BallerStatus.net Features: Julia Beverly: Ozone Vs. The Source

Friday - December 23, 2005

— by Jay Casteel

If you haven't heard by now, a beef is heating up between Hip-Hop's Bible, The Source, and rising Florida-based Ozone Magazine, or more specifically between Benzino and Ozone's publisher Julia "JB" Beverly. As Ozone's year-end issue circulates, word has spread that Beverly had named Source co-owner Benzino the "Most Successful Extortionist" of the year (see the magazine's article here), referring to his part in allegedly bullying his way into ownership of the magazine. And even threw a few barbs Zino's way, attacking his unprofessional business tactics and his use of editorial power to slam his industry enemies without revealing his hidden motives. Although JB may be doing the exact same thing with her little attack at Benzino, she does reveal the reasoning behind her Zino rant by offering her own personal bais for all to read, backed up by valid reasons -- one being the fact that The Source has owed her money for nearly a year without paying.

Once Zino caught wind of JB's attack of his character -- which, according to Beverly, was meant to be comedic -- he called up the female publisher and released his fury on her voicemail (listen to Zino's voicemail), which sparked a conference call between both sides with related parties present in an attempt to resolve the conflict, but ended in a yelling display by an angry Benzino.

Just a day after the conference call, Beverly took the time to explain her side of the story to BallerStatus.net and how it has escaladed thus far, why she felt the need to air out The Source and its co-owner Benzino, as well as a little history behind her magazine and how it all got started.

Read up to see what's up with the whole situation.

BallerStatus.net: First off, for people who don't know, you are the Editor In Chief/Publisher of the Florida-based Ozone Magazine. You kinda aired him out and named Benzino the "Most Successful Extortionist" of the year in your year-end mag. Talk about the reason behind that, and how that all started?

JB: It was part of a year-end "awards" section we did in the magazine with a few controversial subjects. It was originally intended to have a humorous feel to it, but as I started writing, I vented on some of the things that have been bothering me about The Source magazine –- speaking not as a rival, but just as a consumer. I buy and read magazines constantly, and The Source just isn't worth my $4 anymore. I respect what The Source did as a magazine opening doors for other publications and for hip-hop, but the content these days is seriously lacking and I wasn't feeling their smear campaigns

against 50 Cent, Eminem, Funkmaster Flex, etc., even though I am not necessarily a fan of any of those people. Then, at the end of the article, to make sure I wasn't guilty of the same "smear campaigns" as The Source, I discussed my personal bias, stemming from the fact that they still owe me money for freelance work.

BallerStatus.net: I know you are pretty outspoken from reading previous issues of Ozone, but everyone knows that The Source has a problem with paying their bills, it's been widely reported...why did you feel the need to air out that business?

JB: Because I've been trying to collect from them for over a year, and the way they've been brushing me off is disrespectful. I've had a collections guy calling them for the last six months getting the runaround. I threatened to file a lawsuit against them back in March and Dave Mays sent me an email saying, "Don't sue, we'll expedite your payment, etc" (sidenote: Julia forwarded us the email and that's exactly what was written). I saw Dave and Benzino at a nightclub in Miami earlier this year and I asked both of them personally about my money, and it still wasn't taken care of. To me, that's disrespectful. I could take them to small claims court, but I'd have to wait in line behind the dozens of other people they owe money to.

BallerStatus.net: In the conference call that took place yesterday (December 21st), Zino calls your magazine "nothing," but he seems to really take offense to your comments about him. Why do you feel he's taken your words about him to the heart?

JB: Because the truth hurts. And he knows The Source is falling apart, and he hates to see OZONE blowing up. About two years ago, I was at a video shoot on South Beach standing near Benzino and Dave Mays. A DJ walked up to them and said, "You better watch your back! JB's coming up strong! She's gonna take your spot!" The DJ said it as a joke, but he meant it. If you're at the top, you've got to defend your position by putting out the best

product possible. The Source didn't do that, and XXL took their spot. Of course I'm shooting for the top. Business is always competitive. As a business owner, I have to aim for the #1 spot or there's no point being in business.

BallerStatus.net: Are you worried about getting any static from Zino if he sees you?

JB: I believe he's capable of following through on the threats he's made, but I'm not worried. I deal with situations as they arise.

BallerStatus.net: How do you respond to the allegations from Scott Bejda of Murder Dog magazine during the conference call, claiming that you had said you were gonna pay him for a written story for Ozone, but once it was completed he was not paid?

JB: That's false, but I actually spoke to Scott after the conference call to clear things up. I've never even met Scott. He called OZONE a long time ago -– a year or two years, I don't recall how long it's been -– and asked about freelance work. I told him upfront that I would not be able to pay him. At the time, freelancers were not compensated, and I made that very clear to him during our first conversation. It was apparently a misunderstanding. I didn't understand how he was relevant to the conference call, but bottom line, OZONE does not owe him any money.

BallerStatus.net: Now, controversy seems to sell magazines these days. And Ozone seems to air out dirt on a lot on people, which is really the job of the journalist to do anyway. But was that your intention -- to sell more magazines with your provocative editorials and pieces you run? And are you worried about receiving any backlash from anything you ran?

