In spring 2001, Editor-In-Chief Andre Torres was living in New York City and conducting preliminary research for a documentary on die-hard record collectors when he realized there were no publications to consult devoted to the culture of beat-digging.

He scrapped the documentary and, instead, decided to start his own quarterly to fill what he perceived to be gaps in the landscape of contemporary music magazines.

DiGenti had moved to California about a year before Torres called about the start-up, but agreed to co-found the publication across the country.

For a year, DiGenti and Creative Director Kevin DeBernardi, then a partner in the fledgling quarterly, collaborated to create a mock-up of Wax Poetics.

In December 2001, Torres, DiGenti, and DeBernardi independently published the first issue, which cost $6 USD and featured stories on Bobbito, Scotty Hard, Idris Muhammad, Charles Mingus, and Madlib.

Torres' manifesto was not only to shed light on funk, soul, and jazz, but to illuminate the symbiotic and historical relationship between those genres and contemporary hip-hop.

Wax Poetics regularly features seminal artists like David Axelrod or Bob James, unveiling the stories behind the people and music that have provided both a cultural framework for hip-hop to evolve, and the sonic backbone for crucial elements like breakbeat.

Recent issues include upwards of five re:Discovery blurbs, each accompanied by a full-color photograph of the record itself or its original cover.

Wax Poetics Books has since released three coffee table anthologies, including two collections of notable past articles, published in response to demand for back issues.

[3] In 2013, early trailers for the film Dead Man Down featured a cover of Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" performed by Wax Poetics Records artist Kendra Morris.

Artists signed to the Wax Poetics label include Kendra Morris, Adrian Younge and The Jack Moves.