Following you’ll find clips from various magazines over the years, with a brief description of each one. I’ll keep adding to this over time as I dig through my archives. I’ve not included my “Beats & Rhymes” column in Vice Magazine, as there are just too many of them to go through. At the bottom, you’ll find clips from Divine Styler Magazine, an independent ‘zine I published from 96-99. I’m missing some things as well. If you have copies of any of my writing that you don’t see here, please contact me.

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The D.O.C. (Vice Magazine, V10N3, Apr 03) | 1 I was a huge fan of The D.O.C. from the NWA days, and when his new album came out, it was amazing. I didn’t want to deal with Vice’s editors and pitch the story as a feature, so I just gave them the Q&A as my usual column. This is the last interview I wrote in Vice, and I left the magazine a year later.

Z-Trip (Vice Magazine, V9N9, Oct 02) | 1 I hung out with Z-Trip a year before this in L.A. (you’ll see that footage in my upcoming movie “My Summer Vacation”), and knew he was a huge fan of 80’s music, so for Vice’s 80’s issue, I hollered at him for a trip down memory lane.

Paris (Vice Magazine, V9N7, Aug 02) | 1 At this point Vice was getting pretty big, and I really wasn’t doing any stories for them anymore. They had moved in a different direction, and being used to having a certain freedom with my writing, I wasn’t feeling their new editors. For this story, what I gave them was a Q&A, and they put all Paris’ answers into one long rant and added the “Oh” at the end of it, which I didn’t really like. Yeah, it’s kind of funny I guess, but this pretty much symbolized to me how Vice had changed, and was now more about making fun of the message, than the message itself.

Kool Keith – To Live and Die as Kool Keith (TPHS Magazine, V1N4, Fall 00) | cover | 1 I had wanted to interview Keith for years, and finally got to. He was hilarious to talk to, one of the most entertaining interviews I’ve ever done.

Bahamadia – Wake Up Bitches! (Vice Magazine, V7N6, Jul/Aug 00) | 1 | 2 | 3 Instead of the usual interview, I thought I’d do something different, and just get her to talk about her favorite slept-on rappers. Good choices.

Aceyalone – The Accepted Eclectic (TPHS Magazine, V1N3, Summer 00) | cover | 1 Another Aceyalone interview, this one for TPHS. I think over the years I’ve interviewed him 3-4 times.

Buck 65 – Game Tight (TPHS Magazine, V1N2, Spring 00) | cover | 1 TPHS was a clothing company in Toronto, who started up their own mag, which only lasted a few issues. I wrote this little piece on Fuck 65.

Fat Lip – She Keeps on Passing Me Guys (Vice Magazine, V7N2, Mar 00) 1 | 2 | 3 Lip was always my favorite member of the Pharcyde, so when the single and video for “What’s Up Fat Lip?” came out, I freaked out and called Delicious Vinyl for an interview. As I write this, five years later, a couple new songs, but still no album.

Blackalicious – Black and Delicious (Vice Magazine, V7N1, Feb 00) | 1 Pretty straight-forward story on Blackalicious. I remember hearing them for the first time in like 94 or something, whenever the “Lyric Fathom” 12” came out, when I was in Ottawa doing a show, smoking weed at the concert promoter’s house. Blew my mind.

Anti-Pop Consortium – New School’s Out for Summer (Vice Magazine, V7N1, Feb 00) | 1 | 2 | 3 My idea for this piece was to write it badly, like in the cheesy nut-sucking style of most major rap magazines, and flip their “anti-pop” name into some future world where these three weirdos were executive pop-stars.

Willus Drummond – Peeing All Over the Planet (Vice Magazine, V6N9, Nov 99) | 1 I’m not going to reveal who Willus really was, but he put out a couple of joke records, and this is basically a joke story. It was a lot of fun. I remember when dude sent me his 12” he included in the package a ziplock bag of yellow liquid: “urine” sample. Funny shit.

Pharoahe Monch – Get The Fuck Out! (Vice Magazine, V6N8, Oct 99) |1 | 2 I interviewed Monch in New York at the Rawkus offices. I remember seeing Prince Poetry in the lobby hanging out.

Divine Styler – The Unknown Legend (Vice Magazine, V6N4, May 99) | 1 After putting out my magazine for a couple years, it was pretty cool that Divine was coming back out with another album, so I got Vice to let me do a story on him. Back in those days writing for Vice was a lot of fun. Before they got huge and had a staff, it was just three dudes putting out the magazine in their loft in Montreal, and they’d basically let me write stories on anyone I wanted.

