Vibe
Founded in 1993, Vibe is a music and entertainment magazine, now published quarterly, which predominantly features R&B and hip-hop music artists, actors and other entertainers.
75 articles
List of articles in the library
Check Yo’self At The Door: Cryptoheterosexuality and the Black Music Underground
Essay by Carol Cooper, Vibe, 1993
I) Time Considered as a Helix of Semilegal Nightclubs ...
Digital Underground: The Body-Hat Syndrome (Tommy Boy)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, November 1993
OVER THE roar of the multicolored cosmic Mothership crashing onto Planet Hip Hop, Digital Underground continue to pray in the wild sound factory of George ...
Review by Amy Linden, Vibe, November 1993
I DON'T WANT a gangsta bitch. Granted, no one's offering, but I don't want one. I don't think bitches ain't nuthin' but hoes and tricks, ...
Retrospective by Frank Owen, Vibe, November 1993
For over a decade, Larry Levan ruled the dance-music world from his roost in the DJ booth at New York's legendary Paradise Garage. Last November, ...
Report by Frank Owen, Vibe, December 1993
While no one was looking, a new kind of R&B became the dominant force in pop music. And still it gets no respect. ...
One Dove: Disc-O-Tech: One Dove
Profile by Frank Owen, Vibe, March 1994
THEY'VE BEEN called "the Cocteau Twins just back from Ibiza" and "King Tubby meets the Beach Boys." But perhaps it's dubmeister Jim McKinven who put ...
New Kids On The Block: Face The Music (Columbia)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, March 1994
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK have always viewed themselves as a white act making black music, but the young brothers and sisters blasting radios on ...
Schoolly D: Welcome to America (Ruffhouse/Columbia)
Review by Chuck Eddy, Vibe, March 1994
EARLY RAP imitated the world it was created in: celebratory house and street parties that suddenly erupted into bloody crossfire from gangster-leaning, stick-up kids walking ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer: The Wailers: Pirates Yes They Rob I
Report and Interview by Larry Jaffee, Vibe, March 1994
Three decades after cutting his first record, Bob Marley still ranks as one of the most exploited artists in the history of recorded music. Larry ...
Interview by Michael Goldberg, Vibe, April 1994
While Rick James was ruling the charts with hits like 'Super Freak' and 'Give It To Me Baby', he was descending into the drug addiction ...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, August 1994
LaFace's latest rap group is climbing the charts and having a 'Player's Ball' ...
Profile and Interview by Alan Light, Vibe, August 1994
The man who won't be Prince speaks at last about his new name, his new attitude and a new body of work we may never ...
Method Man, Redman: Method Man: The Tical (Def Jam); Redman: Dare Is a Darkside (Def Jam)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, November 1994
WHAT IS reality in hip hop? Flicking a 50-cent lighter during an old-school concert while the ancient-as-angel-dust Sugarhill Gang chant that "Hotel, motel, Holiday Inn" ...
Pete Rock & CL Smooth: Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth: Smooth Like A Rock
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, November 1994
Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth are blowing up in the biz, but they still got each other's back. ...
Teena Marie: Teena In Wonderland
Interview by Chuck Eddy, Vibe, November 1994
R&B's honorary soul sister, Teena Marie, has a new album, her own label, and a beautiful daughter — it must be magic. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Frank Owen, Vibe, December 1994
Most of what you know about the old school is wrong. ...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, February 1995
VIBE: You write a lot about — Barry White: Love. VIBE: Love — BW: Always. ...
Review by Simon Reynolds, Vibe, March 1995
AFTER YEARS of lamely aping U.S. rap, Britain has finally come up with not one but two responses to hip hop. There's trip hop, also ...
Review by James Hunter, Vibe, August 1995
THIS RISKY debut is puzzling. D'Angelo, a 21-year-old Virginia native, is determined to give pre-hip hop forms like blues, soul, gospel, and jazz a mid-'90s ...
Profile by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, September 1995
JUICE? YOU want juice? Bust this: Long before Arsenio or BET, Don Cornelius single-handedly brought black music into living rooms nationwide. And he's kept it ...
