Some of these old Source Reviews....

[Chris Cool]

 

[I'm Blackman]

Big Bun fan and that was a great album, but naw 5 is crazy. Maybe they did it for not giving riding dirty 5 mics.

 

[ISO]

Don’t see nothing wrong with the reviews

 

[Complexion]

The standards, not just in reviews but in the artform itself, back in the 90s were high because of the competitive nature of the game. Everyone was striving to outdo each other by showcasing their talent, honing their sound, carving out their niche as rap was bubbling on the commercial crossover but still firmly entrenched in the underground.

<3 page Made Men advert> ​

Where was I? Yeah, albums would drop and people would dissect them surgically because releases weren't an all day every day thing so they'd get picked apart as folks were much more discerning and rappers weren't just dropping any old rhymes to fill time as tracklists were crafted to knock whilst producers actually produced instead of cutting and pasting templates.

The barriers to entry were higher, the standards were higher, everything was compared to now and it reflected in how things were rated plus there was a lot more passion and not just doing for the money from everyone involved in all aspects of the game.

You had to come correct. There wasn't any other choice.

 

[Playaz Eyez]

Big Bun fan and that was a great album, but naw 5 is crazy. Maybe they did it for not giving riding dirty 5 mics.

Though I didn’t think it was a 5, it was still a very dope top tier album, and wasn’t mad at that rating because of it. Plus, it shyt all over Naked Truth.

 

[I'm Blackman]

Though I didn’t think it was a 5, it was still a very dope top tier album, and wasn’t mad at that rating because of it. Plus, it shyt all over Naked Truth.

I agree.

 

[BmoreGorilla]

Crazy that Kast 4.5 review is the reason I copped the album. Same for Nas and Illmatic. Nas getting 5 mics was such a big deal back then. If he hadn’t I’m not even sure he goes on to have the same kind of career he’s had becuz for so long he was held to that standard which was impossible to match

 

[Complexion]

Sounds like the same article I remember, which was this one...
The Source Magazine (Early 90's) Part 1: The Greatest Story Never Told

3 parts, it's a pretty long read, but a good one with some hilarious moments.

Great read.

Check:

Would you say that is a major problem with the hip-hop industry today? That they dictate the direction now, rather than listen?

RD: One of many problems, I’m afraid. The industry is all about the hard sell and they make no secret of it. This youth market the largest ever will be the name of the game for the foreseeable future and with hip-hop already established as the world’s most effective delivery system, young consumers are about to be taken for a ride the likes of which we have never seen. But it’s not their fault, because until you are old enough to develop some semblance of critical reasoning, you will fall prey to every bright, shiny object that comes along. The industry is in the middle of the perfect storm and they plan to stay awhile. They are no longer compelled to listen to our wishes, and as consumers we don’t do nearly enough to voice our displeasure at the way things are going. So we get what we get.

How did this sad state of affairs come to pass? One word: laziness. Instead of going out in the wilderness and finding interesting things to expose, most industry shot callers and gatekeepers just sat back and let things come to them. Now, they still have to sift through a lot of garbage in order to find whatever gems might be lurking about, but what tends to happen is that people all over the country are sifting through the exact same piles of junk and simply selecting and serving up the best of the worst. And if the consumer has no objection which very few 13-year-olds will – and older heads who might raise the alarm have been long pushed to the sidelines, then junk becomes the standard and the industry makes sure that its junk is attractively packaged and ready for replication and distribution.

This is why so many of the magazines are the same. If the same publicist sends out the same press package to everyone under the sun, and if five people bite, then you’ve got five magazines running the exact same story. If a radio format works in Seattle and Atlanta, then it will probably work in Chicago, Miami and New York. And if these institutions are profitable, then there won’t be any pressure or need for them to reinvent themselves. And this is the rut in which we find ourselves today. Back in the day, when the industry or “machine” was still ramping up to speed, it had no choice but to follow the culture – which is why Hip Hop always seemed able to reinvent itself every eight months or so, and stay ten steps ahead of stagnation. The culture had an elasticity that we all took for granted and assumed would last forever. But the industry and remember: the industry employs thousands of people whose only goal in life is to refine a successful approach until it becomes an irresistible force is like the Borg from Star Trek: it will consume; it will adapt; and ultimately, it will set an agenda that serves only itself. It took about 20 years, but Hip Hop is now safely in pocket and it hurts my heart to see it come to this. McDonald‘s is already paying rappers to name check hamburgers. Can it get any worse?

 

[Asicz]

I've said this before but (as far as anyone I was around) nobody really cared about the Source reviews. Half the time the album/magazine wouldn't come out at the same time, and/or the magazine wouldn't be readily available so the review was a moot point. People formed their own opinions totally independent of the review....which is why The Source retroactively changed a bunch of reviews to fit how people felt.

People did however argue a lot over who got the Hip-Hop Quotable.

Fred.

post of the month

 

[Chris Cool]

Though I didn’t think it was a 5, it was still a very dope top tier album, and wasn’t mad at that rating because of it. Plus, it shyt all over Naked Truth.

I thought it was dope at the time, but the shyt literally has 0 replay value. I play songs from the naked truth regularly.

 

[detroitwalt]

Didnt they give benzino group 5 mics

Made Men. 4 1/2. I bought that wack album expecting fire. That's what made me stop fukking with their rating system

 

[I'm Blackman]

Made Men. 4 1/2. I bought that wack album expecting fire. That's what made me stop fukking with their rating system

Same.

 

[threattonature]

post of the month

100% bullshyt lol. I remember going into school and everybody talking about The Source and people deciding to not scoop an album because it didn't get a 4 or checking for shyt because it got a high rating. I remember when I bought Soul On Ice and getting shytted on because it got such a low score in The Source. nikkas had them scores memorized like they was basketball stats. I got put on to a lot of dope music thanks to The Source ratings before I was old enough to make my own money and started basically scooping everything and just making my own judgments.

 

[Lil Bape the PostGod]

It’s a writers opinion ..and if they have 4.5 instead of 5 what’s the big deal ..they still thought is a really great album

now if it was given 1.5 mics and it’s a general consensus classic..then you’d have a point that they just hatinn

 

[hex]

100% bullshyt lol. I remember going into school and everybody talking about The Source and people deciding to not scoop an album because it didn't get a 4 or checking for shyt because it got a high rating. I remember when I bought Soul On Ice and getting shytted on because it got such a low score in The Source. nikkas had them scores memorized like they was basketball stats. I got put on to a lot of dope music thanks to The Source ratings before I was old enough to make my own money and started basically scooping everything and just making my own judgments.

I'm gonna assume you're both far younger than me because nobody in my peer group gave a fukk about a Source rating. I would've been 20 the year "Soul On Ice" came out, I don't even think I ever read The Source review for that album.

Fred.