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Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 1:32AM I pulled a Bond on Aliya S. King’s blog yesterday. A 500 word response to her post. Ha!
If you haven’t heard, VIBE magazine folded yesterday.
I’m not distraught, but I do feel an extraordinary sadness like a person died.
This is the revised version of what I posted.
ASK: Thanks for giving me a space to vent.
My first magazine byline was at VIBE. I was the music department intern under Shani Saxon*. When she and her assistant Jasmine Perez didn’t have me calling labels to FAX over the album release schedules (yes, fax, that’s how long ago it was), they lent me out to Emil Wilbekin’s assistant Eunice Liriano. She would always have me send out the new issues to the contributors and important industry folks. That’s how I learned the names of the who’s who in The Industry (that and answering Emil’s phone when Eunice went to lunch or was out.) Eunice never remembers me when she sees me (like all people of color with degrees, there’s only one degree of separation). I get it, she was on, I was trying to get put on. But I credit her with 1) teaching me how not to take any shit; and 2) learning how to get my way. Eunice didn’t ask, she demanded. And people always came through, on time or early. There’s an art to doing that and I picked it up (sorta) just by paying attention.
Brett Johnson assigned me to write picture captions. That was my first VIBE byline. Shortly thereafter, Craig Seymour assigned me to write reviews. It was a CD by a random artist who never amounted to much music-wise. I did the best I could and right after I turned it in, he called me into his office and told me it was wrong and why, and then showed me how to do it right. He told me reviews were like poetry and because they were short, I had to make each word count. He’d assigned the review at 300. The revised version I turned in was 309. He told me word counts were sacred and made me cut it to 300 myself. To this day, I don’t turn anything over count. I will always be thankful for his patience and his teaching.
Serena Kim came while I was at VIBE too. She ripped the first review I wrote for her. (In retrospect, she was over features. Not sure if I was doing a review or some special project.) Anyway, I was an English major and wrote in lofty academic prose. Serena got me to write like a writer, not a professor. Between her and Craig, I was whipped into shape and eventually, Craig assigned me a NEXT, a profile on a rising female star, but more importantly a full page in VIBE. Serena wasn’t ever convinced I was a good writer while I was still an intern, but she assigned me something after I was gone and her response was “this is great.” Small words, probably given off-hand. They meant the world to me though.
Lola Ogunnaike wrote almost every VIBE cover story while I was there— and with great cause. She was at the NY Times and she was just plain dope. Shani edited her, and I learned what an editor did by reading the raw versions Lola sent in (there's a hilarious anecdote about Papa Knowles listening in on his wife's phone call from a Destiny's Child feature. It got cut) and then reading the version Shani spit-shined Admittedly, this was a bad way to learn. Lola never got a lot of edits as far as I could tell. I thought all writers came in this clean. Not true. Until this day, every feature I’ve ever written followed Lola's set-up formula (not style though. I've found my own voice.) It’s not intentional. It just is.
I was supposed to be an intern for just the first semester of grad school. I stayed for my whole first year. And would have stayed through summer if Bart Graham hasn’t told me staying at VIBE instead of going to London would make me an idiot.
I told the ME, Jackie Monk—quick story. She had this white dress shirt with “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy written on the collar. Get it? Jack. Jackie? Oh, nevermind— , I was leaving. When my last day came, there was a small cake and soda for a bye-bye party just for me. I was floored. I didn’t think anybody cared; I was just an intern. Maybe I made a difference?
I said my goodbyes before I left (not knowing I would come back the next semester.) Tasha Turner and Memsor Kamarke sat closest to the exit. I’d hung out over in their section a bunch back then (I went to a VIBE party and being an intern, didn’t know the general Industry rule that folks don’t dance at parties. Memosr teased me forever about backing it up on some man. Ha!) I was as obsessed with fashion as I was with music. They stopped me on the way out and told me they didn’t know what I was doing over there in music, but I needed to be working in fashion. Over the years, when it seemed like this writing thing was going nowhere, I took comfort in knowing I had something else to fall back on. Their comments built my confidence.
I cried on the subway home back to my downtown apartment. My experience at VIBE confirmed that running from to DC to NYC wasn’t just some suburban fantasy. I didn’t know any writers where I was from. I didn’t know anyone from home who’d headed North to NYC. (By and large, DC/MD people don’t leave DC/MD.) When Ace and I used to flip through magazines back in high school and tear out pages to post on our walls, VIBE was an unreachable destination. It was something on a pedestal that I could never reach. Like everybody has government jobs where I’m from or they go to law school and work on The Hill. People had told me I was a good writer, and it was suggested than I use that skill to write briefs as a lawyer. To do something different, to take a risk in leaving and falling on my ass and having to go back to all the I-told-you-sos and I don’t know why you ever though you’d make it (I heard both when I graduated from grad school without a job) was terrifying. And to know I wouldn’t have to… It was a relief. I realized if I could get to a faraway impossible place like VIBE—this place I idolized— then was there anywhere I couldn’t go?
