''RWD Magazine'' (also known as ''RWD'' or ''RWDmag'') is a British-based

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

which features

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

gaming Gaming may refer to: Games and sports The act of playing games, as in: * Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming" * Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles * Playing ...

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

, interviews and charts on

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

grime Grime may refer to: * Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust Music * Grime music, a genre of music * ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity * "Grime", a 2023 song by Macklemore from ''Ben'' * "Grime", a 2024 song by Kittie from ''Fire ...

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...

, R&B,

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house and jungle production methods, but also incorporates elements from ...

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

and

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

house music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...

. Running from 2001–2014 It was released monthly, distributing 98,300 copies each time and was ABC certified. It was considered the largest magazine on

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood (Maturity (psychological), maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as bei ...

music and

lifestyle Lifestyle is the interests, opinions, behaviours, and behavioural orientations of an individual, group, or culture. The term "style of life" () was introduced by Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler in his 1929 book, ''The Case of Miss R.'', w ...

in the United Kingdom. As well as the magazine, ''RWDmag'' has a

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

which features music videos, tracks and artist profiles. RWDmag.com was the first major website to champion grime music.

History

''RWD Magazine'' became a well known name in UK underground urban music circles in mid to late 2003. This coincided with the rise of a new urban music genre, which later became popularly referred to as

. Founded by Nigel, Dacre, Martin and Chewy. ''RWD Magazine'' provided a platform for emerging unsigned artists to get their names and their faces into every popular underground music outlet. This worked by aspiring artists paying to feature within the magazine. This may not have seemed very desirable at first, but the magazine's healthy distribution and circulation made this more attractive. The magazine enjoyed a relatively healthy distribution and circulation as readers could pick up the magazine for free. This new platform (along with music channel Channel U) appealed to many aspiring artists from the grime scene and allowed them to do independently what they could have previously only done with the backing of a major

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

. Part of the success of the magazine was driven by its official website, which was buoyed by its popular forum named 'RWD forum' both launched by

Lex Johnson Lex Johnson is a British designer, director and creative executive. He is the founder of creative agency DAZZLE SHIP, a former lecturer at Swedish design institute Hyper Island, and the founding online director of RWD magazine and RWD Forum. ...

, the most central point being the "Grime Music" forum. This forum allowed for the discussion of everything to do with the grime scene and regularly enjoyed visits from big names in the grime scene who occasionally also posted.

2000–2004

During this time, the magazine focused on the intersection between UK garage and the birth of grime music. The website was built, launched and promoted by teenage online director Alex Donne Johnson who later went on to form his own creative agency, Dazzle Ship. During this period, the website won a number of awards including London Business of the Year, UK Garage Awards: Best Website 2002 and Sidewinder Peoples Choice Awards: Best Magazine 2013. As part of the marketing campaign for the website, ''

The Booo Krooo The ''Booo Krooo'' (occasionally also spelled ''Boo Kroo'') started life as a comic strip and then turned into a web-series and then a UK adult animated sitcom created by Matt Mason (author), Matt Mason, Alex Donne Johnson and Julian (Art Jaz) Joh ...

'' were born. They were soon co-signed by

Missy Elliott Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott (born July 1, 1971), also known as Misdemeanor, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She began her musical career as a member of the Contemporary R&B, R&B girl group 4 All the Sistas Arou ...

asking to be featured in the cartoon for her hit single "Work It". ''

'' went on to secure a 6 episode broadcast series on British TV channel Channel U and produced a music video with UK garage producer Sticky, famous for hits such as the track (also named) "

Booo! "Booo!" is a song by UK garage DJ/producer Sticky featuring Ms. Dynamite. It was the first single Ms. Dynamite appeared on before the release of her debut solo single the following year. The song was a top 20 hit, peaking at No. 12 on the UK ...

2007–2008

In mid-2007, ''RWD Magazine'' underwent a number of management changes, one of the most important being a change of editor. The new management wanted to expand the magazine's audience in order to feature all types of music that might appeal to a younger generation. In order to achieve this, the content and appearance of the magazine and website changed, much to the disappointment of the users. This resulted in an exodus of users, establishing their own forums; namely ViP2 Forum which evolved from the Flashback993 forums that were established in 2005. Grime Forum was also created where grime music fans who used to post in the ''RWDmag'' forum created their own forum website named Grime Forum with its own connected "Grimepedia" encyclopedia of the genre as well as a music store. During this time both SBTV and GRM Daily managed to adapt to the new video based YouTube generation and took the top spot as the source for grime content on the internet.

2009

On 1 April 2009, ''RWD'' launched a new and redesigned website with extended content under the different genres and enhanced social networking features which give users the ability to manage their own profiles, keep in touch with friends, as well as track forum activity.

2014

''RWD Magazine'' launched a football show known as ''FilthyFellas'' on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

on 12 September ahead of the

2014–15 Premier League The 2014–15 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 23rd season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992, and the ...

season. The show released a new episode every Monday at 7pm following the matches of the weekend, and is known for its amusing and mocking element of "

banter Conversation is interactive communication between two or more people. The development of conversational skills and etiquette is an important part of socialization. The development of conversational skills in a new language is a frequent focus ...

" that it contains.{{Cite web, date=2014-10-19, title=Meet The #FilthyFellas {{! RWD, url=http://rwdmag.com/meet-the-filthyfellas/, access-date=2021-03-26, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019163125/http://rwdmag.com/meet-the-filthyfellas/, archive-date=19 October 2014

References

External links

''RWDmag'' official site

''RWDmag'' designerThe Booo KroooDazzle Ship

"Booo Krooo", first in the grime comedy genre
Music magazines published in the United Kingdom Online magazines published in the United Kingdom Lifestyle magazines published in the United Kingdom Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom 2001 establishments in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 2001