''Word Up!'' is an American

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

focusing on teen

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...

and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

. Its main concentration has centered around African-American teen singers and hip hop artists. At one point, the magazine was published monthly and usually had many posters and contests for fans of famous celebrities. Popular in the 1980s and beyond, the magazine mostly covered

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

, Hip hop and R&B music. The headquarters was in

Paramus, New Jersey Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...

but relocated to New York. Word Up! is the sister publication to Right On! Magazine and its publisher is Cynthia Horner, CEO, Right On! Media Holdings, LLC. Cynthia Marie Horner is the iconic award-winning editor/journalist (https://rightondigital.com) Most recently, the publication's chief photographer has been Kenneth Harris, aka KENTHEPHOTOGRAPHER, who has covered such celebrities as Beyonce, Bow Wow, Mindless Behavior and many other prominent chart toppers. The magazine was name-checked by

The Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...

in his 1994 hit song " Juicy": "It was all a dream; I used to read ''Word Up!'' magazine."

References

African-American magazines Entertainment magazines published in the United States Monthly magazines published in the United States Music magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in the United States Hip hop magazines Magazines with year of establishment missing Magazines disestablished in 2012 Magazines published in New Jersey Teen magazines {{entertainment-mag-stub