PM Dawn: P.M. Dawn: Diff'rent Strokes
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, November 1995
Lost in space? No. P.M. Dawn return with a pretty (yet slammin') third album — and a rebel whisper that says there's nothing wrong with ...
The Pharcyde: Pharcyde: Labcabincalifornia (Delicious Vinyl)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, December 1995
WHEN THE Pharcyde dropped 1992's Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, it was obvious these hip hop cats had spent many evenings with the stereo and ...
Exposé: Greatest Hits (Arista)
Review by J.D. Considine, Vibe, March 1996
THESE DAYS, most people think Gloria Estefan was queen of the pre-bass Miami dance music scene. But the real rulers were Exposé, three women who ...
The Impressions, Curtis Mayfield: Curtis Mayfield: Mighty Mighty
Profile and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, April 1996
From the Impressions to Superfly, he's left an indelible mark on American music. Now, six years after a paralyzing accident, Curtis Mayfield is down but not out. ...
The Isley Brothers: Mission to Please (T-Neck/Island)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, June 1996
MY MAMA HAS informed me that when I was six and shaking my booty in front of the stereo, whenever the radio DJ played the ...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, June 1996
First they were just Biggie's background singers. Now with their slammin' debut album, Total prove they are definitely more than the sum of their parts. ...
Review by J.D. Considine, Vibe, September 1996
BEATS AREN'T the only things that change as dance pop evolves. When Madonna first made club music safe for the masses, she did it with ...
Whitney Houston, The Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy, TLC: Clive Davis: Big Poppa
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, September 1996
The VIBE Q: CLIVE DAVIS, ARISTA RECORDS' LEGENDARY PRESIDENT AND CEO, IS TRULY RUNNING THINGS. THINK NOT? ASK WHITNEY HOUSTON, PUFFY COMBS, TLC, THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G., OR L.A. AND ...
Jermaine Dupri: Song Of The South
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, September 1996
Whether shooting pool or making hit records, hotshot producer Jermaine Dupri has one goal: to be the best. By Michael A. Gonzales ...
Eric Benét: True To Myself (Warner Bros.)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, October 1996
SOMEWHERE IN Hitsville, U.S.A., aging music critics wearing faded dashikis and bad attitudes gulp endless glasses of chilled white wine, reminiscing about the days of ...
Blackstreet: Another Level (Interscope)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, November 1996
IT'S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to remember the way R&B sounded before producer Teddy Riley created the urban-jungle grooves that became known as new jack swing. ...
Curtis Mayfield: New World Order (Warner Bros.)
Review by Alan Light, Vibe, November 1996
NOT MANY recordings can genuinely be described as miraculous. But New World Order, Curtis Mayfield's first album in six years, is truly heaven sent. ...
Profile and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, November 1996
THE FUNKY FOUR FROM ILLADELPHIA GET ECLECTIC. ...
Tony! Toni! Toné!: House of Music (Mercury)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, December 1996
BEFORE D'ANGELO spawned the current '70s soul revival, the groovy trio Tony Toni Tone — drummer Timothy Christian Riley, guitarist Dwayne Wiggins, and singer/bassist/keyboardist Raphael ...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, February 1997
The trio who helped resurrect the true soul sound say their stunning new album might be their last. Are the brothers going to work it ...
Toni Braxton: Toni's Secret: Miss Braxton Lets It All Hang Out
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, June 1997
"YOU'RE KILLING me," says Toni Braxton breathily when I tell her I want to talk about sex. A heartbeat later, though, the shyness falls away ...
Adina Howard: Welcome To Fantasy Island (Elektra)
Review by Miles Marshall Lewis, Vibe, August 1997
WHEN YOU'RE a sexually liberated sista like Adina Howard, erecting a scale on which to balance your acute holike tendencies and your astute, self-styled feminism ...
Mark Morrison: London calling...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, August 1997
RELAXING IN his London home, wearing Adidas tennis shoes and a pair of track pants, England's latest soul rebel, Mark Morrison, is recovering after a ...
Profile and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, August 1997
AFTER THE riots, bullets, and civil rights battles of '60s America, the national spirit desperately needed uplifting. Tragic visionaries like Marvin Gaye and Sly Stone ...
