Revenge of the HipHop Publishing Outcasts

Title of this post courtesy of Greg Tate.

From Tuesday's AdAge.com.

New music title slated to debut next month
by Nat Ives

The ousted owners of The Source and Vibe's recently fired editor in chief
are launching newwstand-only Hip Hop Weekly.

The ousted owners of The Source and Vibe's recently fired editor in chief
are launching a newsstand-only music title.

Hip Hop Weekly is slated to debut on Oct. 16 with a guaranteed paid
circulation of 100,000.

David Mays and Ray "Benzino" Scott, who started The Source in 1988, were
forced out last January amid allegations of tax evasion and a sexual
harassment suit filed by two former staffers. Mimi Valdes was booted from
Vibe after a change in ownership last summer.

Ms. Valdes, now the editor in chief at Hip Hop Weekly, said the magazine
will try to get in on the celebrity-weekly action, particularly through
columns by radio veterans Wendy Williams and Star & Buc Wild.

"The rest of the magazine is really about trying to offer some insight,
reflection and criticism on hip-hop as it influences everything," she said.

The weekly format will also make the title more competitive with monthly
music books, whose long lead times make it harder to present
up-to-the-minute news and photos.

Hip Hop Global Media, the holding company backing Hip Hop Weekly, will price
the first issue at $2.99 and subsequent issues at $3.99.

That's more expensive than OK magazine and Bauer Publishing's In Touch and
Life & Style Weekly, which sell for $1.99, and even Wenner Media's Us Weekly
and Time Inc.'s People, which sell for $3.49.