Source: Steven Ferdman / Getty
The Source magazine used to be considered the Hip-Hop Bible, and it wasn’t hyperbole. At the height of its influence, The Source Awards was a mainstay, and the ceremony honoring the accomplishments of rappers and the culture is set to return next year after a hiatus of almost two decades.
“Hip-hop needs its premiere awards show back,” L. Londell McMillan, the current CEO and owner of The Source, recently told Page Six, “After every awards show, our social media at The Source explodes … so back by popular demand.”
Reportedly, the brand is also launching a streaming channel.
The last proper Source Awards went down 17 years ago.
Perhaps its most infamous moment was at the 1995 Source Awards when the currently incarcerated Suge Knight called out Sean “Diddy” Combs from the stage, urging rappers who were tired of seeing the Bad Boy Records founder dance in videos and talk on all the records to come on over to Death Row Records.
Another famed moment at the same show in 1995 when a young Andre 3000 was ready for the smoke when heads dared to boo OutKast after the group won Best New Artist – Group. The South got something to say.
The first Source Awards was in 1994 and the last would be 10 years later. McMillan purchased The Source in 2008, after the original owner and founder Dave Mays (and Benzino) had been forced to cede control of the brand by its board of directors a couple of years prior.
The next edition of The Source Awards, if all goes to plan, will go down in 2022.
A The Source rep told Page Six, “It’s finally black-owned for the first time. He has quietly been bringing it back from financial disrepair and catapulting it into the digital age, tripling its reach and cleaning up its act.”
We shall see.
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