I stated in an earlier article that my formal and hip hop education were simultaneous. I went from Walk This Way to Walk like a Duck in about six years. Being an energetic, eccentric and excited teen about hip hop, I wanted to surround myself in it, literally. I was in an era where hip hop & R&B magazines were published and for the most part, they were reputable. I took them to be the highest form of journalism back then. Even the photos were National Geographic quality to me. Unlike others who had older siblings for them the learn about music or dances from, I learned the stuff on my own. Magazines, and to a lesser extent videos, helped me along the way.
I’m not sure if the kids of today are as excited as I was to get the newest issues of Right On!, Black Beat, Word Up!, Rap Masters and The Source. Black Beat & Right On! never seemed to cross my path as often as Word Up! or Rap Masters but I checked for them when I could.
Word Up! & Rap Masters were my Rolling Stone magazine. They were packed with posters, crazy with contests and bursting with info on the latest beats. The focus of Word Up! was the R&B artists and Rap Masters dealt with indeed with mid 80s to early 90s hip hop. They were published by Kate Ferguson and I was thankful to her for that.
As young as I was, I didn’t think about planning or coordinating a schedule to know when Word Up! or Rap Masters would be on the shelves. I’d just visit the local mall every week or two and peep for the words Word Up! or Rap Masters among the mags, buy it on the spot if I had the dough, ask the lady to put it aside for me until I had the dough, bring it home, undo the staples in the middle to extract the posters and then re-assemble the poster-less mag to read it. I won’t get into the poster procedure. Some things that go on in a teenager’s room are just private. I’ll say this though. Ever heard of wall to wall carpet? The way I covered my room in posters was literally off the wall at times.
The contests! I entered any and every contest I could. Back then, you had to mail the form from the magazine. I was so hungry to win stuff that I’d even enter contests after the deadline. I’ll never forget the day the postman arrived at my house with a large squared package. I think my love for receiving music in the mail was born that day. The package was addressed to me, of course, and I opened it to see The Alliance's We Could Get Used to This in my hands. I had forgotten it was one of the contests I entered. I play that record on my show up to this day. I’ve never seen that record anywhere. I also won Def Jef’s Poet with Soul audio cassette and 3 Rap Masters t-shirts. I’ve been lucky with contests in my life but I’m convinced they decided to send me some things because I was always entering their contests. Regardless of the case, Kate Ferguson was my lady luck.
As I got older, I wanted my hip hop magazines to have a bit more journalistic quality. Vibe and The Source did that for me for most of the 1990s. I had a Vibe Magazine subscription and remembered receiving the iconic issue with Notorious B.I.G. & Puff Daddy on the cover.
The Source, however, was the source. If an album got 3-4.5/5 mics, you took it. If you loved the artist or album, you burned inside because it didn’t get the full credit you felt it deserved. You still had to respect them for their decision though.
Thankfully, for record connoisseurs and collectors, there’s Waxpoetics Magazine. I look forward to it every two months and have a secret aim to collect all the issues I’m missing somehow someway. I don’t read many magazines but Waxpoetics is one I live by. You can learn more about the golden era hip hop artists & albums, learn about the music & artists sampled and even be up to date on the current music scene. It provides me so many ideas for my radio show and I can’t state enough how glad I am for it.
Before I sign out, I want to thank all the magazines past and present that shaped our lives.
