Photo by Djali Brown-Cepeda
Sacha Jenkins, writer, publisher, film director, and cultural critic has sadly passed away at the age of 53. The cause of death was attributed to multiple system atrophy.
Born in Philadelphia, Sacha Jenkins shortly after relocated to Silver Springs, Maryland, before his family ultimately settled in the Astoria section of Queens, NY. The son of Horace Byrd Jenkins III, famed Sesame Street, as well as 30 Minutes producer, and mother Monart, a Haitian painter, Jenkins would be swept away by the graffiti movement of New York City, opting to become a participant in that space. While a lover of Hip-Hop culture, Sacha was also a fan of the punk and hardcore scene, which were notorious for the various zines coming out of the scene, not to mention receiving an inspirational letter from legendary writer Phase 2 telling him that he believed Jenkins could indeed create a zine of his own. He would go on to create the underground graffiti zine Graphic Scenes and X-Plicit Language. Around that time he would also meet photographer and videographer Henry Chalfant.
While attending community college in Upstate New York Sacha Jenkins was a part of school newspaper staff. He would take the learned information regarding the cost of equipment, and production back to New York City to launch Beat-Down Newspaper with friend Haji Akhigbade in 1991. The publication featured the likes of Cypress Hill, Gangstarr, EPMD, De La Soul, Wu Tang Clan, KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane, and more. During the paper’s run, Jenkins would go on to connect with fellow Queens-native Elliott Wilson, as well as music aficionado Jefferson ‘Chairman’ Mao, who both joined the team.
Jenkins and Akhigbade eventually parted ways. With the financial help of Henry Chalfant, Sacha, Elliott Wilson, and ‘Chairman’ Mao would go on to launch Ego Trip magazine in 1994. The crew would go on to include Gabe Alvarez, and designer Brent Rollins. What separated Ego Trip from other Hip-Hop magazines, was the inclusion of skateboarding, rock & roll culture, and more. Ego Trip would become one of the most important publications of the time showcasing their distinct wit as well as varied cultural astuteness. During the magazine’s run Sacha Jenkins also became music editor at Vibe magazine, with Elliott Wilson also working for The Source magazine. The Ego Trip collective would go on to release the acclaimed books Ego Trip’s Book of Rap Lists in 1999, and 2002’s Ego Trip’s Big Book of Racism!. The latter book would help to be the catalyst for the team creating television shows for VH-1 including TV’s Illest Minority Moments presented by Ego Trip, Ego Trip’s Race-O-Rama!, Ego Trip’s The (White) Rapper Show, as well as Ego Trip’s Miss Rap Supreme, which was hosted by rappers MC Serch and Yo-Yo.
As the Ego Trip collective were on the verge of parting ways, Sacha Jenkins would not only continue to become a critical voice as a writer, but he would also join Mass Appeal magazine as Editorial Director.
Spending a number of years with Mass Appeal magazine, Sacha Jenkins eventually continued on with his love of film making and directing. Jenkins made his first directorial debut in 2015 with the critically acclaimed documentary Fresh Dressed. He would proceed to direct Burn Motherfucker, Burn! (2017), Word Is Bond (2018), Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men (2019), Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues (2022), and All Up in the Biz (2023), just to name a few.
Jenkins was also a member of the punk/Hip-Hop band The White Mandingos, which featured emcee Murs, and Darryl Jenifer of Bad Brains. He was also lead guitarist in the rock band The 1865. The released their album Don’t Tread On We! in 2019.
Sacha Jenkins is survived by his wife, film maker/journalist Raquel Cepeda and their two children.