The Source March 1992 issue featuring Fab 5 Freddy, Ed Lover, and Dr. Dre from YO! MTV Raps

This is one of the few issues from the early years of The Source that I have never posted before. I remember when cable television was just being installed in Philly citywide back in 1988/1989. We had to wait until early/mid ’89 but a friend of mine was fortunate to have his entire block wired before mine in late ‘88. He called me one Saturday morning and told me to run over to his house to see this new show called Yo! MTV Raps. I caught the last few minutes and was completely blown away. He didn’t own a VCR to record the episode so we spent a week discussing it until the new episode aired the following Saturday. It was revolutionary to say the least. Once the weekday episodes began, I rushed home from school so I wouldn’t miss it. BET’s Rap City (with Chris Thomas, Prince Dejour and Joe Clair) was another favorite of ours and we never really thought of the shows as competitors. In fact, the shows were more complementary to one another. I recall KRS-One saying something about video killing the rap star. But it also brought the music and visuals to the masses that didn’t have access. Videos like the ones I linked below completely changed my life.

Files are not guaranteed to be active after 30 days so download them while you can.

**the link is in the comments **

~Vincent~

The Source September 1993 issue (and Fat Tape) featuring Snoop Dogg (RE-UP)

 



I think I said everything about this issue way back when I first posted it here more than five years ago, so get it while you can.

Files are not guaranteed to be active after 30 days so download them while you can.

http://rapidshare.com/files/3565297025/Source%20September%201993.rar

pw=thimk

~Vincent~

The Source May 1994 issue (and Fat Tape) featuring Queen Latifah (RE-UP)

While I will always believe that Queen Latifah created the greatest female hip-hop album of all time, All Hail the Queen, this particular issue is all about DJ Doo Wop to me.  Back in my college days of 1993 and 1994, I bought every Doo Wop mixtape.  And he dropped a couple of good Summer Jam tapes in 1994 that I still keep in rotation when I’m in the gym.  The music, energy, and rawness vividly encapsulate my crazy life at the time and I have to admit that it is bittersweet and nostalgic hearing those mixtapes today.  Doo Wop’s crew was raw as ever and I often wonder what happened to them, too, as I only remember Snaggapuss actually making onto wax.  What really bothers me though is Doo Wop didn’t really keep the momentum going after 1994, which was probably due to getting a record deal.  I know Brandan may be able to shed some more light on the subject since he’s a mixtape connoisseur.

By the way, Gangstarr received 4 mics in this issue for their Hard to Earn album.  Was that too high, too low, or just right?

The Fat Tape is included...

http://rapidshare.com/files/3081235671/Source%20May%201994.rar

Files are not guaranteed to be active after 30 days so download them while you can.

pw=thimk


~Vincent~

P.S.A.

I receive a lot of emails from people worldwide asking me to add them to the blog. The only way to do so is to open the blog publicly, which ain’t gonna happen or eliminate the people who never leave a comment (i.e. leeches). A simple “Thank you” is cool but some people prefer the silent leech route. Anyway, I’ll slowly swap people in and out when I have a minute. My little blog isn’t important anyway so don’t worry if you get the boot.


~Vincent~

The Source April 1997 issue (and Fat Tape) featuring The Notorious B.I.G (RE-UP)

“The greatest rapper of all time died on March 9th!” Canibus

I never agreed with Canibus at all since that title is held by KRS-One in my mind. But damn, Biggie is the greatest at something to me. For years, I’ve discussed this with my hip-hop people. To put it bluntly, Biggie was the greatest rapper who said absolutely nothing. “Nothing” as in fly lyrics that were devoid of any real substance. The mere mention of designer clothing, automatic weapons, expensive jewelry, and gorgeous women in his lyrics enhanced their overall image and his detailed storytelling skills reminded me of a  mixture of both Slick Rick and Kool G Rap. But he really never said anything that made me thimk and that's ok because everyone had their own place in hip-hop back then.  Everyone was able to shine and make a little money back in '97.  I told one of my friends to imagine that Biggie had been mentored by Chuck D. He would have changed the world but sadly, it all ended too soon.

