Benzino & Dave Mays Kicked Out Of The Source!

Originally posted on Late Nite Noise

Enough is enough. That's what the Hip Hop world has been saying for years in regards to the ridiculous politics that have surrounded The Source magazine. Now it appears the magazine's new board of directors agrees - founder Dave Mays and pseudo-thug/wackest MC alive/hater of the year Ray Benzino have been booted from the magazine. I now take amount to give my opinion on this development:

BAW-HAHAHAHAHA! OO-HOO HOO; AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Stop it - you're killing me! (tears roll down the face)...

(Ahem) Excuse me for not hiding my glee.

Last week, Amos & Andy - I'm sorry - I mean Dave Mays and Benzino went to court and obtained a temporary restraining order from allowing this to happen. But this week, the order was lifted and a majority of the board members voted to treat the duo like Jazz on "The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air". To add insult to injury, former Source chief operating officer Jeremy Miller, who left the magazine in 2004 to start his own Down-South magazine called Down, has been named the new chief executive. 4 our of 6 board members approved Miller taking over.

The Source has been plagued with almost too many problems to name in recent years - eroding fanbase, dissolution of journalistic credibility, loss of advertising revenue and advertisers themselves (due mostly to the shady proceedings and agendas of Benzino), being kicked out of their NYC offices (they moved to a smaller area), defaulting on an 18 million dollar loan, intense finance problems (they are millions of dollars in debt), criminal charges against employees, and a huge sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former employees Michelle Joyce and Kim Osorio. Not to mention Benzino's recent wild rant against Ozone magazine's editor Julia Beverly, where he used racial epithets and called her a "slut-monkey".

Nice.

Miller's first act was to call a meeting of the entire staff to announce that "all previous beefs are dead", referring to all of the people Benzino beefed with and alienated - including Eminem, 50 Cent, Russell Simmons, and Interscope Records as a whole. He also told the staff to spread the word to clients that there was a new philosophy and focus, and that he would be making decisions with the goal of cutting costs.

While this is long overdue, it remains to be seen if The Source will ever be able to gain it's top position amongst Hip Hop periodicals that it held at it's peak in the mid-90s. And the fight may not be over - word is Benzino and Mays are in New Jersey planning a legal strategy to try and re-take the magazine.

A timeline of how this board that overthrew the Benzino/Mays dictatorship came to be:

The Black Enterprise/Greenwich Street Fund invested $12 million in The Source in return for a minority stake and seats on the company's board of directors. Representatives for The Black Enterprise/Greenwich Street Fund also helped secure an $18 million loan from Textron Financial Corp. for the magazine.

In Oct. 2005, Textron asked The Source to be placed into receivership after the company defaulted on the loan, but the bid was rejected. Meanwhile, because of Black Enterprise's involvement and the default on the loan, the shift of power within the confines of The Source's offices was slowly taking place.

Let's hope this is the last we hear of Ray Ray and Dave Mays - but somehow, I don't think so.



- the god Dirty Backpacks