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3. The Source was originally started by two Harvard University students in Cambridge,
Massachusetts who were influenced by Hip Hop and wanted to give praise by
devoting coverage to the rising music genre. John Shecter and David Mays decided
to hire their college James Bernard (as senior director) and Ed Young (as associate
publisher) and the four men immediately became shareholders in the ownership of
the magazine. At the time, Mays handled duties as the publisher of the magazine
and Shecter was the editor-in-chief. The magazine’s offices were moved from
Massachusetts to New York City in 1990, a move that was made with the intention to
expand the magazine into a mainstream market publication.
The magazine featured cover stories on the crack-cocaine epidemic, police brutality,
and New York’s investigations of high-profile emcees. The magazine also included
many notable features, including the famous ‘Unsigned Hype’ column. The
publication has over eight million subscribers worldwide and remains one of the most
popular hip-hop magazines in the world.
Extensions to ‘The Source’:
4. As the source expanded, the magazine became involved in a television programmes
such as The Source: All-Access and The Source: Sound Lab. The magazine’s
annual awards show, known as The Source Awards, honours both Hip-hop and R&B
performers for their contributions to hip-hop. The Lifetime Achievement Award is the
highest award given to an emcee who has contributed his/her time to succeeding in
the hip-hop music industry. The Source also releases a compilation album of hip-hop
hits. The magazine expanded overseas with a French-language version, alongside
The Source Latino and The Source Israel magazine franchises. The company
invested in mobile phones and ringtones
The Artists who feature in ‘The Source’:
‘The Source’ magazine is a hip-hop, urban, maledominated magazine and the artists who feature in the
magazine reflect this. The artists who feature in ‘The
Source’ have also helped celebrate ‘black music’ and the
years of hip-hop as hip-hop originated in 1970’s America
when block parties became increasingly popular in New
York City, particularly among African American youth
residling in the black streets of ‘ The Bronx’.
The Birthplace of ‘Hip-hop’
The Source is a cool, youthful, ‘ghetto’ magazine featuring
artists such as ‘Rick Ross’, ‘Big Sean’ and ‘Chris Brown’.
Hip-hop originated with a marginalized subculture of the
South Bronx amongst black and latino youth in 1970’s New
York City. The artists cleverly represent this as on the front
cover of the magazine, they normally seem relaxed, calm
yet dominant reflecting the subcultures of both ethnic
groups which is still shown in today’s ‘Source’ magazines. ,
they normally seem relaxed, calm yet dominant reflecting
the subcultures of both ethnic groups which is still shown in
today’s ‘Source’
magazines.
6. The readerships of ‘The Source’ are 18-30 year olds with a mostly male-targeted
audience. They are working/middle class and to achieve the best in life. They are
fun, urban, and stylish and keep up with the latest trends. They are hugely interested
in ‘Hip-hop’ music and will be part of it until they die. Hip-hop is a big part of their
lives and they breathe hip-hop music. Their favorite artists include ‘Missy Elliot’,
‘Eminem’ and ‘Diggy Simmons’.
They have a great sense of fashion and wear the latest trends such as ‘Vans’ and
‘Jordan’s. They are very outgoing and confident and love to set the trend by being
innovative, creative and imaginative, separating themselves from the crowd. When
they walk in a room, everyone has to stop and stare at them. They are dominant,
youthful and very trendy.
In their spare time, they enjoy hanging out with their mates and having a laugh and
they also enjoy watching street dance where people freestyle dance and show their
creativeness. They are also not afraid to speak their mind and never take criticism
too harshly.
Brand Identity of ‘The Source’:
‘The Source’ magazine maintains its brand identity as in every issue, the masthead
is kept and displayed in big, block capital letters and is placed in the exact same
position. This is very clever if the magazine to do as the audience is able to spot a
continuous link between all of the issues allowing them to feel connected to the
7. magazine and to not lose connection. Moreover, on the masthead, inside the letter
‘O’ is a microphone with a hand wrapped around it, signifying both the genre and
reflecting the stereotype of emcees holding the mic, creating iconography. The
image of the main artist is normally displayed above the masthead, again creating a
link between the issues.
