Scratch Magazine Gets Jerry Barrow As Editor-In-Chief

Scratch Magazine has a new captain steering its ship. Beginning on Monday, June 6th, former AllHipHop.com contributor Jerry Lawrence Barrow will take over Editor in Chief duties at the year old magazine, ending his three year tenure at The Source Magazine. Launched in 2004, the bi-monthly Scratch (published by Harris Publications, home to XXL Magazine […]

Scratch Magazine has

a new captain steering its ship. Beginning on Monday, June 6th, former AllHipHop.com

contributor Jerry Lawrence Barrow will take over Editor in Chief duties at the

year old magazine, ending his three year tenure at The Source Magazine.

Launched in 2004, the bi-monthly

Scratch (published by Harris Publications, home to XXL Magazine and King Magazine)

has devoted itself to highlighting the contributions of producers and DJ’s

in hip-hop’s pecking order.

Assuming the post vacated

by last month’s departure of Andre Torres, Barrow aims to positively and

exponentially affect the mags growing clout.

“MY job as Editor

in Chief is to bring more awareness to the good work that’s already being

done,” Barrow explained to AllHipHop.com. “The people there have

already been doing a dope job. There’s stuff in there that you just don’t

find in regular hip-hop magazines. My job is to get on the grind and get out

there and build the awareness and make sure the covers are hot (laughing). We’re

localized in New York and I want to branch out. I definitely want to get it

up there on a national level. My hope is very soon to go from bi-monthly to

eight issues a year then ten issues. I want to keep growing the brand and growing

the circulation. I can’t be in the same house with King and XXL and my

numbers ain’t right. That’s my big task (but) there’s enough

of an interest out there that we can do it. The people that know Scratch love

it. So my job is to get more people to know about it.”

Barrow was hired as an Associate

Music Editor at The Source in 2002 before quickly bouncing up the masthead ladder

and settling into his final position as the magazine’s Deputy Editor.

A well respected figure

in the small circle that is the hip-hop publishing industry, he sees his latest

stop as a natural progression.

“This was an opportunity

I couldn’t pass up. I think we did a lot of really dope work at The Source.

Fahiym [Ratcliffe, Editor-in-Chief of The Source] was 100% supportive of me

in my decision. There’s definitely no ill will there, at all.”

Before The Source, the Flatbush,

Brooklyn native and Wesleyan University grad worked at Black Beat Magazine while

earning a Master of Science in Publishing from Pace University.

A self professed hip-hop

academic, his penchant for the culture’s beat architects is now coming

in handy.

“I love the

emcees, I love hip-hop in general but everybody knows it’s a producer

game now. What we hope to do at Scratch is make new stars. They’ve had

all the big dogs-Lil Jon, The Neptunes-but I really want to start making stars.

There are all these producers making really hot beats that nobody knows. They

might know they’re name vaguely, but they have no idea what they look

like. If people want to start knowing who these producers are on a regular basis,

DJ’s too, Scratch is that one forum where you know you’re going

to find out.”