JB: Controversy sells anything. Of course I don't mind the free publicity, but truthfully, we don't need drama to sell magazines. We've been in business for almost four years -– and anyone in the Southern rap community can vouch for OZONE. New York doesn't pay us much attention until we publish "groupie confessions" or something negative, so a lot of people aren't aware of some of the other things we've covered. We featured artists like Pitbull, Slim Thug, Mike Jones, Young Jeezy, David Banner, Paul Wall, Akon, T-Pain, Pretty Ricky, etc, etc before they even had record deals. We've printed hand-written letters from incarcerated rappers like Pimp C and C-Murder. We have monthly features on industry insiders that give a lot of insight into the music business. We try to educate people who want to get in the game, whether as an artist or an A&R or whatever. So, although I do thank Benzino for the free publicity (our website got 1.2 million hits yesterday), I just write what I feel. If that sells more magazines, cool. If not, cool.

BallerStatus.net: How do you feel Benzino has affected how The Source magazine is ran today and their overall influence currently?

JB: He despises journalists, doesn't handle business properly, and uses the magazine to further his own personal agenda. With the credibility and the resources and the brand that The Source once had, they should have focused their energy in a positive direction instead of entire issues dedicated to slamming Interscope. It pisses me off to see someone with that much power who doesn't know how to use it properly.

BallerStatus.net: Now as far as Ozone, talk about how you started the mag.

JB: I started as an amateur photographer about 5 years ago. I wanted to get involved with a big magazine like The Source, XXL, and/or Vibe, but no one would return my calls. I figured I needed a portfolio to get their attention. I approached the owner of a local magazine called Orlando Source and we worked out an arrangement where he'd get me access to concerts in town and I'd send him pictures. I started playing around with Photoshop and sent him entire layouts with my photos, and he hired me as the editor. Eventually I became co-owner. We did Orlando Source for about a year and the partnership kinda went sour. I wanted to continue doing a magazine, so I ended up switching up the format and renaming it OZONE and it grew from there.

BallerStatus.net: I first read a copy of it when I was in New Orleans like 2 years ago, and since then I've been hearing about it more and more. How did you manage to grow it beyond your local scene to other areas of the country, and why do you feel people are digging it once they actually read it?

JB: We took the do-it-yourself approach, just like a lot of artists in the South -- one step at a time. First Orlando, then we started distributing throughout all of Florida. We did a "Florida Power" issue a few years ago. After that, we started adding street reps state by state. We've got reps in over 30 states now. I'm very hands-on with the magazine. We take a road trip every month when the issue comes out, load up the OZONE truck, and stop at

different points off the freeway to drop off magazines to our street reps -- Florida to Tennessee to Texas and back, sometimes further. [We meet] with local DJs, stop at the local radio stations, go to the local clubs, etc, etc -- just getting out there and meeting people and staying on the grind. Our street reps in each city send us pictures of local events, give out promo copies of the magazine to local tastemakers (DJs, artists, entrepreneurs, even drug dealers, anyone who has influence in the community), and keep us informed when unsigned artists catch a buzz.

BallerStatus.net: I know you do a lot of the work in the magazine yourself, from taking photos to conducting interviews and writing stories. Talk about the grind behind running your own independent magazine without a huge staff behind it.

JB: It's definitely a lot of work. I'm not the greatest photographer in the world and I'm not the best writer in the world, but I manage to do both reasonably well. And being that I have experience in both of those fields, I've gained relationships with other talented people. We have a small staff, and everyone wears different hats to make things run smoothly.

BallerStatus.net: Tell me about how much it's grown over the past few years and the kind of feedback you are getting.

JB: Next May will be our four-year anniversary, and the growth has been incredible. When we started, we were distributed for free mostly in the Central Florida area. With our new distribution situation, beginning in January, copies will be available all over the United States, Canada, and Australia. We get a lot of positive feedback. Of course, we also get some negative feedback. If you don't have haters, you aren't doing it right. Judging from the way Benzino flipped out, we must be doing something right.

BallerStatus.net: Are there places in the country you receive feedback that you didn't even realize you were reaching with Ozone?

JB: We get emails from all over the world, for subscriptions and feedback. I've done interviews for magazines in Ireland, France, and all over. On average, we get around 6 million hits a month on our website, where you can read all the back issues of the magazine. I think the fact that we're so active on the internet has enabled us to reach a lot more people than we would if we were just a print publication.

BallerStatus.net: What do you think sets Ozone apart from the tons of magazines that are popping up out of nowhere?

JB: The fact that we're still gonna be straightforward and to-the-point, no matter how many nasty voicemails we get.

BallerStatus.net: I'm sure you've heard this numerous times, but Ozone is usually criticized for its lengthy pages of photos. What's your response to people who call your mag a "photo magazine?"

JB: Most people love the photo galleries. A few don't. If you don't like OZONE, don't buy it.

BallerStatus.net: What's next for Ozone magazine? What kind of things do you have planned for the future?

JB: We just signed a distribution deal with the largest magazine distributor in the country (the same company that distributes The Source and XXL) and our national launch is January 10th. It's a double cover with Lil' Wayne and Lil' Scrappy, so look out for that issue. It's a challenge to grow and reach new audiences while still maintaining our integrity and staying true to our original fan base -– Southern rap fans. We also have several special editions coming out for All-Star Weekend in Houston and the Super Bowl in Detroit, among others.

BallerStatus.net: Any last words?

JB: You could criticize OZONE for publishing "controversial" stories if you want. But if we didn't write controversial stories, you wouldn't be interviewing me right now, so you and I are in the same business.

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