When US editor successfully sued hip-hop’s most famous magazine

Kimberley ‘Kim’ Osorio grew up at Castle Hill in New York City’s renowned borough of the Bronx, the epicentre of hip-hop culture. She spent her leisure hours scrutinising the embryonic hip-hop trendsetters Whodini, Slick Rick, Doug E. Fresh, KRS-One, L.L. Cool J. and Run-D.M.C. The rappers’ poetic rhymes moulded her broad comprehension of the genre and accorded her financially turbulent childhood with essential respite. After graduating from high school, Kim moved out of the home of her Hispanic Puerto Rican father and black Chinese mother and enrolled in Fordham University at the Bronx to study journalism. While at a Wu-Tang Clan album-release party, during her studies, she met Michelle Song, who was the managing editor of instrumental hip-hop magazine, XXL. Impressed by Kim’s intricate knowledge of rap history, Michelle recommended her to freelance writing opportunities with entertainment magazines Billboard, Vibe, One World, The Resident, LatinGirl and BlackBeat. Kim developed an ability to recreate herself and reinvent her skill-set by applying for a law course at the New York Law School after graduating from Fordham. Her writing expeditions advanced and she created the habit of repeatedly phoning and requesting work assignments from Elliott Wilson, an executive editor of the Source, who...