Yes Yes, I'm back with another review of our monthly (or not) hip hop news / gossip / and lifestyle mediums.

This time, getting tired of the same old thang, I looked for a different type of hip hop magazine. I found one that sparked my interest not only as an "urban music" fan but also as an entrepreneur.

The quarterly distributed Owners Illustrated –Third Year Anniversary, looked like a magazine where I could learn, not only about the current state of the urban music industry but also how to be successful. My hopes were high.

The magazine featured interviews with such hip hop heavy weights as Jim Jones, E-40, Lil' Wayne and Baby, The Swishahouse Bosses, Busta Rhymes and many more. The writers of OI mostly the Editor in Chief Damola did a good job of focusing these articles more on the business side of music - discussing such topics as signings, hustling, copyrights, and upcoming projects outside of hip hop.

OI contained many pictures...27 pages to be exact, of hot and expensive cars – most test driven by Damola who offered his opinions. Also included was a brief overview of America's largest home, "The Biltmore Estate" located in North Carolina. Although these features showed the lifestyle of the rich and famous, they played more of a filler role to beef up the magazine.

This is where the magazine fell short of its mission. OI's website states, "Owners Illustrated Magazine serves as a valuable resource for tips from experts and successful entrepreneurs on starting and operating an enterprise." After reading it from cover to cover, I did not find any tips, resources, advice or any mention at all of how to start / operate a new business in the urban entertainment industry.

I was disappointed because I hoped to gain some knowledge from those people who started at the bottom, like me.

I anticipated articles related to – the current state of the music industry and how to be successful with declining CD sales, how to be successful without being signed, where the niche markets are, where there is room to grow, money management, networking, heavy hitters and their success stories. I also expected an entrepreneur 101 section with features touching on starting a business, money, taxes, incorporating, copyrighting, promotion, marketing, advertising etc.

Instead I got pages and pages of cars, a house I will never see in person, top "video chicks", and interviews.

I love the concept of Owner's Illustrated but it fell short of my expectations and its own. I'll give it another chance in the coming months and see if it shows improvement in the fourth year of publication. For $7.99 Canadian, I hope so.

Until then…

SDOT
www.myspace.com/initiated