I felt validated, accomplished, confident, purposeful. It was my first step in journalism that led to many, many more.
I can’t believe VIBE is gone.
Thanks for everything.
— Belle
*I mention all the names because everyone who was there moved UP, UP, UP. If you don’t know the names, Google them. That place was a breeding ground for talent and I’m proud that I was even a very, very small part.
**When I finished school and went back home jobless, I was depressed as all get out. Cried the whole ride home. The morning after, I woke up, laid in the bed like a lump (I was in a real bad place) and stared at the back of my bedroom door. It was covered with magazine pages that I'd torn out of VIBE, The Source, and ESSENCE. All the pictures had been up since before I went to college 4 years earlier (my parents hadn't chaged my room yet.)
I looked, looked harder, then sat up to see what I was looking at vertically.
"Are you f@#$ing kidding me?" I said outloud
The picture dead center was of this dope chick with long. perfect locs and dark glasses. She was wearing all white and had a ring in her nose. Nobody called it swag then, but that's what she giving up in that picture. The woman in the photo? Shani Saxon.
Ha!
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Reader Comments (19)
LOL @ Belle "pulling a Bond"
Yo, I thought I was enriching the experience...lol. I never know when I should 'speak on it' or 'fall back', I'm an all or nothing type of guy, my gauge to determine a medium is not very good.
I am also saddened by Vibe folding. There are few magazines that people anticipate monthly, and Vibe was definitely one of them. You are right about the talent, I was not even an english major and I could recognize the skill set by reading alot of the stories: D. Smith, A. Bandele, B.Malone, M.Valez, K. Powell, etc. good writers to say the least. I also loved that they stayed consistent--from beginning to end.
Media/news seems to be evolving so fast, that print may no longer be at the forefront. Nevertheless, good writing cannot be denied, so I'm confident that everyone there (past and present) will do well.
Bond. BlkBond.
Vibe hadn't done t for me n years.
But I remember when it first came out and it was Mag of choice...I still have some of those first issues. It's like owning a Big Ebony...lol
Internet killed the Magazine star.
I loved the glory days of Vibe.The magazine was visually stunning with the writing talent to match. So many writing rock stars came out of there, many who still inspire me today. But as dream hampton said (on twitter), "I mourned their passing years ago."
I wrote about the end of Vibe yesterday too.
I was a loyal and faithful subscriber to Vibe for at least 10 years, and it was a big part of my teenage and college years. Recently I no longer felt the love for Vibe that I previously held, but I remained a subscriber anyway. I think I will moreso miss what the magazine used to be and what it meant to me, rather than the actual magazine itself.
When I was in J-School and we had to list our favorite journalists, mine were VIBE EICs, writers, and editors. A lot of the newspaper kids poked fun. I got a lot of critique for not being a "real journalist" etc. But when I showed some of my favorite articles and listed some of the awards, they shut the hell up.
I think there are a lot of people who felt that mag fell off. I for one am sad about what will go down as the final cover, but the magazine had such an impact on me.
Like most icons there is a heyday, and even when they aren't as good as before, you hold on to the hope that they can be. You may poke fun when they are here, but when they're gone you feel the void. You realize how much they meant to your culture and how much they meant to you as an individual. You wish you'd paid more attention when they were still here. You go back to the audio and visuals that made you adore them and wonder what happened...
I found out from Jozen. Like pretty much everyone else I know, I haven't bought an issue of Vibe this decade. At a certain point, it just ceased to be of any relevance to my life. I travel a lot, and so I always end up buying magazines in the airport, but I just haven't found the writing to be anything I'm interested in. I remember when I was a yungun, Bonzu and Powell were the shit to me. It's sad in the sense that something you remember as being good isn't there anymore, but the flip side is with all the creative destruction in the magazine industry, there's an opportunity for someone to come out with a product that actually can be profitable and socially valuable. I mean, I would flip through King, but I would never allow myself to be seen buying it. The Source lost all its credibility a while ago. Jet, I mean you turn to page 46 or whatever and that's pretty much it. I have a copy of Ebony from 1976 and it's dope. But I haven't bothered with that rag forever. Code was live for a while, but they never hit a really strong run on the stories. If someone could take the best of all those rags and put them into one format, there might be a resurgence. St. Randy Quarterly or something. That's a good name.
"Jozen"
we gotta know each other. That's my boy.
