(No Longer Running)
MANIFESTO:
This is as real as it gets:
I'm sitting in a a conference room at the Hit Factory studios, sunk deep into a leather swivel chair. A nine-millimeter pistol is pointed at my chest. At the trigger end of the gun barrel stands platinum artist Wyclef, tipsy off the vodka. He's heated because BLAZE is about to give Canibus's new LP. "can-i-bust?", a negative review in our premiere issue.
Wyclef, the executive producer of the album, says the folks at Universal gave BLAZE a unfinished version. He insists that it's not right for us to review an incomplete record. He hints that there will be bloodshed if they don't get a "fair shake." Periodically, he dips in and out of the room, perhaps to politic with editors from THE SOURCE, who were listening to the album in another part of the studio. And at the end of our two-hour meeting, one of his associates-who had mentioned earlier that he had never killed anyone who didn't deserve it- warned me not to breathe a word of what had just taken place.
This is the price you pay for daring tot be revolutionary. With most magazines, an artist would never read the review before it's printed. But our philosophy is that a review is merely one person's opinion. If our reviewer doesn't like a record, why not print a response from the artist- give them an opportunity to check the writer and defend their music? However, it seems some heads ain't ready for a magazine like BLAZE: Critical yet fair. Brief yet illuminating. Serious yet ridiculous. And, most importantly, unflinchingly honest.
Reviews aren't the only are where BLAZE is reinventing the game. We're digging up information that the other magazines can't find- like in the Snoop Dogg piece on page 112. We're taking chances that the competition won't-check the Cannonballers Run adventure on page 158. We're showing you arresting, captivating images- peep the Method Man artwork on select covers and page 102. We're opening the lines of communication between the artist and the reader-enjoy the responses that Funkmaster Flex (page 65) and Griff (page 67) gave to their reviews. We're giving proper light to graffiti and B-boys (pages 142-143, 189 and 204-205). And on the back page, we're encouraging the underground ritual of lyrical warfare with the BLAZE Battle- which we'll be bringing you in each issue.
But back to the mad rapper. We ultimately decided to take Wyclef's word that the album was incomplete. Unfortunately, Clef didn't deliver a finished version before we had to go to press, so we chose not to run the review. But we did decide to let the readers know why we couldn't cover one of the year's most-anticipated albums. We want you to feel our dedication to the truth, and see on of the year's most-anticipated albums. We want you to feel our dedication to the truth, and see that threats and intimidation won't deter us from our mission. BLAZE is here to change the rules of hip hop journalism. What you've just read-and what you're about to read- is only the beginning.
Jesse Washington
Editor in Chief
|
