Street Culture Title Brings New Meaning to 'Captive Audience'

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Oct, 2000 by Michael Kaplan

FEDS, a two-year-old title written for and about criminals, is carving a niche with the hip-hop crowd, winning over advertisers, and striking a slew of multimedia deals.

In 1989, nearly a decade before Antoine Clark launched FEDS--his magazine about crime, hip-hop and street culture--he was hanging out in a skating rink near his Bronx, New York, home when a fight erupted on the other side of the rink. Guns blazed, and Clark was struck in the back by a stray bullet. He spent 18 months in a wheelchair, and his doctors told him that he'd never walk again.

Stuck in his family's apartment, he devoted his days to phone conversations with friends and relatives, most of whom were in jail and craving news and information. Nights were dominated by the non-stop viewing of infomercials that promoted get-rich-quick schemes. During these sleepless night, Clark began envisioning a magazine that would appeal to his imprisoned friends.

"The magazine always had to have a purpose," says Clark, editor and publisher of FEDS, or "Finally Every Dimension of the Streets." "It could not be all about gold jewelry and car rims. I looked around the streets and figured I could talk about homelessness, alcohol, drugs and killing--but, rather than glorifying those things, I wanted make kids afraid of committing crimes."

Nine years later, in 1998, using royalties from a rap record he recorded, Clark, who was able to walk again, began publishing a monthly with real stories about life on the streets--complete with harrowing stories of crime and consequence. The crime stories are contrasted with positive pieces highlighting the success stories of nightclub promoters, DJs and record company executives. The idea, he says, is to give more status to the honest, hard-working jobs than to the careers that invariably lead to jail or worse.

The unusual mix of stories in FEDS has caught the attention of Hollywood. Miramax Films just optioned the rights to the main character featured in a FEDS article about the murderous decline of a Harlem gang. Now other media players are lining up--Clark has signed a book deal with Harper Collins; a video project will be underwritten by the clothing company Fubu, and The Source has begun running FEDS content on its Web site (after Clark turned down the publisher's offer to buy FEDS outright). In exchange, The Source has provided Clark office space and editorial consulting.

David Mays, publisher of The Source, says FEDS has found a niche, but has a few miles to go editorially.

"They need real design, better editing and higher quality paper in order to get up to the next level," he says. "But don't let the magazine's appearance hide the fact that they offer something special in the way they address crime-related issues. And advertisers recognize this. They pay a premium for the kind of street credibility they get with FEDS."

Clark insists there's no chance he'll sell out to make the magazine more commercial. For instance, you won't see musicians or movie stars on the cover, he says; that real estate is reserved for criminals, although the magazine has run interviews with singing sensation Mary J. Blige and rap kingpin Too Short.

Clark says he struck a chord with his predominantly male, mostly urban audience, which ranges in age from 18 to 60. "This is working like a prayer," he says. "But I'm not just trying to put out some ghetto magazine, glorifying hustlers and killers. This is not white or black. It's street oriented and about real street issues.

"I don't want to be like The Source or Playboy or Rap Pages," adds Clarke. He smiles and says confidently: I want this to be like Time. That's why I have the red border on my covers."

CRIME DOES PAY

On a shoestring budget of $2,000. Antoine Clark launched FEDS with a modest 5,000 circulation. Today the titles circulation is at 50,000. Full-page ads sell too as much as $5,000 and the last issue had 20 of them including the clothing company Fubu , several rap labels and a Manhattan-based defense attorney.