Notes II...
Oliver S Wang
Mag review:
The new Source-Kris Kross on the cover? Pretty much says it all...
I'm not even going to start on the fashion insert...but I liked the
articles on school kids' attitudes on life and hip hop. Not as fluffy as
other sh*t they've done in the past. Still, I get the feeling that Source
is moving toward a Vibe existance.
The new Bomb-Ok..like SFTL I wasn't all that interested in any of the
interviews. But the news is always appreciated. Highly informative...
It's beeen nice to see The Bomb go from a bunch of paper with a single
staple to a nice, low cost magazine.
The new URB-Nice glossy cover with De La on it. I was pretty impressed by
it. The De La article was excellent, long and informative. Plus good
reviews to upcoming sh*t. URB isn't a hip hop mag...like Vibe, but unlike
Vibe, URB does a much job of keeping people infomred about what's going on
out there...My only complaint is that I rarely read a bad review. Source
and RapPages will give a record a big fat F if they feel like it (see the
Lune Tunz review in Source...DAMN).
The new Straight From the Lip: Seems thicker, but I didn't find any real
useful stuff in this issue...maybe 'cause I wasn't interested in any of
the interviews. In any case, it's a buck. SFTL also moved locale from
San Diego to LA.
The new 4080: For all you Cali people, this is supposed to be the hip hop
mag for Central CA. But they just moved from Monterey to Berkeley. In
fact, I could walk to their office in about ten minutes from here. Their
latest issue is impressive: a big color picture of the Hieros (I'm fly
bros!) They brag inside that it's the first color mag cover for any Nor
Cal hip hop mag, which is true and this too was only a buck. The
Hieroglyphics article was more an intro. to the gang as opposed to some
in-depth thing, but it was a good read. 4080 is a buck in Cali too.
I mentioned last time, but SF's The Bomb and 4080 are fighting a
battle for domination of the Bay Area hip hop mag world.
The new VIBE: At least they got Danyel Smith writing for 'em...she's one
of my favorite Bay Area writers...but now she's in NY. They have a pretty
impressive string of writers: Nelson George, Greg Tate, Michael Gonzales,
Danyel Smith, etc. But I still feel VIBE is operating at a level way
above the head of the readers, more than necessary. Compare the De La
interview in VIBE with the one in URB. Big diff in focus. The Souls
interview was kinda fly tho'. Record reviews are still wack as far as I'm
concerned.
The new RapPages: I didn't read through it, just browse, but they gave
Alkaholics a mediocore rating...yo! you trippin'
Peace to the hip hop press...
O-D.U.B.
no APAthy
The Crossjammer
I'm not dissin' but I never could stand Danyel Smith, for someone who
writes on hip-hop so much, she never seems to enjoy it. I can't remember
one article where she expressed that some hip-hop act had grabbed her and
she wanted to alert people to it. TLC? Yup. Natalie Cole? Fine. Public
Enemy? Too many white people in the audience. Ice-T? Too misogynist. Etc.
Etc.
Not that I disagree with all her points, but why have someone write on a
topic they can't transmit their excitement (if any) about?
I always liked Carter Harris (writes for the Bay Guardian) better. He sees
most of the same problems, but also seems to have a genuine excitement
about the Bay Area hip-hop scene.
--
xj...@cork.Berkeley.EDU Fiiiive Thousand Boomin Watts...... -The JBeez
They can't come on and play me in prime time, | Free Millipede coin op
Cause I know the time, cause I'm gettin' mine. | and House music at my
I get on the mix late in the night... -Public Enemy | place! Drop by sometime.
David J.
BeatDown the other day, and it bragged that it was "the first and ONLY
hip hop newspaper." I'm sure that Rap Sheet has something to say about
that, but I digress.
Don't waste your time with it. The layout was cheap, the stories were
weak and filled with typos, and it had little info worth reading. I
should have used that two bucks to buy lunch.
Meanwhile, hip hop fans are burning their New Orleans Saints caps...
--
David J.---------...@silver.ucs.indiana.edu------------GO HOOSIERS!!!
| Hip Hop |************ HIP HOP CENTRAL with David J. Warner ************|
| Junkie and |**** Cable radio's phattest show - Saturdays 9pm-Midnight ****|
| MST3K Fan |***** Exclusively on WIUS--95.1 FMCable, Bloomington, IN *****|
Terra Goodnight
>
>Mag review:
>
>The new Source-Kris Kross on the cover? Pretty much says it all...
