The Source

The magazine's website began in 1998.[5] At that point the monthly print magazine was celebrating its 100th issue.[6]

Others who were involved as co-owners/editors include Raymond 'Ray Benzino' Leon Scott. Between 2005 and 2010 the magazine did not award any of its '5 mic' awards.[7]

The Record Report is a section in the publication in which the magazine's staff rates hip-hop albums. Ratings range from one to five mics, paralleling a typical five-star rating scale. An album that is rated at four-and-a-half or five mics is considered by The Source to be a superior hip hop album.[8] Over the first ten years or so, the heralded five-mic rating only applied to albums that were universally lauded hip hop albums.[9] A total of 45 albums have been awarded five mics; a complete, chronological list is below.[10]

Albums that originally received five mics:[8]

• People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm – A Tribe Called Quest
• AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted – Ice Cube
• Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em – Eric B. & Rakim
• One for All – Brand Nubian
• De La Soul Is Dead – De La Soul
• The Low End Theory – A Tribe Called Quest
• Illmatic – Nas
• Life After Death – The Notorious B.I.G.
• Aquemini – Outkast
• The Blueprint – Jay-Z
• Stillmatic – Nas
• The Fix – Scarface[10]
• The Naked Truth – Lil' Kim[10]
• Trill OG – Bun B[10]
• My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy – Kanye West[10]

Albums that were not rated upon their releases, but were later rated five mics in 2002:[8]

• Run-D.M.C. – Run-D.M.C.
• Radio – LL Cool J
• Licensed to Ill – Beastie Boys
• Raising Hell – Run-D.M.C.
• Criminal Minded – Boogie Down Productions
• Paid in Full – Eric B. & Rakim
• By All Means Necessary – Boogie Down Productions
• It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back – Public Enemy
• Long Live the Kane – Big Daddy Kane
• Critical Beatdown – Ultramagnetic MCs
• Straight Out the Jungle – Jungle Brothers
• Strictly Business – EPMD
• The Great Adventures of Slick Rick – Slick Rick
• Straight Outta Compton – N.W.A
• No One Can Do It Better – The D.O.C.
• All Eyez on Me – 2Pac

Albums that originally received 4.5 mics, and were later re-rated to five:[8]

• Breaking Atoms – Main Source
• Death Certificate – Ice Cube
• The Chronic – Dr. Dre
• Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) – Wu-Tang Clan
• Ready to Die – The Notorious B.I.G.
• The Infamous – Mobb Deep
• Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... – Raekwon
• 2001 – Dr. Dre

Albums that originally received four mics, and were later re-rated to five:[8]

• Grip It! On That Other Level – Geto Boys
• Doggystyle – Snoop Doggy Dogg
• The Diary – Scarface
• Me Against the World – 2Pac
• The Score – The Fugees

• Jonathan Shecter aka Shecky Green – The Unkut Interview, Part 1, Jan. 2013