Rubberoom – Life in the Rubberoom (Vice Magazine, V6N3, Apr 99) cover | 1 I can’t really remember this one, I think I was supposed to interview Rubberoom, but I was in Florida getting drunk for spring break, so I just made up this story without ever talking to the group. Where are they now?

6 Bitches on the Move (Vice Magazine, V5N10, Dec 98/Jan 99) | 1 Vice called me up like “we have half a page to fill, can you write something real quick?” I wrote this little piece on some female MCs, Vice added the “6 Bitches” title, and apparently Bahamadia wasn’t too pleased about it. I did a story on her later though, and she was cool.

Styles of Beyond – I’m Telling Mom (Vice Magazine, V5N9, Nov 98) 1 | 2 | 3 When Divine Styler first heard about my mag, he came to Toronto to do a couple shows with me, and brought up Bilal Bashir, and Ryu and Takbir (Styles of Beyond). They were new on the scene, and had just released their debut album independently, before they got signed to the Dust Brothers’ Ideal Records.

Swollen Members – International Obscurity (Vice Magazine, V5N8, Oct 98) | 1 This article got a little bit controversial. I had heard a lot of people talking shit about these dudes, so I asked a couple questions about some of the things I heard. Apparently they weren’t too happy when this came out, and I can see why. I’m friends with these guys now though, and have worked with them a bit, so it’s water under the bridge.

Aceyalone – Reunited and it Feels So Good (Vice Magazine, V5N4, May 98) | 1 | 2 I think was around the time Acey released “Book of Human Language,” which is still one of my favorite albums.

Medusa – Old School New Age (Vice Magazine, V5N3, Apr 98) 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Medusa had just released an awesome EP on Goodvibe Records, and Matt from the label hooked me up with her.

Arsonists – Still Burnin’ (Vice Magazine, V5N3, Apr 98) 1 | 2 This was around when the Arsonists had a string of dope singles on Fondle ‘ Em Records.

Can Con Reviews (The Vinyl Exchange, Nov 96) cover | 1 | 2 | 3 The vinyl exchange was a san fran-based newsletter for vinyl junkies. i did this little batch of can-con reviews for them. i think they're still around on the internet. shout out to dj stef.

Divine Styler Magazine
Divine Styler Magazine was an independent hip-hop ‘zine I published and edited over 8 issues from the Spring of 96 to the Spring of 99. The first issue was about 300 copies, photocopied with money from my Welfare cheque, and by the end, I was printing about 20,000 copies and distributing around North America. Unfortunately, the magazine was ahead of it’s time, and I just couldn’t get the advertising to keep it going. Still, it’s a pretty cool little slice of history.

Divine Styler Magazine (N8, Spring 99) | cover This is a cool story. Moka Only was visiting Toronto, and asked me if I could put him on the cover of the mag. I jokingly told him I’d only do it if he was naked, so he got our friend Megan to paint him silver and take this photo. The photo was awesome, so of course I had to use it. My friends at Helios designed the cover. Sadly, this was the last issue. I think this was the first time Moka was on the cover of a national magazine, long before he blew up with Swollen Members. Also featured MF Doom, Kwest, Living Legends, Swollen Members, Phoenix Orion, and Harold Hunter.

Black Skinheads (DSM N8, Spring 99)| 1 I never wanted DSM to be just a hip-hop magazine, and my friend Dave (aka Mofo), who’s really into the political/activist scene, wrote this story on Black Skinheads in Chicago.

Harold Hunter (DSM N8, Spring 99)| 1 I’m not sure how, but I was talking to this girl in New York named Wendy, and when she mentioned that she was friends with Harold Hunter, I got her to set up an interview.

Kwest the Mad Ladd (DSM N8, Spring 99)| 1 I had a friend (who will remain nameless) who worked as a phone-sex operator at the time, so we came up with this great idea for her to write a column in each issue where she had phone sex with a different rapper. I was a huge fan of Kwest, so we tracked him down and made him the first subject. I think he enjoyed it. It’s too bad the magazine died, ‘cause I still think this column was a great idea.

MF Doom (DSM N8, Spring 99)| 1 Back in those days, I didn’t usually bother with publicists and record companies to get interviews. I was like a hip-hop detective and used my network to track people down. My man DJ Fisher helped me track down Doom, and we ended up just talking about booze.

Moka Only (DSM N8, Spring 99)| 1 By Sayz One, this was the cover story.