>
>interviews. But the news is always appreciated. Highly informative...
>It's beeen nice to see The Bomb go from a bunch of paper with a single
>staple to a nice, low cost magazine.
wait, was it the Bomb that had the Erick Sermon interview by a guy named
"The Punisher"? Is that the same guy that posts here some of the time?
I've been wondering that, i so, that makes three of our alt.rappers that
have gotten published in the past month or so (Flash, Duane and Punisher).
And I read a DJ article in one of those no-Cal that gave some interesting
background on Kevvy Kev (some dude came back to the station to find that
Kev had taken over some guy's show that the other guy expected to get, so
they wound up sharing it).
>The new URB-Nice glossy cover with De La on it. I was pretty impressed by
>it. The De La article was excellent, long and informative. Plus good
>reviews to upcoming sh*t. URB isn't a hip hop mag...like Vibe, but unlike
>Vibe, URB does a much job of keeping people infomred about what's going on
>out there...My only complaint is that I rarely read a bad review. Source
>and RapPages will give a record a big fat F if they feel like it (see the
>Lune Tunz review in Source...DAMN).
YES! My gripe exactly, though I wouldn't let Rappages or Source off
that easily. Maybe they give negative reviews, but i almost think they
throw those in just for that very effect. I mean, the whole process
of deciding what gets reviewed seems shady. You'll only want to write
about the records you liked, and the ones you didn't, who wants to waste
the print on them? Josh Levine, who writes for among other things, the
UCLA Daily Bruin, Source, Urb and I think the Bomb (or is it Klub?) is
the wost offender I have ever seen. He's bugged me ever since I first
saw an article by him in the UCLA paper. First off, is he the only
person at UCLA they could find qualified to write about hip-hop? He
gives props to *everybody*. He shouts out to every single artist who
has ever acknowledged him and drops names like CRAYZEE. He doesn't dis
anybody, though he sorta kinda, maybe gave a slight thumbs-down to Biz
Markie, but other than that it's phat Phat PHAT. It's more annoying that
he talks like that too "phat, fresh, dope", because last year when he
wrote in the school paper, he used perfect grammatically-correct english.
I think he caters towards his perceived audience. I guess he thinks
readers or Urb and Source are stupider or more "ghetto" than UCLA students.
>The new RapPages: I didn't read through it, just browse, but they gave
>Alkaholics a mediocore rating...yo! you trippin'
check the Nov. issue for articles by Flash and Duane Duane!
>Peace to the hip hop press...
Terra
*note cross-posting*
Duane Harris
>O.D.U.B.,
>
>I'm not dissin' but I never could stand Danyel Smith, for someone who
>writes on hip-hop so much, she never seems to enjoy it. I can't remember
>one article where she expressed that some hip-hop act had grabbed her and
>she wanted to alert people to it. TLC? Yup. Natalie Cole? Fine. Public
>Enemy? Too many white people in the audience. Ice-T? Too misogynist. Etc.
>Etc.
>
>Not that I disagree with all her points, but why have someone write on a
>topic they can't transmit their excitement (if any) about?
>
>I always liked Carter Harris (writes for the Bay Guardian) better. He sees
>most of the same problems, but also seems to have a genuine excitement
>about the Bay Area hip-hop scene.
>
Carter Harris is no way related to me for the record - but I do not
like his writing style and reviews and he gave Boss a bad review and
y'all should heard what Boss have to said about this guy. But his style
is too mono for me - unless he improved his style then I've yet to seen
it.... But the VIBE is too much for me even though I'm a charter subscriber
... but I just use it for my research - but I gotta give props to my
homegal and idol dream hampton - who got it going on (shit not only
she writes for the VIBE, but also got a column in SPIN and she does
some serious ass shit for the Source time to time - remember the Source
in its hey day - she was the associate editor before Chris took her
place.... Maybe I been a lil' hard on Carter but it is my opinion and
my reaction to what he has done for the Source lately (WEAK ASS SHIT!)
>--
>xj...@cork.Berkeley.EDU Fiiiive Thousand Boomin Watts...... -The JBeez
>
>They can't come on and play me in prime time, | Free Millipede coin op
>Cause I know the time, cause I'm gettin' mine. | and House music at my
>I get on the mix late in the night... -Public Enemy | place! Drop by sometime.
Peace and stay tune...
Dat Deaf Brotha
duane duane in da muthafuckin house
"What is my Mutafuckin' Name" Snoop Dog
I peep this shit at JTR and it was da BOMB!!!!!!