Hip Hop Bible The Source Doomed?

After over 20 years in the game, it looks as thought the hip hop bible "The Source" is preparing to shut its doors. Details are still sketchy but word is coming from their New York office that things are starting to be packed up for closure.

Last week, rumors started to circulate that The Source had closed its New York office but they refuted saying that they just simply moved offices to another floor. Turns out that while that may be true currently, they are definitely getting ready for the ax to drop.

Problems with The Source came about nearly 5 years ago when co-owner and president (or something) Raymond "Benzino" Scott entered a full fledged diss war with top emcee Eminem, calling him the hip hop hitler and accusing him of being a racist.

Benzino was eventually fired as the magazine took a more negative tone along with co-owner Dave Mays. Following their departure, Benzino and Mays were subject to a sexual discrimination lawsuit by Kim Osorio (who eventually was awarded $15.5 million) and The Source declared bankruptcy.

The magazine was doomed the moment is decided to take on Eminem and 50 Cent. With that, comes a whole slew of problems because you are messing with the person who really pulls the strings in Jimmy Iovine. Interscope is one of the most profitable record labels out there and targeting their largest artists forced them to pull their advertising from the magazine. Imagine there are 4 or 5 Interscope releases a month....it costs $20,000 for a full page Source add. That means just from losing Interscope's biz, The Source was losing out on nearly $100,000 a month!

Crazy, right? RIP The Source.

Hip hop bible will always be XXL...not the sauce...