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Have you guys ever heard of Dig Mag? I don't mean the corny lifestyle website that first pops up when you google "Dig Mag," I'm talking about a dope little magazine about crate digging and hard to find music, i.e. just the kind of stuff anybody looking at our humble site here would be into. It's relatively new - they've got five issues out so far - and they get a lot of cool DJs and music writers to contribute tales of finding rare vinyl. And, well, I'm in it.
They publish out of the UK but they get writers from all over, and they cover all genres of music. You can imagine I don't have a lot of stories to share about obscure Salsa 45s, but they've just come out with their first "Dig Deeper" special issue, focusing exclusively on Hip-Hop, and appropriately enough, that's the issue they reached out to me for. You can see all the contributors in the picture, including some familiar names to regular readers here... I mean, there's Oxygen, an artist I was just writing about a couple posts back!
Now, when I called this magazine "little," I mean that literally. It's the exact size and shape of a CD. It's 32 full color pages (I think the average issue is 24, but the special's 32) and the layout is really slick. See how it's like a record in a crate? The crate is a plastic cover, and the issue slips out of it. You'll see. Anyway, I have a 2-page spread in this issue.
And obviously I'm not a big mp3 guy, but the other thing about Dig is that each issue also includes an online mix of all the music talked about in the issue. Not all of it's super rare or anything, but for example, DJ Format included an unreleased MC Shy-D I was excited to hear for the first time. And for my part, I won't spoil the exact record I cover, but I'll just say I had to figure out a way to rip a full quality, white label-only DITC-related track. And no, it's not Ground Floor, but if you put together that guess, I'm proud of ya. 😎
Anyway, I think it's pretty cool, and not just because I'm in it. They're also putting out their first 7" record, too... although I'm pretty sure the guy behind Dig has released records before under a different label name. Anyway, I'd recommend starting with the Hip-Hop special, and then check out the rest if it's up your alley. It's definitely more of a thing, I'd say, for serious enthusiasts than just casual music fans. It's just coming out this week, plus you can get back issues and reprints of the first couple issues that've already sold out at digmag.co.uk.
