Reginald C Dennis playing Mother Goose

I was reading the whole article "The Greatest Story Never Told" where Reginald Dennis breaks down the whole story of what happened to him at the Source Magazine. I thought the article was very interesting and he had alot to say(in 3 whole parts!). I found it through the Can't Stop Wont Stop weblog, and it was on Hip Hop DX.What I liked was one reference to the present day corporate driven hip hop scene:

“One of many problems, I’m afraid. The industry is all about the hard sell and they make no secret of it. This youth market – the largest ever – will be the name of the game for the foreseeable future and with hip-hop already established as the world’s most effective delivery system, young consumers are about to be taken for a ride the likes of which we have never seen. But it’s not their fault, because until you are old enough to develop some semblance of critical reasoning, you will fall prey to every bright, shiny object that comes along. The industry is in the middle of the perfect storm and they plan to stay awhile. They are no longer compelled to listen to our wishes, and as consumers we don’t do nearly enough to voice our displeasure at the way things are going. So we get what we get.

I'd take into consideration Reginald Dennis's story about Ray Benzino's and David Mays relationship with a grain of salt (How'd "Made Men" get 4.5 stars?) only because he's pretty extreme in describing David Mays as a whiny lil' bytch. However, I know that the Source has been highly critical of Interscope Records, and though his story is pretty funny at the same time I'd have to counter with something I read in the Source about his magazine XXL and their relationship with Interscope records:

"When the Roots planned to go public with their displeasure with MCA records (a now defunct subsidiary of Interscope), it was rumored that the label threatened to pull advertising from the magazine. The interview was eventually published on Citypaper.net. For their compliance, XXL has seemingly been rewarded with non-stop financial support from Geffen/Interscope, whose artists in turn continue to get favorable review and press from the magazine." The Source May 2005 pg 120

Can the strong opinions he has towards his former co-workers at the Source be distinguished from his relationship and financial support he gets from Interscope Records? I don't know if I can trust him at his word.

Another thing about this interview is Reginald Dennis addressing the Source's beef with Eminem. If I remember correctly, XXL had a beef with Eminem 2 years before the Source had beef with him, but he is strangely quiet about it; he talks like "Who could ever possibly imagine beef with Eminem?" But strangely I remember XXL back in like 2000 dissing Eminem so much because he was white and doors were opening for him because of that, and Eminem on one of his songs dissing XXL, saying he brought XXL with a food stamp, so I don't understand:

This whole thing with Eminem, try as I might I really can’t figure out what the beef is. I mean, I know that Ray is going on and on about “the machine” and how it’s racist machinations sustain artists like Eminem at the expense of others, but I really don’t see it that way. If anyone has benefited from “the machine” it is Ray.

I wish I could pull out my old XXL magazines from back in the days when they dissed Eminem so much he wouldn't grant them an interview, and they had to piece together interviews from other sources. Now he wants to play innocent. How interesting.

In conclusion, though this article seems to be an eye opener, it is hardly "The Greatest Story Ever Told". I'll bet that 5 other people in the mix got stories to tell, I'd have to hear them all. As a whole, his interview is interesting, but Reginald C Dennis is lacking credibility in his story-telling in my opinion.