The Source to Award 5 Mics to Mystery Album, But Will It Deserve It?

The Source magazine has announced they will award their first perfect 5 mic rating since 2005.

The publication made the statement yesterday on their official website, disclosing that perfect rating is between seven recent albums: Drake’s Thank Me Later, Big Boi’s Sir Lucious Left Foot, The Roots’ How I Got Over, Eminem’s Recovery, Bun B’s Trill OG, Rick Ross’ Teflon Don and Fat Joe’s The Darkside Vol. 1. A poll is available on the site for readers to guess the magazine’s choice.

The last album to receive 5 mics was Lil Kim’s Naked Truth,and she remains the only female rapper to date to receive the accolade. The selection was highly controversial, as allegations spread that then Source co-owner and founder Dave Mays was involved in an intimate relationship with Kim’s manager.

The issue is set to hit newsstands this week.

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Showing my age again, but I remember sitting in the lunch room and discussing the merits of Aquemini’s 5 mic rating from 1998 with my fellow high school Hip-Hop fans. And a few years before that, I checked for Nas’ Illmatic on the strength of the Source’s glowing praise and 5 mic rating in 1994.

For many in the early and mid 90’s, the Source’s word was truly make or break when it came to purchasing an album. Not that I agreed with every rating, but for the most part their ratings were very concise, well-explained pieces. But the cracks started to show by the time I hit college in the early 2000s. The first eyebrow raiser for me was when Benzino’s Made Men got 4.5 mics for Classic Limited Edition. I listened to that album and knew the only way it could be rated that high was due to some serious politics, or as we find out Benzino’s financial stake on the company.

The brand still had respect though. No one really argued the 5 mic ratings for the Blueprint, Stillmatic or The Fix since all were great albums. But then came the totally unwarranted Benzino cover issue, and finally the nail in the coffin with the Eminem beef. Who remembers the Ja Rule ’03 cover issue that came with a pullout Benzino poster holding Eminem’s decapitated head? Even now with Benzino long gone, the brand is irreparably damaged.

It doesn’t help either that Lil Kim’s Naked Truth has a 5 mic rating. That should be retracted immediately, as it was a solid album and nothing more. All the albums listed this time around range from solid (Thank Me Later, The Darkside Vol. 1) to very good (Sir Lucious Leftfoot, How I Got Over). Personally I don’t have a classic amongst any of them, but the closet one I could see getting it would be the Roots’ LP. That album lyrically and production wise is very strong and distinctive.

We’ll see shortly who the Source goes with.