It’s tough being the Big Man On Campus in the wacky world of Rap Magazines. The Source had a great run where they were basically unchallenged for years – despite some good work from Hip Hop Connection in the UK, they couldn’t match the access that the Mind Squadd had to cutting-edge New York music for the first half of the 90’s. The influence that The Source had also made them a prime target for disgruntled rappers, all of whom seemed to believe that everything they released was worth “Five Mics” (you may recall Outkast complaining that their debut “only” received 4.5 mics in later tracks). Sometimes it was a little more personal, as was the case for Ice-T, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill, who were all directly criticised in columns and decided to fire back on record. The following is a collection of some of the more noteworthy attacks on the house that Sheck built.
*Updated*
Method Man, KRS-One, Prodigy & Kam – “Bulworth (They Talk About It While We Live It)”
“Calling out these racists, at Rolling Stone, SPIN, Details and other places, KRS is The Source/Fuck these magazine leadin hip-hop off course/You’ll print about black mayors, black senators/Why you ain’t got no black editors?”
The Blastmasta also drops this gem: “Every time I do an interview in Rolling Stone/They sending me a writer that look like he’s Home Alone“.
Willie D featuring Ice Cube – “Play Witcha Mama”
“Source magazine dissing niggas records/I go to New York and kick they ass back to Texas/and write a song about it they better like/scary motherfuckers probably give a nigga twenty mics!”
The Clean-Up Man didn’t appreciate the review of his Goin’ Out Like A Soldier album, and suggested that maybe a good old fashioned ass-whoopin’ might get his next release a higher rating.
Rodney O & Joe Cooley – “Wake Up New York”
“The Source don’t like us, they dissed my boy Rodney O/That’s right, Joe, they played us like a damn Nintendo/Didn’t take the right info like it was reported/Twisted up my words, and the truth was distorted”
Anyone who names an album Fuck New York is alright in my book. Not so much for the actual sentiment as for the fact that this LA duo best known for “Everlasting Bass” were willing to diss a whole city just for the hell of it.
Cypress Hill – “Strictly Hip-Hop”
“And to one certain writer, James Bernard…yeah you, motherfucker…nigga got mad that I wouldn’t let him suck my dick and I smacked him and told him to get the fuck outta here, so he started writing some bullshit. Wait till I see you again…bitch!”
In between the verses, Cypress retort give House of Pain and Source writer James Bernard a serve. Here’s what B-Real told HipHoDX about the situation: “I was good friends with James Bernard up to a point. It all started over a Source magazine cover. It was the Source cover where they put TLC on the cover and he asked me what I thought. After that he started spewing a bunch shit in The Source. They eventually got driven out of The Source and went to XXL, and started popping shit on us over there”.
Cypress Hill – “Let It Rain”
“Fuck all y’all, comin’ off the wall/I got a nigga from The Source swingin’ from my balls”
See above.
Cypress Hill – “16 Men Till There’s No Men Left”
“Playin’ with your mind, makin you feel the Force/Had to cancel out, two punk niggas up in The Source/tried to get XXL, they still fell“
Album number four and the beef with James Bernard and Reginald C. Dennis spilled over to XXL Mag.
Ice T – “It’s Real”
“Source magazine, you’re the first one/You try to dis Chuck, Cube and me, how the fuck you pick us 3?/You punk motherfuckers ain’t shit/You’re just a bunch of hoes makin’ money off the pros/And when I see I get you in my sights/I give yo’ ass a story to write!”
Much like the Cypress situation, both Reginald C. Dennis and James Bernard were directly critical of Ice-T following the aftermath of the “Cop Killer” controversy, which had seen Ice agree to remove the song from the Bodycount album.
Public Enemy – “I Stand Accused”
“All a fuckin’ critic does is draw a fuckin’ line/Cross a line and dis my rhyme, and then they ass is mine/If you find a critic dead, remember what I said/Who killed a critic? Guess the crew did it”
The combination of a luke-warm review of Greatest Misses and some other Op-Ed pieces ruffled the feather of Chuck D enough for his to dedicate an entire video to his least favorite rap mag.
Eminem – “The Sauce”
“No more Source for street cred, them days is dead/Ray’s got AK’s to Dave Mays‘ head/Every issue there’s an eight page Made Men spread”
After the original Mind Squad left in protest to the Dave Mays/Benzino fiasco, things got personal between ‘Zino and Eminem in one of the most ill-matched war of words in recent memory.
Obie Trice (Feat. Eminem, Lloyd Banks & 50 Cent) – “We All Die One Day”
“Little sorry hoe ass, go ask B-Real/we burn Source covers like fucking Cypress Hill/did in the 90’s, when you was in diapers still”
Em brings together two generations of Source beef for another shot at Ray Dog.
Ghostface Killah – “Poisonous Darts”
“My heart is cold like Russia, got jerked at The Source awards/Next year two hundred niggas comin’ with swords!”
Dudes took those Source Awards really serious, didn’t they?
2Pac feat. 50 Cent – “Realest Killaz”
“You cowardly-hearted, you couldn’t make it on your own/Fuck The Source, I’m on cover of Rolling Stone!”
Curtis let’s us know that he’s too large for mere rap magazine covers.
The Game – “Don’t Need Your Love”
“No mics, no Unsigned Hype, nigga fuck The Source!”
Jayceon takes a different approach to asking for a cover.
J Dilla – “Won’t Do”
“I pays for it like the mics in The Source“
Jay Dee lays it on the line with the age-old accusation that record ratings are bought and sold.
Great article. Few days ago i read Source mag from the end of ’93 and thought about Soul Assassins and PE jokes was too much.
THE UNKUT GUIDE TO RAPPERS DISSING THE SOURCE MAGAZINE http://t.co/X0afIAtD
Eminem took a little shot at The Source before the whole Benzino beef, too, back on the Slim Shady LP. He says, “we dope as fuck and only get a two in The Source,” referring to Young Zee’s album getting dissed in the album reviews (this is back when Em was an Outsida).
@Werner: I didn’t include that one since it’s more of a complaint than an actual diss.
ice-t in Art of Rap: “you ain’t done shit. Suck my Source.”
“despite some good work from Hip Hop Connection in the UK”
Say what now?
Interesting article!
Although I’m not exactly sure (yet!) where to place responses to source articles into my rap music oeuvre
Ah c’mon HHC WAS dope for many years, especially the first couple and into the mid-nineties. But I never read any Source’s apart from one or two issues in the late nineties and then it was all No Limit and interminable Redman & Method Man joints with too many advertisements for fly-by-night “urban” clothing companies. Anyone remember Ruff Era?!? Hahah I had a pair of those jeans with the big “R” where the right-hand back pocket should have been….ahh Pelle Pelle cycling jerseys…and Maurice Malone!
Dissing source magazine is admittedly kinda fun to do
But you dont feel kinda guilty beating up a retard?
KillaHill never needed a whackass rag to promote themselves because real recognize real and haters hate what they can’t fake.