ego trippin': the start of my life in rap

hip hop's new daily operation | 6.28.20

TheMotto No. 53 is here. Note the fresh-faced young man in the Detroit Lions Barry Sanders jersey. Elliott Jr. was always striving for greatness and, this Sunday, we’re once again hopping in the time machine to reflect on the ‘90s hip hop experiences that helped make me the man I am today. This edition will dissect the early beginnings of ego trip, the brand I co-founded. We changed the face of hip hop journalism.

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top billin’:

mood ⬇️

Elliott Wilson @ElliottWilson

Been in the game since '92. Look at all the bullshit I've been through.

Sacha Jenkins and I would meet pretty much every afternoon at his mother’s crib in Astoria, Queens. We talked out ideas for Beat Down (where I had become Music Editor). Via a 5-disc CD changer we listened to rap albums all day long. Main Source’s Breaking Atoms, Gang Starr’s Step in The Arena and Daily Operation, Showbiz And AG’s self-titled EP and Runaway Slave, Fat Joe’s Represent, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, etc. 

Sacha was a charismatic creative and a dynamic personality. Even before Beat Down, Sach had started his own graffiti magazine, Graphic Scenes X-Plicit Language.

I was super stoked when Haji Akhigbade and Sacha invited me to help distribute the free Beat Downs throughout New York City. We left copies at various subway stations, West Fourth Street Courts, Tower Records, and the vintage clothing spot Patricia Fields. We left our project at any cool spot in the East Village, West Village or SoHo. Sometimes we’d leave a stack, and then stalk the scene, waiting to witness someone pick up and thumb through the issue. But to see someone literally fold Beat Down in half, and tuck in their back pocket? That was the victory! It was an addictive feeling. There are few things more humbling than seeing something you worked hard on discarded and tossed on the street. We weren’t even charging. How could you? 

⤴️ Beat Down cover story I wrote about Wu-Tang Clan, Summer ‘93

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By 1994, hip hop had a lot of independent magazines coast to coast. There was Seattle’s The Flavor. The Bay Area had 4080 and The Bomb. Los Angeles had Urb, and Straight From the Lip. Straight outta Connecticut was One Nut Network. Chicago had Caught In the Middle and Flypaper.

But I knew, with Sacha as our visionary, ego trip would be different.

We covered hip hop music and beyond. Sacha was a graffiti scholar who loved rock, and was influenced by Hendrix and Bad Brains as much as Nas and Mobb Deep. We both recognized in the early ‘90s that hip-hop was coming up from the underground. Kids of all races that we were kicking it with in Manhattan where listening to Green Day as well as Dr. Dre. Hip hop was pop culture. The coolest rock scenes respected hip hop. And no one was bringing that all together.

Our caveat was humor. Sacha and I were funny knowledgable dudes and so was our growing crew. Jeff “Chairman” Mao was our star player. An outstanding writer with a passion for DJing, Mao had an amazing vinyl collection. He had his own place in the East Village, and as he made spaghetti one afternoon he taught me about the power of sampling. I remember when he walked me through Quincy Jones 1973 “Summer In The City” in The Pharcyde’s classic 1993 “Passin’ Me By.” Jeff’s critical analysis set the bar for what we wanted ego trip to be. 

We launched our ‘zine in the summer of 1994 and we put the hottest MC in rap on the cover: our Queens brethren Nas. The cover image is an outtake from Danny Clinch’s shoot for Nas’ Illmatic. We had more ill images inside.

People loved it. And acclaim gave us a taste for more. We soon recruited former Rap Pages-experienced, Los Angeles-based masterminds Gabriel Alvarez and Brent Rollins to form the ultimate starting five. You couldn’t tell us we weren’t gonna win. Cheers to the ones who dream big.

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a danyelliott production

Danyel Smith + Elliott Wilson