It seems that I’ve been in a few conversations as of late discussing vintage graffiti magazines of the 1990’s with the homie DJ JS1 (aka Jerms) sharing a stack of mags from his collection and Froz1 who recently highlighted one of the best graff / Hip Hop VHS tapes ever, “Repeat Offender” which was produced by Philly’s On The Go. Known for being primarily a graff magazine, OTG was much more and covered the culture as a whole and not just the visual art aspect like other magazines which came later and which separated them from the pack. Created by Steve “ESPO” Powers and Ari Saal Forman, the magazine was deep with rich culture from a Philly perspective that reached world wide.
Along with featuring incredible photos of local, regional and worldwide graff flicks, they interviewed a who’s who of MC including Large Professor, Diamond D, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Method Man, De La Soul, Nice and Smooth, Mobb Deep and a whole host of others. Heavily connected with DJ culture, the featured some of the best turntablists of the time which were also featured in both of their VHS releases, Repeat Offender and Street Soldier as well as having an essential column during that time called “Digging In The Crates” which did record reviews on what were once considered deep digs.
Pulling issues from my collection really took me back to what was an amazing zine and magazine era of independent publications that pushed boundaries, gave solid content and provided repeat reads and which have become timeless moments in print.