Has it really been 16 years already?  I still can’t believe Biggie would have been 40 years old right now. He was just 6 months older than me and imaging him rhyming today, Twittering nonsense, and raising children with or without Faith would have been strange.  His relationship with Puff would have probably dissolved after realizing he was being ripped off. And even if The Commission album had become a reality, I still believe he would taken much of the shine away from Jay-Z and possible helped develop Lil Kim, Cam’Ron, and Charlie Baltimore differently. Untertainment could have been a major player in the late 90’s.

The eerie thing about this issue is “The Last Word” on page 120. Talk about art literally being prophetic.  R.I.P.

The Fat Tape is included...

http://rapidshare.com/files/1348424045/Source%20April%201997.rar

pw=thimk


~Vincent~

The Source March 1995 issue (and Fat Tape) featuring Slick Rick (RE-UP)

I've been meaning to discuss my Bay Area hip-hop theory for years now and this issue gives me the perfect opportunity to briefly do so. For some reason, the Bay Area seems to have literally every form and version of hip-hop in existence. I told my wife a long time ago that no other area, not even New York, can boast the diversity of hip-hop that resides in that area. Too Short, Tupac, Digital Underground, E-40, The Coup, Paris, The Luniz, Hieroglyphics (Del, Casual, and Souls of Mischief), Mac Mall, The Conscious Daughters, Mac Dre, Invisibl Skratch Piklz, and on and on. Does Planet Asia count, too? I’m sure they even have some LGBT hip-hop artists in that area as well. It’s like they can go from the raunchiest most ignorant hip-hop to the conscious political hip-hop to the raw, off the dome hip-hop to the strictly hardcore DJ hip-hop. The Bay Area has so much hip-hop talent and I’ve always envied them for that. Anyway, that brings me to this particular issue. On page 25, they posted some info on a rap battle between Casual and Saafir. I haven’t seen a rap battle in person for years so it surprised me to re-read about one in this issue. Consider that most “signed” artists today refuse to battle one another for fear of losing whatever YouTube credibility they may have from 14 year old kids and for obvious lack of skills. I mean, I can’t even think of two "mainstream" artists today I’d like to see battle right now who are 30 years of age and under. Imagine weak rappers like Soulja Boy and Gucci Mane threatening to a have a rap battle.  I'd have to hide under a rock.  Anyway, this issue really took me back in time so check it out.

One more thing.  Big L's debut album got 4 mics in the record review section.  Was that too high, too low, or just right?

The Fat Tape is included...

http://rapidshare.com/files/164739435/Source%20March%201995.rar

pw=thimk

Oh yeah, here's a battle that I thoroughly enjoyed.





~Vincent~

 

The Source February 1996 issue (and Fat Tape) featuring Luke

Happy New Year! I hope you and your family have a great 2013.

 

I posted this issue because of the Lord Finesse “The Awakening” review.  Oddly, The Source actually published a Lord Finesse interview, advertisement, and record review all in this same issue, which was very rare.  Anyway, I remember buying that CD and being annoyed with the brief interludes but enjoying his overall "new" sound.  I was surprised that Finesse had moved further into the production side of the business as well, following his D.I.T.C. brethren.  I would have given the album 4 mics and I was shocked to see that Kriss Kross, Eazy E, and Coolio all received higher ratings than Lord Finesse.  But Finesse struck back, though, in a very diplomatic way.  In the April 1996 issue, he wrote a letter to the The Source, which they published, essentially asking why they had someone unfamiliar with his music history writing a record review.  I completely agree.  My only problem with Finesse was what happened after this album? Was the production route that much better financially?

The Fat Tape is included...

http://rapidshare.com/files/3003730987/Source%20February%201996.rar

pw=thimk

~Vincent~