Patrick “Sire” Elasik (1979-2005) and Adrian “Stren” Moeller painted trains. Not model toy trains mind you, but the brown ones that look like a sleepwalking Great Wall of China or a caravan of ancient mammoths. The year was 1996, and these two graffiti writers from suburban Virginia who were deeply inspired by the subculture that dominated their lives at the time decided that they wanted to make a ‘zine that spoke to people like them. And that’s what they did. Borrowing the name from a mighty GangStarr song, Sire and Stren put together the first issue of Mass Appeal in Sire’s basement.

After publishing a few issues, Pat and Adrian would move to Brooklyn, USA. They set up shop on the same block that Christopher “Notorious BIG” Wallace grew up on. Adrian would attend Pratt Institute and get his design skills up. After painting the town red with other like-minded graffiti writers, Pat and Adrian made friends, many of them artists and photographers and designers. The editorial content would go on to encompass so much more than graffiti—and the voice of the book would have a soundtrack and an aesthetic that encapsulated the lives of the team behind the scenes. Mass Appeal took risks because the folks who lived inside its pages took risks—they lived for today and slept late the next. Then hit repeat.

The diverse wonderland that is urban culture is where the fire burns brightest in America. Mass Appeal is a four-alarm blaze.

Since 1996, Mass Appeal has been bucking trends and predicting them. The brand has left an indelible mark on the youth-culture-obsessed side of media. Go ask your favorite magazine editor who his or her daddy is.

We Curate.
We Participate.
We Dictate.