The Source is an American music magazine and website specializing in hip-hop and entertainment. Founded in August 1988 by Harvard University students David Mays and Jonathan Shecter, it began as a black-and-white, one-page newspaper promoting their college radio show. Within months, it evolved into a professionally designed, full-color magazine. Dubbed "the bible of hip-hop," primarily focused on hip-hop music and culture while also covering politics and fashion. Its music reviews held great significance in the hip-hop community, with the "five mics" rating considered a prestigious honor and a significant achievement. The ratings often sparked heated debates among both artists and fans.
At its height in the late 1990s, The Source was the highest-selling magazine on the newsstands in the United States. It launched its own compilation album series and an award show. The 1995 Source Awards were noted for their effect on the hip-hop landscape, particularly in escalating tension between the East and West Coast hip-hop communities, which ultimately resulted in the murders of The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur.
Several controversies embroiled The Source throughout its history, often leading to editor walkouts. The most publicized of these, its feud with Eminem, was among the factors that contributed to its decline. Financial struggles worsened as the launch of its website in the early 2000s resulted in significant losses, forcing David Mays to sell part of the magazine. These challenges ultimately led to the magazine's bankruptcy and shareholders firing Mays in 2006.
In 2008, the magazine was purchased by the publisher L. Londell McMillan, who successfully brought back major advertisers. However, in the 2010s, as advertising revenue declined and online publications became more dominant, McMillan was forced to downsize the team and reduce the magazine's publication frequency.
History
1988–1991: Early years and relocation to New York
The Source was founded in August 1988, by two Harvard University students, David Mays and Jonathan Shecter. initially using The Source to promote it. According to Mays, the name of the magazine comes from the song "Ya Slippin'" by Boogie Down Productions. The first issue was a one-page newsletter, distributed for free. It was printed on Mays's personal Macintosh computer and funded with $200 of their own money. The mailing list of the radio show's listeners initially served as the magazine's readership. Two other Harvard students, H. Edward Young and James Bernard, soon joined the team; Young helped Mays with the business side of the magazine, while Bernard and Shecter worked on its content. With a $10,000 loan from a friend, they purchased better hardware and rented an office in Somerville, Massachusetts, which allowed them to publish 10,000 copies every two months.
After Mays and Shecter graduated in June 1990, the magazine moved from Boston, Massachusetts to New York City. To financially support the move, the team asked for advance payments for ads from several record labels, raising $70,000. James Bernard became the magazine's coeditor-in-chief, and Chris Wilder was its senior editor. Reginald Dennis, who joined the magazine as an intern, became its music editor, responsible for the "Record Report" album review section. The Source album ratings, presented on a scale from one to five microphones ("mics"), often led to hot debates, both inside the Mind Squad and outside of the magazine. Pitchfork Dean Van Nguyen wrote: "The Source mic-based rating system became the most trusted scale of quality in rap." The magazine's highest rating—five mics, signifying "a hip-hop classic"—became highly sought after. "That half-mic to five-mic system really meant something to hip-hop artists. People wanted to start fights with Source writers over reviews—and some writers got terrorized", said Greg Tate. The Source published stories on protests against police brutality, misogyny and violence against women. In 1991, the magazine hosted a summit for rappers affiliated with the Five-Percent Nation. Next year, James Bernard flew to Los Angeles during the riots and spent several days interviewing locals, publishing an article that stood apart from the coverage by the mainstream media. the phrase was shortened to "the bible of hip-hop" and used by the magazine throughout its history. On April 25 of that year, the magazine launched its first Source Awards show. Prior to the creation of the standalone event, the magazine awarded artists in a special segment of the music show Yo! MTV Raps. The award show was created by David Mays, with him and the rest of the staff believing that other awards, such as the Grammy Awards, underappreciated hip-hop. Tickets for the show sold out in minutes; however, TV networks refused to broadcast it.
The magazine was now the target of criticism and attacks. "Angry over negative coverage or reviews, sometimes even angry over positive coverage, rappers and their handlers issued threats that sometimes became physical attacks," wrote Jeff Chang. David Mays, who had not been involved in the magazine's editorial side since 1989, now frequently relayed to them the complaints he received from rappers, managers, and their labels about certain reviews; the editors ignored him. Rapper KRS-One threatened to boycott the Source Awards, believing that the magazine's staff did not have the authority to judge hip-hop artists. Public Enemy, whose leader previously praised The Source, now released a music video for the song "I Stand Accused," where they destroy the offices of The Sauce magazine. Cypress Hill has burned copies of the magazine during their concerts. West Coast hip-hop artists believed their scene was underrepresented by The Source, which led to the creation of West Coast-focused Rap Pages.