Eazy-E – Ouija Board (DSM N8, Spring 99)| 1 This was such a fucked up night. A bunch of us got together at my house, built a shrine to Eazy-E, got fucked up drinking 40’s of Olde E, and tried to contact him with a Ouija Board. I got sick and puked all night. I still to this day believe I was “touched” by an evil spirit.

Phoenix Orion (DSM N8, Spring 99)| 1 When Celestial Records first started up, James Tai from Urb mag suggested they send the Phoenix Orion album my way. I loved it immediately.

Pyro (the Kraken) (DSM N8, Spring 99)| 1 At some point I got a hold of this underground tape called “Abstract & Cognac” by a group called the Kraken. I still love that tape to this day. Pyro is a sick MC. I wonder what he’s doing now?

Swollen Members / Living Legends (DSM N8, Spring 99)| 1 Birdapres wrote the Swollen Members story, Drunkness wrote the Living Legends story.

Divine Styler Magazine (N7, Summer 98) | cover This was the first issue with colour, which I was able to do thanks to my man Scott at Geek Boutique clothing, who bought the center spread. Because of the cover, I had to go to a few different printers to find one who would actually print it for me (fucking Mormons!). I was pretty frustrated with the whole thing at this point, not being able to sell enough ads, so the cover was basically me going balls out to get some attention for the mag, good or bad. This issue featured Divine Styler, Aceyalone, Company Flow, and Hieroglyphics.

Aceyalone (DSM N7, Summer 98) | 1 I interviewed Aceyalone for Vice, and used the Q&A from that in DSM.

Company Flow (DSM N7, Summer 98) | 1 My man Addi (aka Mindbender) interviewed these cats at a show in Toronto.

Divine Styler (DSM N7, Summer 98) | 1 We found Divine Styler! Story by Bill and Mark McKay (aka Drunkness Monster).

Hieroglyphics (DSM N7, Summer 98) | 1 My friend Bill wrote this, from an interview we did with Hiero at a concert I co-promoted. The flyer might turn up in the “random” section of this site. I still have the video of this interview and show somewhere, one day it’ll see the light of day.

Sebutones (DSM N7, Summer 98) | 1 When I first moved to Toronto I became good friends with Derek Mackenzie, who was in Hip Club Groove at the time. Rob and Rich were his boys from Halifax, so when they came to Toronto for a show, we hooked and did this interview. At the time, all the Sebutones had out was a self-made cassette EP.

White Rappers (DSM N7, Summer 98) | 1 This was something I threw together in like half an hour, ‘cause I needed to fill one more page. I still think it’s pretty funny (and mostly right, too).

Divine Styler Magazine (N666, Apr/May 97) | cover This was the first issue on newsprint, I think I printed about 5,000 copies. I was supposed to have an interview with the Jungle Brothers, but it fell through, so on the cover it’s a picture of them with “thismagazinedoesnotcontainanyarticleson… The Jungle Brothers” written below it. Later, a friend of mine in Vancouver took a photo of the J.Beez holding up copies of this issue. You might find that in the random section of this site. I got my first ad from a major label, thanks to Sol Guy, who was working for BMG at the time. Since it was the sixth issue, I called it “#666,” and would you believe I lost BMG’s ad in the next issue over that? (Sol had left, and was replaced by some God-fearing idiot named “Jazzy.”) This issue features Smoothe & Trigger, Abstract Rude, and Ras Kass.

Divine Styler Magazine (N5, Dec 96/Jan 97) | cover Still cut ‘n paste. For this one I used a picture of Kool Keith. This issue features interviews with Delinquent Habits, Thrust, and Elemental.

Divine Styler Magazine (N3, Aug/Sep 96) | cover This was the first issue printed at a print-shop, not just photocopied. For the cover, I took a photo from some rap magazine of Ol’ Dirty Bastard imitating the famous Janet Jackson “hands on tits” pose, and glued a picture of Divine Styler’s face over ODB. I thought it was funny. This issue features an interview I did with Saukrates, Kardinal, and Choclair.

Divine Styler Magazine (N2, Jun/Jul 96) | cover When I started this magazine, I had NO IDEA whatsoever what I was doing. Another photocopied issue. I was trying to teach myself how to do layouts and design, and I sucked hard, so this cover sucks. My friends Andy and Shawn had a radio show and let me print an interview they had done with the Fugees.

Divine Styler Magazine (N1, Apr 96) | cover This cover was put together cut ‘n paste and photocopies. I called it “The Toilet Paper Issue” ‘cause it was shitty. I used money from my welfare cheque to make photocopies, and dropped them off in stores to see what would happen. “insearchof… Divine Styler” magazine is born.