Ego Trip Magazine: Issue #7 featuring Q-Tip, Large Pro and Posdnuos - FULL ISSUE

I’m not sure what happened but I never got around to posting the full issue until now.

Ego Trip #7

The Source June 1998 issue featuring Big Pun, DMX, Kurupt, Cam'Ron, Nore and more

Not to be graphic or anything but this issue was great for reading while on the toilet lately. I figured everyone else would enjoy it as well so I decided to skip ahead and scan this. With Big Pun as hot as he was back then, I still waited a few months before buying his CD, even after reading the 4 mic review here. He essentially made a double CD into a single CD (24 tracks or so). Does it still deserve 4 mics today? It’s hard to believe that this was the heralded ‘rookie class’ back in ’98, too. Compared to the XXL 2009 freshman list, which do you like better? I also have to admit that I did not like DMX in ’98 and never bought his music but he was hotter than almost everyone that year with two platinum albums. And no one was really giving Cam’Ron a chance either even with Biggie’s cosign. And what about Kurupt? I swore he would finally get some solo shine with his double CD. I can’t remember if it was his label situation or some other politics that stole his thunder but it didn’t sell as well as he thought it would. And wasn’t he engaged to Foxy Brown back then, too? Anyway, if you enjoy this issue, then let me know and I may skip ahead to some other issues in ’98, ’99, or ‘00.

Source June 1998 issue and fat tape

XXL #1 featuring Jay-Z (1997)

It’s kind of odd that this would be my first post of 2010 since this issue features one of the clowns that I loathe. He’s on the top 10 list of people I wish would be stung by HIV infected jellyfish and then eaten by vampire turtles. Yeah, I think him and Kobe are running neck and neck at the top of that list. But XXL saw fit to put him on the cover of their first issue most likely because Biggie was deceased and hip-hop was going hip-pop at the speed of light. On the other hand, I have to give credit to my favorite former Source employee, Reginald Dennis, who was forced out in 1994 and bounced back to get XXL off the ground in ‘97, bringing along Miss Info for the ride. They set a pretty good foundation for the future of the magazine, with the exception of their iffy record reviews. Let me know what you think.

XXL #1 featuring Jay-Z