Another point of contention, brought up by KRS-One and other critics of the magazine, was a conflict of interest. During the early days in Boston, David Mays befriended the local rapper Raymond "Ray Dog" Scott, who later chose the stage name Benzino. Along with several other rappers, Benzino formed the Almighty RSO. According to James Bernard, Mays was the group's manager, who helped them get signed to RCA Records. At the time, Mays denied being the group's manager but confirmed that he presented their demo tapes to various record labels. The rest of Mind Squad refused to review the group's upcoming EP Revenge of da Badd Boyz. They accused the group of intimidating the magazine's editors, with Bernard claiming Benzino threatened to "[put them] in bodybags" if the EP received less than 4 mics. Mays asked Bernard for "fair and objective coverage of RSO". the article did not disclose any connections between its authors and the group.
Following the editors' walkout, Benzino gradually became more involved with the magazine. In 1995, he became a business partner of Mays, with Los Angeles Times describing his role as a "charismatic consultant". Mays did not officially acknowledge his involvement until 2002. Critics of The Source believed Benzino received preferential treatment in the magazine and later used it during his feuds. "[Benzino] increasingly became [the magazine's] public face, particularly when he provoked bitter feuds," wrote Paul Gorman in his book Totally Wired.
The magazine's next event, the 1995 Source Awards, was the first rap award show ever televised. The show is considered an important moment in hip-hop's history and is often seen as the catalyst for the East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry. In his op-ed for Time magazine, Questlove of the Roots, who attended the show, described it as a "funeral in hip hop's history". While receiving an award, Death Row's CEO, Suge Knight, invited other artists to join his label if they did not want to "worry about the executive producer trying to be all in the videos, all on the record, dancing". This comment was widely interpreted as a jab aimed at Puff Daddy, CEO of the East Coast label Bad Boy. During the same ceremony, the Southern hip-hop group Outkast was booed by the rest of the audience as they accepted the award for Best New Artist. Frustrated, the group's member André 3000 ended his speech with "The South got something to say"—a line that, according to Sierra A. Porter of USA Today, "became a mantra" for Southern hip-hop artists. Over the following years, Southern hip-hop rose to prominence, reshaping the sound and landscape of hip-hop.
1996–1999: Growth, internal conflicts, and editorial changes
The magazine continued expanding throughout the second half of the 1990s. Apart from the award show, David Mays launched syndicated The Source Magazine Radio Network, The Source Magazine All Hip-Hop Hour television program, The Source Presents: Hip Hop Hits compilation album series, and The Source Youth Foundation. By 1997, The Source was the highest-selling music magazine on newsstands in the United States, with circulation of 317,369 copies compared to Rolling Stone 169,625 copies. The same year Mays and Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner entered partnership negotiations, but the two could not agree on terms.
After the original Mind Squad left the magazine in 1994, the editorial side was led by Bönz Malone, Marc "Ronin Ro" Flores, and Adario Strange, who became editor-in-chief in 1995. Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, who previously worked at The Village Voice, was chosen for the music editor position. Hinds brought more editors, such as Tracii McGregor and Ego Trip co-founder Elliott Wilson. When Adario Strange left the magazine in 1997, Selwyn Seyfu Hinds replaced him as editor-in-chief, while Elliott Wilson became The Source music editor. Driven by "personal resentment," he made it his goal to overtake The Source as the most popular hip-hop magazine. According to David Mays, maintaining full ownership was important to him. Rather than launching the website in a partnership and splitting expenses, he funded its development with a $12 million loan, using the magazine as collateral. "I took a gamble that in retrospect I shouldn't have taken," Mays said in a 2022 interview. Burdened by loan payments in the wake of the dot-com crash, in 2002 he sold 18% of the magazine to the private equity firm Black Enterprise/Greenwich Street for $12 million.
The circulation reached 450,000 in 1999. The same year, Selwyn Hinds resigned following a disagreement with Benzino. Made Men, Benzino's new group, was preparing the release of their debut album, Classic Limited Edition. The magazine's Source Films was working on the heavily advertised Made Men movie. After Hinds' departure, Carlito Rodriguez was named the next editor-in-chief. The 2000 event ended abruptly when police intervened following a fight on stage. In 2001, the awards moved to Miami, Florida, with improved security measures following the incident. The French version, launched in 2003, did not meet expected readership levels, with the heavily promoted first issue selling 14,000 copies out of 70,000 printed. By the time it closed in 2005, its monthly readership had dropped to 6,500.
2003–2004: Feuds with XXL and Eminem
Soon after Carlito Rodriguez left The Source in 2002, music editor Kim Osorio became its first female editor-in-chief. During her tenure, the magazine's circulation peaked at nearly 500,000 copies.