we live in the kind of world where hiphop has merged with pop music completely and a magazine like this is superfluous. not trying to put you down, HamNo, you care and I like that but let's fave reality... hiphop is about as outsidery now as punk music. Once Good Charlotte came out, punk was officially dead [if it hadn't been for years] and now you have people like Kanye, who regardless of their music, are all about exposure and pop relevance. if this weren't true and hiphop weren't dead, he wouldn't care so much about MTV.

and yes, fave is short for favor.

We live in the kind of world where many people secretly love kittens.

Well duh. Not enough beefcake cover photo's for the hip-hop-geyhs. "The Game" should have been totally in a "Rodman-esque" pose for this cover. Plaid flannel lumberjack lookin' hoodies aren't going to have them flying off the shelves!

Are you the hip hop beat reporter?

@hypocriteoath: That's true, but there's a still a space for underground-ish type hip hop stuff, especially a mag like mass appeal that didn't rely on music per se. My guess would be, 1. death of print, 2. all the hip hop heads are getting all grown up these days.

Apparently, a couple of recent cover stories alienated the core audience.

Mass Appeal will always be with us. Just not in magazine form.

The cooking with famous stoners feature will be missed. Katt Williams' ramen recipe was a huge hit at my last potluck.

Hey, don't bring the hate for Cat Fancy. I can has fluffy kittehs, get the feelgood.

@hypocriteoath:
we live in the kind of world where print magazines are making way for Internet content.

It's not a bad magazine, but in 1998 this wouldn't have happened. In 2008, Amazon sells out of Kindles.

@hypocriteoath: Is anything outsidery anymore? I mean, without being completely contrived? I find outsideriness to be quite insidery, really.

@Hamilton Nolan:
I completely agree. (Though, I cop to not subscribing to Mass Appeal). Yeah, people like Kanye and Snoop are mainstream pop figures nowadays but there's a a TON of below-the-radar mini-scenes within the umbrella (or rain pod, if you will) of hip-hop. Sneaker culture, graffiti, regional music like hyphy, the mixtape scene, hip-hop fashion, all come to mind.

@Hamilton Nolan, @Jack Szwergold & @ObtuseIntolerant: all good points. what you have said about print media taking hit is absolutely correct but there is no way that all those niche markets can be combined into something that enough people will read to make the product feasible. I don't know that print media is dead either. If you have content that no one else does and you don't put it online people will still come to you. Originality and quality still pay off and this magazine was lacking one or both of those aspects.

@Hamilton Nolan: There is always a new generation of hiphoppers. Just like there was a next generation of rockers and a next and a next... it doesn't just die out and hiphop is as strong as it's ever been.

Cat Fancy lives because people care about cats.

That's the kind of world we live in. An uncool one. Long live Cat Fancy recession-proof journalists.