The Source is an American hip hop and entertainment website, and a magazine that publishes annually or. It is the world's longest-running rap periodical, being founded as a newsletter in 1988.
History
The Source was started by David Mays, a Jewish Harvard University student in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Mays decided to hire his friends, Jonathan Shecter, James Bernard and Ed Young, and the four men immediately became shareholders in the ownership of the magazine. At the time, Mays handled duties as the publisher for the magazine. The magazine's offices were moved from Massachusetts to New York City in 1990, a move that was made with the intention to expand the magazine into a mainstream market publication. The magazine's annual awards show, known as The Source Awards, honors both hip-hop and R&B performers for their contributions to hip-hop. The Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest award given to an emcee who has contributed his/her time to succeeding in the hip-hop music industry. The Source also releases a compilation album of hip-hop hits. The magazine expanded overseas with a French-language version, alongside The Source Latino and The Source Japan magazine franchises. The company invested in mobile phones and ringtones under The Source Mobile Channel moniker, in which subscribers are offered their favorite choice of hip-hop ringtones. The Source also invested in its own urban clothing apparel company. The Source announced in a press conference that the magazine was in possession of an old tape in which a young Eminem was rapping racial slurs against Black women. For his part, Eminem did not deny making the tapes; he claimed that he made them after a bitter break up with a black girlfriend. He apologized for making the tapes but also exhorted the public to consider the origin of the allegations. Nevertheless, Eminem sued The Source for defamation and copyright infringement. The federal courts ruled in The Source's favor, and allowed a limited distribution of the tape's music and lyrics under Fair Use law. In 2005, after Eminem's motions against The Source were dismissed in federal court, lawyers for Eminem abruptly withdrew his lawsuit against The Source, stating that the rapper no longer had any issue with The Source. Mays and Benzino both countered the withdrawal of the lawsuit, calling it a "cowardly" move. They both claimed they could finally expose the truth about Eminem and planned to eventually release the racist tapes in a future magazine. It devoted its February 2004 issue to the discovery of the tapes, and included a CD of the early Eminem songs with the magazine. Later, Benzino and The Source would urge video and radio stations to ban Eminem's video, "Just Lose It", and issue an apology to Michael Jackson. The video depicts Jackson in a negative light and the publication wanted to boycott the rapper. In spite of their efforts, BET was the only network to ban the video. BET claimed Benzino was not the reason for the banning, but rather that it was out of admiration of Jackson. Eminem released the single "Like Toy Soldiers" from Encore, in which he states he'll "walk away from it all before it gets any further". Benzino responded with the "diss" track, "Look Into My Eyes", in which he claims Eminem does not want to fight anymore because he was "scared".
