The 5th issue is finally out! Get your copy of RESPECT. today and take a better look into the minds of some of today’s greatest hip-hop artists.

But before you go out and devour the magazine, read on to hear about your tireless blogger’s contributions to the print edition.

Transcribing an interview is, in some ways, like carrying a baby.

At first every event is exciting and new. All you can think about are the amazing new experiences you are about to be exposed to and the new information you will discover on this long journey. While transcribing an interview, you get used to the interviewee’s voice, style of speech and verbal ticks (if I hear the words “you know what I’m saying” one more time…). While carrying a baby, the soon-to-be mother might at first become enthralled by feeling the first kick or witnessing her own body change shape for another being.

By the middle of the journey, the outlook starts to get bleaker and the difficulties of the process set in. The morning sickness hits and you don’t know how many more times you can run to the bathroom. You realize that you’ve listened to the same three seconds about 50 times and there is no way you will understand the mumbling. You begin to question how much longer you can go on for.

The last stretch is the toughest. You push and push and fight through everything in your mind that’s telling you to stop—and out comes a beautiful baby. It was all worth it. You forget about every last second of the pain because the ultimate accomplishment is worth more than any struggle.

When you pick up your copy of RESPECT., you will experience all of those beautiful babies first hand, compiled into one book. Hold it close, appreciate the design and texture of each page. This issue of RESPECT is proof that magazines are not dead. Rather, they are evolving, maturing and expanding. This is not the glossy pages of XXL or Complex (not to disrespect those magazines—they both represent today’s hip-hop culture at its finest). This magazine is for the mature reader. Someone who has moved up to appreciate the beautiful art that comes along with that subculture we call hip-hop.

Everyone who worked on this issue put in a tremendous amount of effort, but this blog post is here to give RESPECT. to those who contributed greatly to the magazine’s biggest articles, but have no bylines.

On the first page of the magazine Elliott Wilson wrote, “Can’t forget Lauren and all the young’ns who did the thankless transcription work.” Thank you to those who remain thankless.

Nick Harwood, Akshai Rajendran and I tirelessly transcribed (or shall I say birthed) every interview you read and I must say, the words of the stars you read look significantly better when standing next to a professionally photographed picture than flashing off of a bright computer screen at four in the morning. In the end it was all worth it. This magazine is about to change the game all over again, so jump on the bandwagon. Now.

(And trust me, us interns were just as surprised as all of you when we learned that Wacka would adorn the cover.)

The post And It’s Out appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.