And you know Bonsu that guest writes when I'm busy here (ie, Bezo) here is the same Bonsu.
asha
dream
lola
miles
kevin
greg
nelson
harry (this man's mind is craaazy)
aliya
keith
emil
danyel
cheo
joan
kierna
craig
i've never been impressed by celebrities (except the ones i grew up on. I could barely speak when I interviewed MC Lyte), but these people? I walked into my internship at Oneworld one day and dream hampton was sitting there. I almost walked back out. Instead of sat at my desk and did my best not to stare. I wanted to blurt out what an influence she was.
i interviewed kierna mayo (founder of Honey) a couple weeks back. i tried not to be groupie, but I couldn't help it. as soon as she mentioned Honey, I launched into the story of how I got the preview issue on HU's yard during homecoming my junior year and fell in love. I wanted to be a writer because of that issue. So I told her, in a long ramble. and she said thank you, i am blessed that I could make that possible. she's so gracious and humble. i wrote for HONEY once before it folded. A story on Taraji Henson (when there was strong speculation of a Baby Boy 2), edited by Mitzi Miller. Both of them went UP, UP, UP too.
I used to love VIBE. I still have a few "classics" at home. I kept the Biggie and Tupac covers.
I was a big fan of Honey Mag, too. I felt like, finally, there was a magazine that truly spoke to my set. At the time, I was sadder to see that go than I am VIBE at this moment. Once VIBE slimmed down, it was lost.
Man....I used to read both of those mags from cover to cover. Ahh, my youth.
I was an intern at Vibe Vixen about 2 summers ago until that folded. I was soo sad that firstly I lost my first fashion internship, and second this was the second magazine dedicated tobyoung fashionable African American women that folded. The magazine was to much to produce and didn't have enough subscribers. In my opinion the quality of Vibe Vixen was dope!
Now I'm very sad about Vibe but I saw it coming. Blogs like ybf and bossip provide all the celebrity gossip but they don't provide features.
Thank God we still have Esscence for the females
Vibe was the shit. So many incredibly talented writers have done great work for that magazine. Back in the day, I used to read it and go "Wow! You can do that in journalism?" I'm sure many folks there will one up landing on their feet and instead land on a cloud on their way UP, UP, UP. ;)
sad that this all started with the foul doings of Clinkscales and Valdes.
I loved Vibe Vixen and Honey... It gave me a sense of being a strong , hispanic woman and tips on how to carry myself in that way... It will be missed... What happen to Honey Mag, is it still out there?
I just remember being fascinated by the covers. They were powerful in themselves. The picture of Pac, Snoop, Dre, and Suge during Death Row's hey day, Biggie and Faith in the back of the drop top, the semi naked picture of Brandy growing into her womanhood...these are images that will be forever ingrained in my mind.
boring. what ever happened to writing about relationships?
there's more to life than relationships. expand your mind. or read elsewhere.
—B.
Damn, goodbye Vibe!
There goes another magazine, and brings the total number of good quality Hip-Hop mags down a notch
Dope Hip-Hop books –
Check The Technique www.waxfacts.com
Can’t Stop Won’t Stop www.cantstopwontstop.com
How To Rap www.howtorapbook.com
Classic Material http://www.o-dub.com/classic/classic.html
I was sad to hear about the folding of VIBE as other have written. My lasting memory is seeing that older version on the magazine (before they shrunk it) on the newsstand in the airport when I would fly. I couldn't get on a flight without VIBE. It was my piece of home no matter where I where I went. I still have several issues stashed away in plastic covers. The first being the issue featuring the 2Pac jailhouse interview. The second is the issue featuring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence at the time of the first 'Bad Boys.' The photo shoot for that story is still legendary to me and I was hooked on VIBE from that point on. Along the way, I grew to really appreciate their opinion on all forms of music (even their critique of Hootie & The Blowfish's 1996 follow-up). I felt, "these folks look at music the same way I do!" and was so happy.
As we move from this point forward, it's going to be tough to get behind another magazine with the fervor I had for VIBE. I guess time will tell. But in the interim, I'll keep Waxpoetics as my magazine of first choice when it comes to all things NON-mainstream.
Well, I think one of the posters said it best, most of the writers at Vibe thought they were celebrities. The problem with that is, they were just writers who showed very little respect to newcomers and kept many doors closed. They kept the old ideas of magazines alive and for that reason the mag suffered. It's like a Bone concert I attended recently: they looked ridiculous wearing khakis and chucks onstage while rappers now are wearing skinny jeans and fo-hawks. We're downloading music and watching clips more than worshiping the poetics of a writer who's opinion means less, and less. If anything, the writers at Vibe will see what it's like to struggle with BIG Egos now that they're off their pedestal and back into the real world.
RIP VIBE