In addition, the UPC-A (barcode) is always placed at the bottom right hand side of
the front cover. Also, the brand also maintains its brand identity by displaying a strap
line full of artist’s names that feature in the magazine or important headlines which
lures the reader in as this grabs their attention.
On some of ‘Source’s’ editions, at the bottom center, the audience are reminded and
persuaded to visit ‘THE SOURCE.COM. This allows the audience to keep this in
their heads as they are invited to visit the site for more, making them feel a part of
‘The Source’ magazine community. Also, on most of their magazines, beside the
main image (masthead) is the artist name (written in big, bold print) and a snippet
about them as well which gives the audience a hint of what will feature in the
magazine. Furthermore, all of the artists who feature in the magazine represent the
brand’s identity and personality: Cool, youthful and stylish which is very effective and
clever of ‘The Source’.
8. The conventions of the ‘Hip-hop’ genre
While many genres have stereotypes associated with them, hip-hop may have the
most. Not to be confused with prejudices, a stereotype is simply the consensus belief
about a topic based on what people commonly
assume. Whether correct or incorrect, the
stereotypes associated with hip-hop include
violence, drugs, money and misogyny. The lyrics
of many hip-hop songs perpetuate some of these
stereotypes.
Many hip-hop artists reference violence in their
songs, which lead to violence being a stereotype
commonly associated with this genre of music.
Over time, hip-hop artists such as Ice-T, Tupac
Shakur and Eminem have come under fire from
community groups and government agencies for
the use of violence lyrics in their music. There ‘s
no proof that hip-hop artists use drugs than those in any other music genre, but
drugs are more likely to be mentioned in hip-hop music. Many lyrics in this style of
music refer to selling drugs as a way of making a living as using drugs such as
marijuana. Dr Dre’s notable hip-hop album ‘The Chronic’ referenced marijuana in its
title and 50 Cent’s semi-autobiographical movie ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’ talked about
his rise from a drug dealer to a rapper.
While musicians in virtually every genre can achieve enormous commercial success
and enjoy the wealth that comes with it, hip hop performers are known for vigorously
celebrating their money and even exaggerating how much they have. Rap videos
frequently show rappers showing off and holding stacks of money, wearing
expensive jewellery and driving fancy cars. Additionally, many hip-hop references
dealing being rich and spending large quantities of money.
9. Women’s groups have often
criticised hip-hop music for the use of misogynistic lyrics and images. Women are
commonly referred to in some rap music, while scantily clad women and are also
common fixtures in hip hop videos.
The stereotypical conventions found in the ‘hip-hop’ genre are guns, violence, sex,
drugs and jewellery. We also tend to associate hip-hop with break-dancing and
graffiti which are highly related to the genre.
Stereotypes of men and women:
Men are normally featured as very successful. However, they are made out to be
gangsters, trouble makers and promiscuous.
Women are normally seen as the property of men. They follow men’s orders and do
as they say. They are displayed as ‘puppets’ as they do whatever a man tells them
and are considered ‘objects’. Black people are constantly thought to be violent
people, lower class, uneducated, lazy and good.
11. My research in music magazine conventions has hugely inspired me to create a
magazine that has similar yet creative and original ideas related to hip-ho. ‘The
Source’ has allowed me to figure exactly how I would like my magazine to look and
what type of target audience I am aiming the magazine at. I have been inspired in
so many ways. For example, for my masthead I would like one that is bold, clear and
urban, like ‘The Source’s one and I would like there to be a logo which represents
my magazine. For example, the Source has a ‘mic’ in between one of the letters
which makes the magazine stand out from others and makes it more unique and
creative.
I also wish to use relevant iconography in my magazine to allow the audience to see
a link and be able to identify the genre without feeling confused or lost. This will al so
like my featuring artist to stand out in the magazine and to show body language and
facial features which are the same , if not similar to existing and successful hip-hop
magazines.
