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| Hip Hop Weekly's Commemorative Michael Jackson Tribute Edition Hip Hop Weekly Releases Its Most Important Issue to Date A Commemorative Michael Jackson Tribute Edition Featuring Two Collectors' Edition Covers On Sale July 10 Hip Hop Weekly's Michael Jackson Tribute Issue Boasts Exclusive Interviews with Motown Records Exec/TV Producer Suzanne de Passe, Super-Producer Teddy Riley, Nation of Islam Chief of Staff Leonard Muhammad; Essays by Rev. Al Sharpton and Longtime Jackson Friend/Music Historian/Journalist Cynthia Horner On the heels of the demise of Vibe Magazine, Hip Hop Weekly's co-founder and publisher Dave Mays has announced Hip Hop Weekly's release of a spectacular tribute issue honoring the life and legacy of Michael Jackson, scheduled to hit newsstands Friday, July 10. Hip Hop Weekly, which has been chronicled as the #1 news and entertainment source within the urban community, will feature alternating covers for the Michael Jackson Commemorative issue: a Silver background with young Michael and a Gold background mature Michael rendition. Collectors and fans will want to own both. While Michael Jackson holds iconic status for all lovers of popular culture, Hip Hop Weekly will present the super talent from the Hip Hop point of view, a culture and genre of artistic expression that flourishes today in large part because of Jackson's incredible achievements. Motown Records executive/television producer Suzanne de Passe, super-producer Teddy Riley and Nation of Islam Chief of Staff Leonard Muhammad share exclusive personal experiences about Michael within the issue, with the Reverend Al Sharpton and longtime Jackson friend, music historian and journalist Cynthia Horner penning remarkable and touching essays about his life and legacy. Hip Hop Weekly will also present a complete discography and review of all of Michael Jackson's albums and a complete videography and synopsis of over 30 of his most important and influential music videos. Memorable anecdotes incorporated in the issue include: "We had a little thing we would do, which would be throwing a 'hand grenade, ' you'd make a fist and you'd pull the imaginary pin and pretend to toss it towards the person. So if one of us was doing something wack, somebody would toss a 'hand grenade' at them. Sometimes we would be at a boring meeting and he'd throw me a 'hand grenade' and I'd toss one back to him." -- Suzanne de Passe, former Motown Records executive who discovered The Jackson 5 and nurtured Michael throughout the early years of his career, going on to great success in the field of television, including producing the famous "Motown 25" TV special where Michael's incredible moonwalking dance was first viewed by millions of fans. "Michael Jackson was a woman lover, trust! Dude gets it in. I have only once told a close friend that I just couldn't believe how he gets it in. He is a real dude. He's human. He has a child life in him. He deserves to be a baller and a player sometimes." -- Super-producer Teddy Riley who worked with Michael on his huge Dangerous and Invincible albums. "The disguises were incredible! The disguises, different ones, not just one, so that Michael could go to the movies and could go to the malls and go shopping with his children. I can tell you that there were many times that people were sitting next to Michael Jackson in the public, and they would never know that it was him." -- Leonard Muhammad, the Nation of Islam Chief-of-Staff who managed Michael's business affairs for 2 years during the time he was falsely accused of child molestation from 2003-2005. Cynthia Horner's stirring contribution is perhaps the magazine's most remarkable inclusion. As the former long time editor of Right On! Magazine, one of the nation's oldest and most popular teen-zines, she has personally covered the evolution of Michael Jackson and the Jackson Family from the very beginning and was a longtime family friend. Following its typical format, Hip Hop Weekly will cover Jackson's life story, the news surrounding his death and life, his music, his style and his contributions to the culture. "Hip Hop Weekly's amazing tribute to Michael Jackson is by far our most important and most powerful journalistic products yet, " remarks Hip Hop Weekly co-founder and publisher David Mays. "Our ability to create, produce and deliver to market such a robust publication within days of an event of this magnitude, underscores the reasons why Hip Hop Weekly is growing and thriving during a time when most other magazines are failing. The ability to deliver timely and relevant content to the market with speed, quality and accuracy are the tools necessary to be relevant in all forms of media in the world today." Hip Hop Weekly's memorable tribute edition arrives on newsstands just one week after the sudden closing of Vibe magazine, signaling the end of an era of monthly-formatted magazines once widely embraced by a generation of youth and young adults. With the rapid rise of Hip Hop Weekly, Mays and his longtime partner, Ray Benzino, have once again broken new ground, setting the mold for others in urban media to follow, just as they did over 20 years ago with the creation of legendary The Source Magazine from Mays' Harvard dorm room. About Hip Hop Weekly Hip Hop Weekly Magazine is the #1 celebrity newsweekly covering TV, music, fashion, sports and celebrity news in the Hip Hop community. It was launched in 2007 by David Mays and Ray "Benzino" Scott, the most successful content development team for the lucrative hip hop consumer market over the past 20 years. The team has a proven track record of innovation and success across the fields of consumer magazines, television programming, music/ merchandising, and digital/mobile media. From the early days, they had the vision to see that hip hop would become the cultural touchstone of their generation, just as rock and roll was for the previous generation. After starting The Source as a newsletter in 1988, Mays and Benzino guided The Source to become the #1 selling music magazine on newsstands in the world, with sales of over 5 million copies per year. Recently, GQ Magazine's 50th anniversary issue recognized The Source's incredible connection to its market when it named the magazine one of the "27 Things that Changed Men's Lives" over the last 50 years-along with the remote control, Nintendo, Viagra, text messaging and ESPN's SportsCenter. The duo skillfully developed "The Source" brand in various media, with equal levels of success. The team produced some of the highest-rated TV programs for a hip hop audience ever, including the weekly series "The Source All Access" and "The Source Soundlab, " as well as the 2004 broadcast of The Source Awards, which became the 6th highest rated show in the history of the BET network. They also developed the most successful series of hip hop compilation albums ever, selling over 5 million copies of "The Source presents Hip Hop Hits, " and launched The Source Mobile division, selling over 3 million ringtone downloads in two years. Hip Hop Weekly can be accessed via the web at http://hiphopweekly.com . The Michael Jackson Commemorative issue is only available at newsstands and bookstores. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Jazz News :: home page |