After reading your editorial
http://www.thesource.com/html/editorial_01.htm and then hearing Benzino's interview with Angie Martinez last week, I realized that you don't have a clue about your boss. [Click here and get a http://www.fairchildpub.com/details/  clue!]

Maybe you just got your position last month and haven't had a chance to figure things out for yourself, so I figured I'd give you a crash course.  Currently you are employed at a magazine that has undoubtedly made Hip-Hop history and has proven that Hip-Hop is a viable market. This same magazine has been involved in some of the most unscrupulous dealings as well from paid covers, award nominations and unearned reviews and features. Anywhere else and this would be editorially unethical. Your other boss, David Mays, co-owner of The Source is also the owner of Surrender Records, Benzino's label.

First off, if Benzino aka 'The 5 Mic Giver's' whole tirade is against the machine then he's actually fighting against himself. Ask yourself the following questions. When a record label is trying to promote an album, what publication do they go to? When an unsigned artist is looking to get signed, what publication do they send their demo to?  Second, in your editorial on The Source.com, you said, "Benzino and The Source are not interchangeable. The Source has always made it a point to keep Benzino's music career and the magazine business from interfering with each other." Really? Well, perhaps you could tell us why Mays went behind the back of his editors and slipped in a three-page story on Benzino's first group, The Almighty RSO (November 1994 http://www.cjr.org/year/95/1/source.asp ). As a result, James Bernard and the entire editorial staff walked out in protest.

Explain http://www.sohh.com/thewire/read.php?contentID=845 why former editor-in chief Selwyn Hinds left The Source after David Mays personally changed the mic rating of Made Men's debut album from a 3.5 to a 4.5 mic rating. And since while we're on the subject, how was Made Men given the Hip-Hop Quotable of the Month (see sidebar), a spot in the Singles File column and a position on the Heavy Rotation charts (October 1999). Enlighten us to how The 1999 Source Awards nominated Made Men's video "Just You And I" for Video Of The Year. If anyone has seen this video, click http://www.sohh.com/apps/opt_in/?client_ID=6 here.

Whose bright idea was it to use a Made Men song as the theme song for Source TV? Just last week your employer was on Hot 97 with Angie Martinez and threatened to ban her from magazine coverage because she allowed Eminem to air out his frustrations about the feud on the air. Did you know if you buy Benzino's new album, Redemption you can get a free 3-month subscription to The Source?

Maybe it's me, but it would appear that your boss' music career and your job are one in the same. Intertwined. Entangled. Just straight twisted. There is one thing your magazine has lived up to and that's 'Politics.' Here is a comprehensive list of how The Source and Benzino's career are one in the same. We will update this list as we do more digging.

November 1994 - David Mays goes behind the back of the Source editors and inserts a three-page story on The Almighty RSO. read http://www.cjr.org/year/95/1/source.asp  more September 1999 - Made Men's video, "Just You And I" receives Source Award nomination for Video Of The Year. The rarely seen video is competiting against, Busta Rhymes & Janet Jackson "What's It Gonna Be."  October 1999 - Selwyn Hinds, former editor-in chief of The Source resigns after David Mays changed the mic rating of Made Men's debut album from a 3.5 to a 4.5 mic rating. read more http://www.sohh.com/thewire/read.php?contentID=845 October 1999 - Made Men recieves Hip-Hop Quotable of the Month, and a position in both the Singles File and the Heavy Rotation. December 2000 - The Source Presents: Hip Hop Hits, Vol. 4 includes Holla Back (Holla Boston) by Benzino. 2000 - Virtually unknown, Benzino performs at The Source Awards in Miami. 2000 - David Mays is interviewed by Detail magazine. In this article he is quoted for celebrating the departure of his former editors and business partners. read more http://www.fairchildpub.com/details/ 

December 2001 - The Source Hip Hop Hits Vol. 5 includes Bang Ta Dis by Benzino.

December 2002 - The Source Hip Hop Hits Vol. 6 includes Bootee by Benzino.

December 2002 - Benzino recieves Hip-Hop Quotable Of The Month for his dis to Eminem, Die Another Day and a 5 page article.

End Of Story

written by Rich Rock

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