Puff Daddy & The Family: No Way Out (Bad Boy Records)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, October 1997
That nigga that you see in the videos/That nigga with the jewels and the jiggy hoes/That nigga that'll die for his main man/That nigga with ...
SWV: Release Some Tension (RCA)
Review by Miles Marshall Lewis, Vibe, October 1997
AFTER SELLING two million copies of their ingenuous debut, It's About Time, and following it up with last year's platinum New Beginning, the ladies of ...
Jay Z: Jay-Z: Vol.2…Hard Knock Life (Roc- A-Fella/Def Jam)
Review by Amy Linden, Vibe, 1998
ALTHOUGH RAPPER Jay-Z may be new to mainstream America, he has been a rising star in the hip hop community for years. ...
Goldie: Saturnz Return (Ffrr Records)
Review by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, February 1998
AFTER YEARS of failing to cultivate any homegrown hip hop talents comparable to the likes of Rakim or the Notorious B.I.G., the infamous noise scientists ...
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Eazy-E: Ruthless Records: It Ain't Eazy
Report and Interview by RJ Smith, Vibe, June 1998
What would you do if you inherited an infamous rap label with a catalogue of old hits and a fading reputation? Sell it for a ...
Review by Amy Linden, Vibe, August 1998
AT THE END of the day, chances are that 92 percent of all pop songs are about getting laid. Granted, that's a random number, but ...
Gerald Levert, L.S.G., O'Jays: Gerald Levert: Daddy, I Wanna Sing
Profile and Interview by Amy Linden, Vibe, October 1998
SECOND-GENERATION LEVERT SINGER AND LSG GURU GERALD HAS SONGS FOR DAYS — ASK HIS POPS, EDDIE ...
DJ Spooky, UNKLE: UNKLE: Psyence Fiction (Mo'Wax/London); DJ Spooky: Riddim Warfare (Outpost)
Review by Marc Weingarten, Vibe, October 1998
IF HOP HOP has (traditionally) functioned as a vehicle for moving butts, then DJ Spooky and DJ Shadow are two wigged-out wallflowers out on its ...
4 Hero, Talvin Singh: Talvin Singh: O.K. (Talking Loud/Mercury); 4 Hero: Two Pages (Island)
Review by Marc Weingarten, Vibe, November 1998
Is electronic music turning into the underground equivalent of New Age music? ...
Review by Alan Light, Vibe, December 1998
THE FINE people at Geffen Records have said that Mutations — the latest from every critic's favorite pop-lockin', folk-rockin' superfreak — is strictly "for the ...
Review by Amy Linden, Vibe, December 1998
THERE ARE TWO WAYS to consider Dru Hill. One is that the Baltimore quartet is methadone for those experiencing a serious Jodeci jones. Not the ...
Interview by James Hunter, Vibe, February 1999
YOUNG, GIFTED, AND MACK, BALTIMORE SOUL SLINGERS DRU HILL SING SONGS THAT MAKE MEN MOODY, BUT MAKE THE LADIES SCREAM. ...
Interview by Amy Linden, Vibe, February 1999
When Mya Harrison makes moves, people move over. Amy Linden steps aside. ...
Blackstreet: Finally (Interscope)
Review by Amy Linden, Vibe, March 1999
EVEN WITH 16 years worth of hits on his résumé, it's hard to sum up just what the "Teddy Riley sound" is. ...
Profile and Interview by Marc Weingarten, Vibe, April 1999
Having survived the end of his group, a coronary attack, and open-heart surgery, Eric "Everlast" Schrody scores big with a honky-tonk rock 'n' rap record. ...
Interview by Amy Linden, Vibe, May 1999
In an R&B world where diamonds and champagne are king, singer/songwriter Eric Benét is a genius prince who dreams of the big takeover. ...
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Krayzie Bone: Krayzie Bone: Bone Thug, Not Boneheaded
Interview by Marc Weingarten, Vibe, May 1999
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's Krayzie Bone isn't all that bananas. Especially when it's time to make moves that make serious dollars and much sense. ...
Interview by James Hunter, Vibe, August 1999
More than just a Stevie Wonder enthusiast, Jamiroquai's wonder frontman, Jay Kay, knows a little something about fly birds, fast cars, and the bass-booming beats ...
