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Sacha Jenkins, a writer, director, producer and co-founder of the beloved Hip-Hop magazine ego trip, has passed away. He was only 53.
UPDATE: On Wednesday (May 28), via a touching Instagram post, the Cepeda-Jenkins family confirmed that Jenkins passed away Friday, May 23, from Multiple Systems Atrophy (MSA), a rare condition that has no cure.
“Sacha was suffering from an excruciating battle with Multiple Systems Atrophy, or MSA. It’s a gnarly disease,” explained his wife Raquel Cepeda with a carousel of family photos and her moving words. “I’ve read that about 15,000-75,000 people in the United States suffer from it. In the beginning it manifests like Parkinson’s but after a couple years, takes off on another course altogether. It’s aggressive as f–k, unforgiving, isolating, and ultimately, fatal.
“On Friday, May 23, I walked into the room like I did every other morning. I was venting about having to remind our son, 13, that breakfast was on the table like a million times. Sacha didn’t respond…Our son walked into the room, a look of dread overcoming him. We began to yell ‘Sacha!’ in unison. All we wanted was for Sacha to wake up. He didn’t.”
As soon as word of Jenkins’ passing became public, many Hip-Hop figures (including some iconic graf artists) took to social media to pay homage to the legend. We’ve compiled some below.
Hip-Hop Wired sends its deepest condolences to Sacha Jenkins’ family and friends. Rest powerfully in peace.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: For Generation X and Millennial-aged Hip-Hop fans—and particularly Hip-Hop journalists—Jenkins was a titan. Born in Philadelphia, but raised in Queens, he was a co-founder of ego trip magazine along with fellow rap journalist Elliott Wilson in 1994. Although it only published 13 issues in four years, it spawned an influential brand that would feature books, ego trip’s Book of Rap Lists, and even a TV show, ego trip’s The White Rapper Show, on VH1.
As a journalist, his byline hit all the magazines of importance (XXL, The Source, Rolling Stone, Spin, et. al), interviewing a who’s who of subjects (he co-wrote Eminem’s biography, The Way I Am (2009)). Jenkins would go on to hold down a plethora of gigs that included Music Editor of Vibe magazine and creative director of Mass Appeal. A former graffiti writer, he launched the Piecebook series of titles that highlight graf from worldwide.
If you’ve watched many Hip-Hop documentaries, you inevitably would see his name pop up in the credits. He directed the doc series Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men, (2019) which ran on Showtime (as did his Biz Markie doc All Up in the Biz), as well as Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues (2022) and Fresh Dressed (2015). And that’s only a small sampling of an indelible, culturally important body of work that Jenkins managed to leave behind before his untimely death.
Jenkins is survived by his wife, Raquel Cepeda, and their two children. A cause of death has not been shared at this time and the family asks for privacy.
