Critical Reading: The Source magazine

Hip-hop is a style of music that emerged from New York City in the early 1970’s. It was initially sneered at and considered a trademark of lower class society. The future of hip-hop seemed bleak, at best; even the largest labels were unheard of to the general public, and artists were in a constant struggle to get airtime on radio stations. However, in a relatively short amount of time, the popularity of hip-hop made an abrupt shift. Rap albums exploded into music stores, radio stations and personal CD players nationwide. Since then, the genre has traveled thousands of miles from its humble beginnings in the slum neighborhoods of New York. It made its way across the country to California, steadily creeping into suburban record stores and popular music venues along the way. Today, it enjoys massive international popularity; hip-hop icons such as Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Flava Flav and Ice T have regularly made appearances in foreign countries, and expanded their careers to include a variety of film and television roles in addition to music.
The Source, since its creation in 1988, has been a magazine which carefully documents popular hip-hop artists, industry news, and popular culture surrounding the genre. The magazine was created by two white Harvard students and distributed out of their dorm room as a small concert newsletter. Over the years its production changed hands and grew exponentially; it currently caters to African-American and urban audiences between the ages of eighteen to twenty-five all across the country.
The July 2008 cover features the rugged, tattooed face of twenty-eight year old Jayceon Taylor, who, since his debut in 2002, has gained notoriety as rapper The Game. The picture draws particular attention to his unshaven beard, squinted eyes and anguished expression. Upon opening the magazine, the reader must flip through a full fifty-three pages of captivating article headlines, dazzling shoe and jewelry advertisements and large full-color pictures of rap artists before arriving at the cover page story. Before reaching this story, the reader finds articles which chronicle the lives of newly-discovered rappers, as well as reviews ranking the musical success of both major- and minor-label artists. News articles fill the spaces in between: one describes public outrage at the court results of a highly debated case (an article which delivers the news with a detectable bias toward the defendant), while another describes the level of “real-ness” that certain rappers incorporate into their lyrics and images.
The Source captures the reader with two full spreads of The Game’s startling glare before delving headlong into the article. The author begins by mentioning Jayceon’s astonishing success in the frighteningly unpredictable hip-hop industry. He describes the rapper’s deceptively gruff exterior as contrasting to his apparently kind-hearted personality, reasoning that, in the context of a dramatic and unforgiving life, a positive outlook is surprising. For several paragraphs, the author ponders the high death rate of rap artists and mentions its tie to the persistent drama and feuds within the industry. The remainder of the article covers the details of the rapper’s rocky childhood in Compton, his current feelings on life, and his intended future in music. The Game’s rise to fame is of particular interest to the author. Similar to other articles in The Source, this one emphasizes the rags-to-riches success that brought him his current status. Jayceon Taylor was once like so many other young urban Americans: unfortunate and impoverished, with few realistic hopes of escape. In six short years, he successfully created an entirely new lifestyle built on his rap career. His sudden success might be appropriately compared to the late rap artist Notorious BIG, whose lyrics proclaim, “And [my mom] loves to show me off, of course / Smiles every time my face is up in The Source.” Young readers might find encouragement in this story. It documents the unexpected rise of a once-hopeless kid, and, in a way, it becomes a story of motivation. It is proof to urban youth that dreams can come true, despite the odds against them. In most mainstream magazines, such messages are typically absent.
A comparable publication, Rolling Stone, painted its June 26th, 2008 cover with a different famous face: that of Chris Martin, member of the rock band Coldplay. Rather than portraying him as rough or unkempt, Rolling Stone offers its readers a polished, thoughtful, sandy-haired young Caucasian man who obviously comes from a wildly different socioeconomic background than The Game. The story features an interview with Martin, in which he comes across as straightforward and down-to-earth, opposite of Jayceon Taylor’s powerful bad-boy attitude. His level of education is substantial, evident in his near-perfect English marred only with the occasional obscenity. This stands in contrast to The Game, whose quotations are laced with slang; suggesting to readers that his academic opportunities have been poor. Rolling Stone is a more deeply establish and more widely distributed publication than The Source, and its cover article manifests this. Instead of discussing higher-than-average death rates or other sordid affairs, the author questions Chris Martin about an array of lighter topics, including the intricacies of his new album, his political views, and his musical production process. Ultimately, this presents an image of the musician that a larger number of American citizens will relate to. The author provides an appealing and acceptable documentation of Martin’s feelings regarding his upcoming music, comprising an article which runs parallel with common American ideals.
Evidently, there are several significant differences between Rolling Stone and The Source. The former features articles that play on socially acceptable views (such as the value of political discourse) in order to compose an American vision of how musical icons ought to appear; whereas the latter offers a distinct and unapologetic representation of an impoverished African-American youth turned ruggedly-handsome hip-hop star. The Source, unfortunately, also seems to deliver messages other than that of perseverance in the face adversity. Its glossy pages carry flashy photographs of celebrities flaunting expensive clothes and diamond-encrusted jewelry, implying that money and fame directly influence happiness. Young men from urban areas might recognize the graffitied walls and brick buildings that often appear as backgrounds. Consequently, they would be more likely to respond to the messages that this publication sends. It also promotes numerous rap and hip-hop artists whose lyrics glamorize rampant drug-dealing, habitual marijuana use and careless sexual misconduct. For example, in his hit Big Dreams, The Game proudly tells his listeners, “Lunchtime I was sellin’ behind the bungalows/Baggin’ up rocks the size of melons.” Rather than encouraging children to hold firmly to their dreams and ambitions, such lyrical content sanctions behavior that would prove detrimental to the health, happiness and personal success of future generations.
This publication’s frequent association of African-Americans with under-developed urban housing, reckless behavior and stereotypical language seems somewhat racist, because it exacerbates the presence of societal prejudices that, unfortunately, continue to linger. It is available nationwide; its sales are not restricted to large cities or predominantly African-American neighborhoods. It appears on newsstands and in stores everywhere, subject to the diverse and critical eye of the public. Citizens who are not a member of the target audience may still encounter this magazine, so their perception of its messages will influence society’s attitude toward minority groups. American society has undergone severe behavioral and judicial evolution over the past century, and personal ethnicity can no longer be attached to certain lifestyles or behaviors. The Source, however, may be aggravating such stereotypes through its one-sided portrayal of urban culture.
Rolling Stone and The Source each target an entirely different audience group. Each magazine, however, placed artists on their cover who chose to ignore others in their search for independence. This implies that both publications place subtle emphasis on the value of personal liberation and self-reliance. When Jayceon Taylor was asked whether he would seek future musical assistance from Dr. Dre, he responded decidedly, “…I am forever in debt to him…But I work alone.” Chris Martin, in a similar comment to Rolling Stone, said with conviction, “The spirit of rock & roll is freedom. It's about following what you believe in and not caring what anyone else says.” Culturally and ethnically different musical icons, it seems, may occasionally find common ground in the values and messages they choose to send.

By Jeff Sholtis