Sacha Jenkins, a trailblazing journalist, filmmaker, and cultural historian who helped shape the voice of hip-hop media, has died at age 54. His wife, author and filmmaker Raquel Cepeda, confirmed his passing to The Hollywood Reporter, citing complications from multiple system atrophy, a rare neurodegenerative disorder.
Jenkins was best known as the co-founder of Ego Trip, a short-lived but hugely influential magazine that fused hip-hop, skate culture, and biting cultural commentary. Despite running for just 13 issues, Ego Trip became a cornerstone of hip-hop journalism in the 1990s and early 2000s, earning a cult following for its unfiltered voice and irreverent tone. The publication eventually expanded into books—Ego Trip’s Book of Rap Lists and Ego Trip’s Big Book of Racism!—and inspired a series of TV shows on VH1, including Miss Rap Supreme and Ego Trip’s The (White) Rapper Show.
Born in Philadelphia in 1971, Jenkins was raised primarily in Queens, New York, after his parents’ separation. His father, Horace Byrd Jenkins III, was a pioneering producer on Sesame Street and an Emmy Award winner. Jenkins’ early interest in media and street culture led him to create the graffiti zine Graphic Scenes & X-plicit Language while still in high school. In 1992, he co-launched Beat-Down, considered one of the first hip-hop newspapers, with longtime friend Haji Akhigbade.
Jenkins’ career evolved into documentary filmmaking, where he continued to explore race, music, and identity with sharp insight and authenticity. His work includes acclaimed projects such as Fresh Dressed, Word Is Bond, and the Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men docuseries. Through all his creative ventures, Jenkins remained a vital voice chronicling the complexities and evolution of hip-hop culture.
His legacy endures not only in print and film but in the generations of journalists, artists, and fans who found their own voices through the cultural mirrors he held up.
