The Game Reveals Plans for 120 Days in Prison in MONSTA Magazine on Newsstands February 12, 2008

The Game shares details of impending prison stay exclusively in the premiere issue of MONSTA Magazine. MONSTA debuts on the heels of Hip Hop Weekly being named one of the "15 Hottest Magazine Launches of 2007." Dream team of creative and journalistic talent develop "blueprint" for new standard in monthly hip hop magazines.

New York, NY (PRWEB) February 6, 2008 -- Platinum Hip Hop artist The Game exclusively reveals in the premiere issue of MONSTA Magazine his decision to drop pursuits of a Los Angeles Superior Court trial related to felony gun charges filed against him and is preparing for a 120-day prison sentence. The premiere issue of MONSTA hits newsstands on February 12, 2008.

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MONSTA Cover

Rarely has a magazine played a more dynamic role in the culture it reflected than the hip-hop rag The Source. Throughout the '90s, the magazine had the first and last word in rap: No artist was A-list until he got a cover; unknown MC's got recording contracts off appearances in the

"The crazy part about this is that I've had guns before in my life. But this time I didn't have a gun. And because one person said I had a gun and coaxed his homies into saying that I had a gun, I'm in a predicament where I'm asking 'do I want to spend another million dollars to fight this trial so who knows what jury's gonna come in and say I'm guilty? Or do I want to save my money, go sit down for four months and accept this felony they're trying to give me for no reason?"

In the exclusive cover story, The Game also reveals specific pre and post prison plans including details around his next album which can only be found in the forthcoming premiere issue of MONSTA.

Created by David Mays and Ray "Benzino" Scott, MONSTA comes twenty years after creating the groundbreaking publication The Source -- which GQ magazine recently recognized as one of the "27 Things That Changed Men's Lives" in the past 50 years -- and just months after receiving the Media Industry Newsletter award for their creation of Hip Hop Weekly, the first celebrity weekly magazine for the Hip Hop Generation.

MONSTA is an authentic and relevant chronicle of the Hip Hop Generation, documenting its consistent impact on mainstream society and popular culture. It is a striking oversized magazine (10" x 12" large format) that is packed with provocative stories and photographs. The magazine reports from the front lines, delivering a first-hand point of view on the people, the issues and the lifestyle interests that really matter to the Hip Hop Generation. Each issue of the magazine combines in-depth news reports, poignant interviews, documentary-style profiles and insightful commentary with stunning original and exclusive art and photography -- creating one intense, engaging and thought-provoking package.

Displaying its prowess for investigative journalism early on, MONSTA's premiere issue also includes:

*An insightful article on the murder of NFL player Sean Taylor including exclusive interviews with Sean Taylor's family and the family of his alleged murderers.

*An in-depth feature on The Black Mafia Family (BMF) that goes deeper than any other media outlet has ever been allowed to go including interviews with key BMF members, the trial judge and others.

"MONSTA represents the culmination of our 20 years of experience in this field, and is a cornerstone of our vision for the next 20 years. MONSTA will not only have an immediate impact when it hits the market next month, it is a magazine that will have a lasting impact for years to come," said David Mays, Co-Founder and Publisher of MONSTA.

The MONSTA World Premiere Issue brings together a formidable roster of top journalists, including Carlito Rodriguez (former editor-in-chief of The Source), Dasun Allah (former editor-in-chief of The Source), Chi Modu (chief photographer at The Source from 1990 - 1997), Cavario H. (founder of Don Diva magazine), Michael "Ice-Blue" Harris (former Music Editor at The Source), NY Times best-selling author Karrine Steffans and renowned author and Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson, among others.

"The launch of MONSTA is really exciting because we have been working with a group of people who have lived hip hop and covered hip hop for years, and now they are coming together for the same goal," said Ray Benzino, co-founder and Chief Brand Executive of MONSTA. "We are introducing a new format for a hip hop magazine which will be defined by being independent and political, and by providing in-depth coverage of whoever is a 'monsta' in this industry."

With MONSTA Magazine, the trailblazing Mays and Scott arrive full circle to ignite a new journalistic spark and inspire another generation of readers and future journalists with this new media property. MONSTA debuts at a time when existing monthly hip hop magazines are struggling under corporate ownership and the pressure to produce engaging, relevant print content in the digital age. "The Hip Hop Generation is an intelligent, thoughtful group of young adults who will read and appreciate a quality, journalistic product like MONSTA," added Mays. "Over the 18 years we ran The Source, the fact that we were independent and lived the culture were the things that always set us apart from any competitors. Today's generation expects and deserves a sophisticated magazine that speaks to them. MONSTA will fill this void."

BIOS: David Mays and Raymond "Benzino" Scott

As the originating trailblazers of the Hip Hop media/journalism industry David Mays and Ray "Benzino" Scott are two visionaries who saw hip-hop culture as authentic artistic expression with the potential to appeal to a broad audience within their generation. Together they were instrumental in mainstreaming the culture, making it accessible in all its multimedia forms to a wide audience through the power of the brand they built around The Source Magazine. This groundbreaking publication launched the careers of some of the major performers, artists, writers, editors, media professionals and business executives in the hip-hop entertainment world. Mays and Scott had the business acumen to build a stable of media companies around The Source brand including a record label, a clothing line, mobile content downloads and The Source Awards shows, that are among the highest rated TV specials ever for hip-hop audiences. The Source attracted major consumer advertisers, offering access to a hard-to-reach young audience with money to spend. Many up-and-coming businesses also were able to build successful national record labels, clothing companies and more by advertising in The Source and its related media businesses.

David Mays started The Source in 1988 as a single sheet newsletter while a Harvard undergraduate. He met Ray Scott, a rap performer and producer, while hosting the Boston area's first rap music program on the Harvard radio station. Scott, who maintains a performing career as Benzino, became his partner at The Source. Mays set out to make The Source the Rolling Stone of the '90s. Scott's roots in the hip hop community kept the message authentic. The Source became the biggest selling music magazine on newsstands in the U.S., outselling Rolling Stone on the stands.

In January 2007 Mays and Scott founded Hip Hop Weekly, the first celebrity magazine directed to a hip-hop loving audience. Hip Hop Weekly has grown steadily since its inception. It is carried by major newsstands, bookstores, super markets, drugstore chains and convenience stores like 7-Eleven, where it has one of the highest circulations out of 60 publications sold. In October 2007, Hip Hop Weekly was recognized by the prestigious MIN Awards as one of the 15 top new magazines of the year, out of more than 700 startups.

GQ Magazine's 50th anniversary issue (October 2007) called The Source one of the "27 Things that Changed Men's Lives" over the last 50 years (along with the remote control, Nintendo, Viagra and the Pill, text messaging and the Berlin Wall): "Rarely has a magazine played a more dynamic role in the culture it reflected than the hip-hop rag The Source. Throughout the '90s, the magazine had the first and last word in rap: No artist was A-list until he got a cover; unknown MC's got recording contracts off appearances in the "Unsigned Hype" column; new albums lived and died by the number of mikes they were awarded in the reviews .... At its peak it was groundbreaking, messy, powerful, and controversial -- just like hip-hop."

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