Thursday, August 10 09:53 AM
The Funny Face That Runs Trace
Claude Grunitsky, publisher of Trace, thought of a way to propel his fashion magazine to higher ad revenues. Inspired by that influential English style of hip-hop, characterized by such groups as the Cookie Crew. Claude cleverly tacked on Urban to the title of his periodical and the revolutionary idea of mixing Paris fashion with New York street life was born. Trace Urban was the all to common formula of mixing hip-hop with fashion to reap big ad dollars from clothing companies and music companies. Claude could sashay into all the fashion houses and secure key sponsorships. The one angle left was the urban aspect. Where was Claude, living in England, going to find real urban culture? His idea of hardcore was PM Dawn. He decided to enlist an old buddy who knew more than him about hip-hop, Gee Street Records prexy Jon Baker. Jon Baker was currently trying to squeeze the album out of Rza of Wu-Tang for a deal they had signed before Wu-Tang had blown up that would eventually bankrupt Gee Street. After courting Rza for a couple of years asking him to turn in an album for a budget of 1.1 million, Rza asked for 11 million to turn in an album. The finally settled on a price tag of 5.1 million in cash up front to produce a album that Gee Street wouldn't hear until it was finished. The result was the Bobby Digital album. During a meeting where staff heard the album for the first time, some people got up and promptly quit knowing the end was near. A great experiment and a complete dis to Jon Baker who thought he had Rza by the short hairs. Gee Street Records was similar Trace in that they had a home office in London and a US office in New York's fashionable SoHo district. Taking a cue from David Mays, they decided to use the magazine as a great way to promote Gee Street artists and their interest. The result was extensive articles covering Shyheim the rugged child and Yankee B that accompanied full-page ads. Trace magazine was pulling in fat checks from all the major European designers, had two offices on the globe, and yet always found a way to avoid paying editors, writers and photographers. Smokey Fontaine toiled away for them till he jetted to The Source. The flight of writers from Trace's masthead was massive, and once the Gee Street went out of business, they lost most of their impetus for covering hip-hop. The magazine now features just pictorials of artists like Jay-Z with no interview, or articles on artists that no one has ever heard. It looks like the Manifest promotional issue that dropped two years ago. One mitigating factor was that Trace had an annual Black Girls rule issue that was hot to death, but with BlackMen magazine, we have a Black Girls rule issue every month.

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