Rewind Magazine
Encyclopedia
RWD Magazine is a British
based magazine
which features news, interviews and charts on hip hop
, RnB
, UK garage
, Drum and bass
and U.S.
house music. It is released monthly, distributing 98,300 copies each time and is ABC certified. It's considered the largest magazine on urban
music and lifestyle in the United Kingdom
.
As well as the magazine, RWDmag has a website
which features music videos, tracks and artist profiles.
. Founding editor-in-chief was Matt Mason, who later wrote The Pirate's Dilemma (2008).
RWD Magazine provided a platform for emerging unsigned artists to get their names and their faces into every popular underground music outlet. This works by aspiring artists paying to feature within the magazine. This may not seem very desirable at first, but the magazine's healthy distribution and circulation makes this more attractive. The magazine enjoys a relatively healthy distribution and circulation as readers can pick up the magazine for free.
This new platform (along with music channel Channel U TV
) appealed to many aspiring artists from the grime scene and allowed them to do independently what they could have previously only done with the backing of a major record label
.
The popularity with the physical paper magazine soon spread online to its website. Its official website was buoyed by a popular forum, the most central point being the Grime Music Forum. This forum allows for the discussion of everything to do with the grime scene and regularly enjoys visits from big names in the Grime scene who occasionally also post.
RWD Magazine recently celebrated 100 issues.
and The Sun
newspapers printed reports of a Premiership footballer and a music DJ engaged in a "homosexual orgy". Even though no names were mentioned, a pixellated photograph was printed. Within minutes of the story being printed, posters of RWD's whatever room, exposed the real unedited photograph of DJ Masterstepz, Ashley Cole
and Jermaine Jenas
. Cole sued the News of the World and The Sun newspapers for libel resulting in both the papers retracting the allegations and RWD forum being shutdown for some considerable time.
Grime music fans who used to post in the forum created their own forum website named Grime Forum with its own connected "Grimepedia" encyclopedia of the genre as well as a music store. Vip2 was also set up.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
based magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
which features news, interviews and charts on hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, RnB
RNB
RNB is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings, as described below:* Nankai Broadcasting – , a broadcasting station in Ehime Prefecture, Japan* Rhythm and blues* Contemporary R&B* Russian National Library...
, UK garage
UK garage
UK garage is a genre of electronic dance music originating from the United Kingdom in the early-1990s. UK garage is a descendant of house music which originated in Chicago and New York, United States. UK garage usually features a distinctive syncopated 4/4 percussive rhythm with 'shuffling'...
, Drum and bass
Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...
and U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
house music. It is released monthly, distributing 98,300 copies each time and is ABC certified. It's considered the largest magazine on urban
Mainstream Urban
Mainstream Urban is a term used to describe a radio format similar to an Urban Contemporary format. The format differentiates itself due to two factors: playlist composition and target demographic...
music and lifestyle in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
As well as the magazine, RWDmag has a website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
which features music videos, tracks and artist profiles.
History
RWD Magazine became a well known name in UK underground urban music circles in mid to late 2003. This coincided with the rise of a new urban music genre, which later became popularly referred to as GrimeGrime (music)
Grime is a style of music that emerged from Bow, East London, England in the early 2000s, primarily as a development of UK garage, dancehall, and hip hop...
. Founding editor-in-chief was Matt Mason, who later wrote The Pirate's Dilemma (2008).
RWD Magazine provided a platform for emerging unsigned artists to get their names and their faces into every popular underground music outlet. This works by aspiring artists paying to feature within the magazine. This may not seem very desirable at first, but the magazine's healthy distribution and circulation makes this more attractive. The magazine enjoys a relatively healthy distribution and circulation as readers can pick up the magazine for free.
This new platform (along with music channel Channel U TV
Channel U TV
Channel AKA is a British digital satellite TV channel, owned by Mushroom TV Ltd, available through Sky within the UK and Ireland on channel 370...
) appealed to many aspiring artists from the grime scene and allowed them to do independently what they could have previously only done with the backing of a major record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
.
The popularity with the physical paper magazine soon spread online to its website. Its official website was buoyed by a popular forum, the most central point being the Grime Music Forum. This forum allows for the discussion of everything to do with the grime scene and regularly enjoys visits from big names in the Grime scene who occasionally also post.
RWD Magazine recently celebrated 100 issues.
Masterstepz/Ashley Cole scandal
In 2006, the News of the WorldNews of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
and The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
newspapers printed reports of a Premiership footballer and a music DJ engaged in a "homosexual orgy". Even though no names were mentioned, a pixellated photograph was printed. Within minutes of the story being printed, posters of RWD's whatever room, exposed the real unedited photograph of DJ Masterstepz, Ashley Cole
Ashley Cole
Ashley Cole is an Barbadian-English professional footballer who plays for Chelsea and the England national team. He plays as a left-back and has been named one of the best in the world....
and Jermaine Jenas
Jermaine Jenas
Jermaine Anthony Jenas is an English footballer who plays for Aston Villa in the Premier League on loan from Tottenham Hotspur. He is of mixed African-Caribbean and English descent.-Nottingham Forest:...
. Cole sued the News of the World and The Sun newspapers for libel resulting in both the papers retracting the allegations and RWD forum being shutdown for some considerable time.
2007–2008
In mid-2007, RWD Magazine underwent a number of management changes, one of the most important being a change of editor. The new editor wanted to expand the magazine's audience in order to feature all types of music that might appeal to a younger generation. In order to achieve this, the content and appearance of the magazine and website changed, much to the disappointment of the users. This resulted in an exodus of users, establishing their own forums; namely http://www.GrimeForum.com.Grime music fans who used to post in the forum created their own forum website named Grime Forum with its own connected "Grimepedia" encyclopedia of the genre as well as a music store. Vip2 was also set up.