The Source Magazine November 1993

50th Issue Anniversary!

For the 50th issue of The Source Magazine in November of 1993, they decided to celebrate some of the best moments in hip hop up until that point. Grand Master Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, and DJ Kool Herc don the cover as the founding fathers of hip hop. From break dancing, to graffiti, and the Zulu Nation, this issue breaks down everything you need to know about old school hip hop and who the big players were.

Additionally this issue features rare advertisements from a number of artists including KRS-One, Scarface, Geto Boys, Eazy-E, Spice-1, & many more. The first important feature in this issue is the “Celebrity Outlaws” article featuring photos and write-ups by Ricky Powell.

“Growing up in Manhattan in the 1970s into the 1980s was very stimulating, culturally speaking that is. I've observed a lot of trends, but I always kept an eye on graffiti-whether it was on the trains, trucks, buildings, phone booths or on denim jackets-because I thought it reflected what was going on at the time. I admired good graf writers and I was in awe of them when they became kind of like celebrated outlaws. Here are a few of my favorites.”

As a huge fan of old-school NYC train-car graffiti and Ricky Powell as a photographer, this feature was like two train tracks merging together for me, metaphorically. I grew up idolizing writers far before my time like Dondi, Daze, and Zephyr so to see them featured with biographies in The Source is really cool. Moving forward we have a really cool interview with De La Soul who had recently released their third studio album “Buhloone Mindstate”. In the interview, the trio discuss growing up in Long Island, becoming fathers, and feeling pigeonholed by the music industry to conform to a singular style.

And now for the one everyone was waiting for, “Hip Hop’s Founding Fathers: Speak The Truth.” With photos by Chi Modu, this article features the stories of DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, and Grandmaster Flash, pioneers of hip hop. During the mid to late 80s in NYC, parties thrown by these three were the place to be. DJ’s were spinning the hottest break beats with emcees rhyming to a crowd full of break dancers, graffiti artists, and young people. In this lengthy interview with the three, they detail their rise to fame, interactions as black men in the music industry, meeting Malcolm McLaren, and much more.

There is so much more in this full magazine that can be discussed but I’ll leave you guys with this fun little quiz that The Source made for this issue. It’s all deep hip-hop lore but still fun to try and see how many you know!

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