Angie Stone: Precious and Pure
Interview by Amy Linden, Vibe, October 1999
WHILE the sumptuous and soulful Black Diamond (Arista) may be Angie Stone's solo debut, it's not the first time the singer/songwriter/producer has rocked the mike. ...
Brian McKnight: The Professional
Interview by Amy Linden, Vibe, November 1999
Writer. Singer. Producer. Arranger. Player. Brian McKnight is a musician's musician. So Amy Linden has to wonder, why does this highly trained master at his ...
Mariah Carey: Rainbow (Columbia)
Review by Amy Linden, Vibe, December 1999
YES! YES! YES! Mariah Carey is still a skilled singer. The fans will always adore her. Her seat among the pop music hierarchy is secure. ...
20 Classic Love Songs: Nuthin' But Love
Guide by Michael A. Gonzales, Amy Linden, Vibe, February 2000
Turn the lights down low, put the champagne on ice, and load your CD player with these modern romance classics ...
Tina Turner: Tina Tuner: Twenty Four Seven (Virgin)
Review by Amy Linden, Vibe, April 2000
SOME PEOPLE you just can't fathom criticizing, one of them being Tina Tuner. Miss Tina has always been larger than life, an iconic figure of ...
Dalvin Degrate: Met.A.Mor.Phic
Review by Amy Linden, Vibe, May 2000
EXACTLY WHAT WAS Dalvin DeGrate's function in Jodeci? ...
Kid Creole & The Coconuts: Kid Creole and the Coconuts
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, May 2000
THINKING BACK to uptown Saturday nights past. I remember staring at my slicky-boy expression (circa 1982) in the bathroom mirror while the infectious 'I'm a ...
Review by Marc Weingarten, Vibe, May 2000
WHEN NO DOUBT emerged from the strip-mall hell of Orange County, Calif., with its sprightly ska-pop, many figured that the band's shelf-life would be about ...
Report and Interview by Amy Linden, Vibe, May 2000
In the urban global village, SWEDEN is holding its own — pumping out some of today's most popular chart-topping teen R&B tunes and boasting its ...
Profile by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, June 2000
IT'S 7:30 a.m., but Patrick "Sleepy" Brown is full of energy as he promotes his solo debut, For the Grown and Sexy, on New York ...
Interview by Marc Weingarten, Vibe, December 2000
Limp Bizkit spearheaded a wildly successful movement in 1999 with their angst-filled rap'n'rock tunes. And in the face of much criticism, these pro-Napster punks have ...
Review by Amy Linden, Vibe, 2003
SHE'S THE NEPTUNES' fave session chick, critics dug her 2000 debut Kaleidoscope and the fashion world (and Nas) thinks she's the shit. ...
Interview by Amy Linden, Vibe, 2003
NOTE: The Black Album was not only Jay-Z's eighth studio album, reportedly it was also meant to be his swansong: a collection of jams meant ...
Jermaine Dupri, Janet Jackson: Jermaine Dupri: In Control
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, October 2004
JERMAINE DUPRI maps out the path to Ms. Nipplegate's heart, fights for P. Diddy-style props, and reveals his secret for crafting hits. Michael A. Gonzales ...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, August 2005
IT'S SPRING BREAK in the concrete jungle of Manhattan, and the rowdy bowling alley at Chelsea Piers has become a teenage refuge in the heart ...
Ne-Yo: Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
Interview by Amy Linden, Vibe, June 2007
Ne-Yo couldn't step to the left if he wanted to. He's actually stepping forward on to superstardom — and there are rumors and X-rated photo ...
Interview by Amy Linden, Vibe, October 2007
THE DAP-KINGS — PURVEYORS OF THE FUNK BEHIND AMY WINEHOUSE, LILY ALLEN, AND SHARON JONES — BRING THE OLD SOUND BACK WITH NEW STYLE, AND ...
DeBarge, El DeBarge: The Rise and Fall of The DeBarge Family
Retrospective and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, October 2007
The DeBarge family – El, Marty, Randy, Bunny and James, not to mention Thomas, Bobby, and baby brother Chico – were supposed to be Motown's ...
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