Hip-hop has always been about more than charts — it’s been about documentation, intention, and passing knowledge forward. This week, Chuck D is at the center of two major culture moments that reflect that legacy in real time.
Public Enemy co-founder Chuck D has announced the launch of ‘Rap Central Station – MagPaper’, a new vinyl-sized print magazine billed as a 12×12 publication designed to “bring print back” for hip-hop documentation. In a social post promoting the debut issue, Chuck wrote that ‘Print is not dead!’ while urging fans to grab copies before they sell out, adding that the magazine has also reached U.S. newsstands and bookstores.
The first issue is being sold as a “Vinyl-Sized Launch Edition” through UK-based publisher Silverback Publishing, which describes the project as “the world’s first true Art Rap Chart magazine.” According to the product listing, the concept centers artist voice directly—artists reviewing their own singles and albums—while pulling its editorial “heartbeat” from Chuck’s long-running Rapstation programming, including ‘And You Don’t Stop’ and ‘Bring The Noise’.
Silverback Publishing — founded in 2013 and known for specialist print titles—has positioned the partnership as a deliberate bet on physical media, noting its focus on creating magazines meant to be held and collected. On its site, the company describes itself as “print people through and through,” with a combined monthly print run across its titles of 85,000+ copies.
Rap Central Station also exists as a broader media hub online. The RapCentralStation.net site frames the platform as a central destination for hip-hop “sight, sound, story and style,” linking out to connected channels and audio outlets (including Rapstation), while the MagPaper page reiterates the magazine mission statement about artist-led reviewing and the ‘Art Rap Chart’ concept.
Preview images shared alongside the announcement show Issue 1 presented with a clean, poster-like cover layout and the MagPaper branding. The cover text spotlights major legacy names and themes, including Public Enemy, Grandmaster Flash, and Cypress Hill, with additional cover lines pointing to features involving Monie Love and DJ Pogo. Inside spreads shown in the previews include a chart-style Top 100 list page and longform interview layouts consistent with the magazine’s emphasis on documentation and curation.
The project’s framing has also been echoed in recent coverage: a Washington Informer report describes Rap Central Station as a quarterly, internationally published print magazine and quotes Chuck D explaining that he built it as a culture-serving alternative—particularly in response to frustration with how mainstream chart infrastructure treats (or omits) rap.
For readers looking to track it down, the magazine is available directly through Silverback Publishing’s Rap Central Station shop pages (priced at £7.99 | $10.94 on the publisher site), while Chuck’s post indicates copies are also turning up through newsstand and bookstore channels in the U.S.