On this particular Monday night, I find myself speaking on the phone to one of these kids, Cam Lazerine. Cam and his brother, Devin, 20 and 21, respectively, started Rap Up magazine in 2000. On the other line, I find myself speaking easily to a young man with the sensibilities of someone beyond his years: one part college student, two parts seasoned businessman, and a generous dollop of Californian optimism.

The story begins

First, let's back up a bit here. The Lazerine brothers grew up in Calabasas, a suburb close to Los Angeles. The story begins when Devin, the elder Lazerine, aged 16 at the time, was growing bored of his Beanie Baby collecting website (Editor's note: I'm glad to know that I'm not the only person who had an embarrassing hobby back in the day). He decided to take his seemingly incongruous love of hip hop and start rap-up.com, an after-school hobby website featuring news, pictures, and playlists. Both Devin and Cam spent copious amounts of time keeping the site updated, and it gradually became one of the most popular hip hop websites on the Internet, collecting hundreds of hits a day.

For the Lazerines, Rap Up almost became like a job, so much so that they didn't have time for part-time work, nor any other extracurriculars outside of school for that matter.

"Devin did a brief stint as a production assistant for a Sammy Davis Jr. movie, but that didn't last too long since we were so busy with Rap Up," explains Cam.

Things got just a little busier a couple years later when they realized that they wanted to take things up a notch. Says Cam: "We got bored of doing websites, and in our young, optimistic, and slightly naïve minds, decided to turn Rap Up into a print magazine."

This was just before 2001, an unfortunate year that over the last decade, saw the least amount of magazines being launched and the most being suspended or going completely defunct. Unfortunately, their publisher at the time, H&S Media, went under and the two were forced to look for another publisher.

Not thwarted, the Lazerines continued to press ahead with their idea of a Gen Y hip hop magazine made by Gen Y. To avoid all the same hardships that go along with a large publisher, the two finally decided earlier this year to print the magazine independently and on a quarterly basis. Luckily, the Lazerines had collected enough contacts from their previous publishing attempt, so setting up interviews with artists was no longer a problem.

"Most people [agents] by now have heard our story, so we don't have to convince them as much of our abilities. It's definitely a lot easier than it once was. Also, since we have a couple of issues out, we actually have something physical to show them instead of just saying, 'So ummm… we are going to do this magazine, and we want to have your artist in it,'" he laughs.

The initial jitters of doing interviews have also disappeared.

"There used to be this huge feeling of anticipation before an interview, now it's just at the point where there isn't even enough time to get nervous," explains Cam.

I insist that it must just be because they are older and wiser.

"If you want to put it that way!" he laughs.

The new issue

The two have just finished their third issue, and are expecting the fourth issue to be on newsstands a little before Christmas.

The magazine generally tends to be in Q&A format and is written by Devin as well as a team of freelance writers. I ask if they are considering a change to a more thorough, analytical style of writing common to other hip hop magazines.

Cam Lazerine's Favourite Fall Tunes: Heard 'Em Say - Kanye West ft. Adam Levine I Ain't Heard of That - Slim Thug Lighters Up - Lil' Kim Take this Ring - Toni Braxton Unbreakable - Alicia Keys Can I Have It Like That - Pharrell ft. Gwen Stefani and Diddy Soul Survivor - Young Jeezy We Be Burnin' - Sean Paul Bucky Done Gun - M.I.A. Teary Eyed - Missy Elliott

"We're not considering changing the Q&A style since we've received an extremely positive response from our readers. This way, they get their information in the most straightforward fashion possible. Actually, this is one of those things that sets us apart from other urban titles," explains Cam.

Chilli of TLC fame was asked if she still speaks to Usher (No, she has moved on.). To Q-Tip, whether or not he was dating Nicole Kidman (No, they are just friends and have the same acting coach). To Lil' Kim, where she stores her infamous 1999 MTV VMA outfit (In her closet, neatly folded and safely stored). The New York Times has even likened their questions to Barbara Walters' - whether or not that is a compliment or not remains to be seen.

"We totally weren't expecting ourselves to be described like that," laughs Cam, "but I guess I can see where the writer was coming from, since our questions are sometimes a little out of left field."

The Q&A format extends over to two other components of the magazine: Pass the Mic, and Pop Quiz. Pass the Mic is along the lines of a condensed Interview magazine, allowing artists featured in the issue to pose questions to other artists in the issue, giving a bit of an insider glimpse into their interrelationships. Pop Quiz is a series of questions that require a one word answer. Trivial as it may seem, I can't help but feel triumphant when sharing my newfound pop culture knowledge that Teairra Mari likes Skittles over M&M's and that Damian Marley's favourite patois saying is "Yush".

Pushing the product

While many music and lifestyle magazines rely on title sponsored concerts and boozeathons for early 20somethings, the Lazerines deal with a demographic that hasn't quite reached the age of majority.

"The average age of a reader of Rap Up is a 17 year old African American living in a major city, fairly evenly divided between males and females," explains Cam.

Without all the proper vices for promotion, the Lazerines rely on viral marketing to get the word out.

"Usually we will promote on fan sites and affiliated websites to tell people that an artist is featured in Rap Up. Some fans are completely crazy, like Bow Wow for example, we posted something up on his message board and immediately the sales of that issue was through the roof. When one fan gets wind of something, they tell all their friends, who tell their friends. Pretty much his fans will buy anything of his."

It is Cam's hope that these fans will continue picking up the magazine or subscribe to it to read about similar artists.

College life

Cam and Devin are in the latter years of college; Devin is at UCSB majoring in Communications, and Cam is at Berkeley in his junior year of a Business degree. Coincidentally, both their degrees are being put to good use, with Devin doing much of the writing, editing, arranging of interviews, and ad sales. Meanwhile, Cam heads up the business side of things, mainly production, printing, and distribution.

When they graduate, they look forward to putting Rap Up out on a monthly basis, or creating other lifestyle titles. For now, the Lazerines occupy an enviable position on the periphery of the stars - while they may spend their days hobnobbing with their favourite urban music superstars, they still have the luxury of doing the day to day without interruption from the paparazzi.

"Pretty much the only time we were recognized, at least I think we were recognized, was when Devin and I were sitting in a coffee shop at home in Calabasas and people were giving us a funny look. We found out afterwards that we were in the local community paper that day," he chuckles.

"Pretty much the only time we were recognized, at least I think we were recognized, was when Devin and I were sitting in a coffee shop at home in Calabasas and people were giving us a funny look. We found out afterwards that we were in the local community paper that day." -Cam Lazerine

Otherwise, the rest of Cam's life reads in the same fashion as any other college student: he has homework; attends lectures; lives with another hip hop aficionado roommate, and goes to shows when he can (most recently, to Destiny's Child and M.I.A.). The only difference is the work that comes with the magazine: waking up early to make calls to the East Coast, and commuting back to Calabasas to meet with Devin.

Full Steam Ahead

With the Lazerines just finishing their third issue and on the verge of finishing college, I wonder if they feel like they are outgrowing a magazine whose average reader is in high school. To him, this age difference is a non-issue.

"Actually, I think we're picking up steam as we go along. The numbers have been encouraging and it's been amazing to measure the growth that Rap Up has gone through over the past nine months. Everything has gotten a lot more involved and complex, but really, we wouldn't ask for anything else."

It may be a lot to handle, but the Lazerines look poised to handle whatever gets loaded on to their plates.

The new issue of Rap Up is on newsstands December 13, 2005. Go to rap-up.com for more information on the magazine.