Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Vibe Is Gone

vibecover
History.

The void that the closing of Vibe leaves is immense. I don’t believe any other media is equipped or even remotely interested in taking up the space that Vibe has.

After speaking with my man Rob Kenner, and Twittering the hell out of my grief and anger over this, I’m coming to this realization:

The only upside of this depression is that many of us no longer have a side hustle to distract us from the incredible art we gotta make.

RIP VIBE. RIP “Urban Magazines”.

posted by Jeff Chang @ 12:20 pm | 3 Comments

3 Responses to “Vibe Is Gone”

ronnie brown says:

June 30, 2009 at 8:18 pm

For me, the demise of Vibe is a direct result of the dumbing down of Black popular culture…the signs have been all around us for the last few years… T-Pain’s “Big Ass Chain”, MUSIC Televison channels that offer “reality” show drivel instead of actual music, lazy “beats from a can” producer techniques (let’s nominate “Auto Tune” for best male vocalist of the year!) Marketability has replaced artistry as a motivator.

That’s why we keenly mourn the loss of a Michael Jackson, a James Brown, a Luther Vandross…as our artists make their transition into the bowels of eternity, we see what we are left with…Rick Ross, Akon, Young Berg, etc., etc. etc.

Quantity not quality is the name of this game and we’re all the worst for it…
Sidik Fofana says:

July 1, 2009 at 7:07 am

Hey Mr. Chang. It’s Sidik Fofana from allhiphop.com. I just started a blog at cornerboyjazz.blogspot.com and I was wondering if you could do me the honor of adding a link to it on your page. I will do the same for yours on my page and will post your writing on my blog from time to time. Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading this!

BTW I’m in grief about Vibe too…sucks.
Free the Future? | Ready, Steady, Go! says:

July 2, 2009 at 7:45 am

[…] Chang on Can’t Stop Won’t Stop writes: The only upside of this depression is that many of us no longer have a side hustle to […]

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