggie or Tupac performance while the rest of you spent that money on New Kids On The Block T - Shirts.
*****Its all in the name its The Source of all hip hop journalism/magazines.*******
The Source was Hip Hop's undisputed number one magazine until Benzino started using it to promote himself and various other side ventures. Readers got tired of fawning pieces by staff writers drooling over 'the Untouchables' (Benzino's group), despite the aforementioned group not having a single recogniscable song to its name. Zino was pursuing so many personal vendettas with promnent artists that hip hop fans could no longer trust the magazine's credibility with regards to the rating of albums. Thus, if an artist was given 3 mics, one could ask whether he got a low rating because of a dispute with Benzino.
As for XXL - the owners might as well rename that rag INTERSCOPE MAGAZINE. In addition to its obvious butt kissing orgy with, Shady, Aftermath and G-Unot, XXL is low on detail and high on gloss. At least the once-great Source had detailed commentary on both music and community issues. Often, the only things I can remember after reading an issue of XXL are the blatant journalistic blow jobs given to 50 Cent/Eminem/Dr. Dre/G-Unot/Interscope (delete as appropriate) and the Baby Phat advertsing features.