VIDEO: Freddie Gibbs “The Ghetto (Uncensored)”
“A lot of ni**as over there at Interscope, I ain’t going to say no names, them executive ni**as, they said that my sh*t wasn’t even relevant no more. They said gangsta rap wasn’t going to be relevant, and we don’t need to push this s**t; we ain’t going to push Gibbs, we going to push Jibbs. They used to piss me off man. Ni**as in the building used to get me confused with that little ni**a Jibbs. I’m like, Nah ni**a I’m Freddie Gibbs, I’m not Jibbs, you got me f**ked up.“—Freddie Gibbs
Got to interview Gary, Indiana’s Freddie Gibbs for a Next story in the April/May 2010 issue of Vibe Magazine. The above quote didn’t make the cut, but it is hilarious, and tragic. Tough to says Gibbs’ take on gangsta rap isn’t relevant since he can actually put together words that fit and places some real thought behind his verses. As heard/seen in the above video for “The Ghetto.”
Surely having a similar name to Jibbs isn’t the sole reason Interscope decided to let go of his services, but it’s still a fail. Video for “Womb 2 the Tomb,” featuring Pill, below.
Jeezy Vibe Magazine Cover
Jeezy - Vibe Magazine (April/May 2010)
As promised. Young Jeezy covers the April/May issue of Vibe Magazine. Damn, don’t think even Vibe posted this yet but Nah Right did. So goes the game.
Look out for my NEXT profiles on John Wall and Freddie Gibbs in said issue.
Trey Songz Vibe Magazine Cover
Trey Songz - Vibe Magazine (April/May 2010)
No Ricky Martin. Trey Songz covers the April/May 2010 issue of Vibe Magazine. Believe the cover story is written by the good Clover Hope. Will be posting the Jeezy cover split as soon as humanly possible.
RELATED:
Vibe Magazine RIP
I was blessed to write for Vibe starting in ’04 (phat thanks to Rondell Conway for giving me a shot) and met and got to work with some great editors (Cell Block, what up!). Coming up it was automatic; cop The Source for my Hip-Hop fix, grab Vibe too for all the other freshness I shouldn’t be missing.
Sad day in the print business, period. Now back to writing…
R.I.P. Vibe Magazine [via Rap Radar]
Vibe Folds [via Gawker]
Another Magazine Death: Vibe Reportedly Closing [via MediaBistro]
Onward. Upward. [via Aliya S. King]
Vibe Magazine to Close Down Immediately [via NY Times]
BREAKING: Vibe Magazine Closes [via Folio]
Losing Our Vibe [via Beats & Rants]
My Final Visit as VIBE Flatlines. [via Media Assassin]
Vibe Magazine, Showcase for Hip-Hop and R&B, Dies at 16 [via NY Times]
Vibe Mag’s 50 Hottest Rap Blogs X Slang Rap Democracy
So my little space on the Internets got bigged up at the #43 slot in Vibe Magazine’s Top 50 Hottest Blogs. I had no idea I was even in contention so it was a pleasant, and humbling, surprise.
Needless to say, Top [insert any # here] lists are fodder for limitless amounts of speculation and deliberation over who shouldn’t have made the list, who should have been ranked higher on the list, who was wantonly left off the list, and on and on.
Funny thing is that the more let’s say “unconventional” a list is—whether it’s be on purpose or because of naivety—the more controversy and debate it will spark. And that just may be the point; who is going to keep fussing about how much they agree on something?
Anyway, here is a compendium of the many rants and raves regarding the aforementioned list. I also hope this Vibe is bankrupt stuff doesn’t spell doom for the mag. Another print publication folding is just plain wackness. [Note: Not a single “source” in that ThisIs50 story, and it’s timing, means be weary.]
The post that started it all… Vibe’s Contorted Top 50 Hip Hop Blogs [via Animal New York]
#3 on Vibe’s 50 Hottest Blogs List! [via 2dopeboys]
VIBE’s 50 Hottest Rap Blog Ranked [via Nah Right]
Drafting Of The Bloggers I’m The Number 7 Pick [via Cocaine Blunts]
VIBE’S Top 50 Rap Blogs List…Plus My Comments [via Broken Cool]
Hip Hop Is Read… Is Alive? And… Popular? [via Hip Hop is Read]
Vibe Magazine’s Top 50 Hip-Hop Blogs [via Ill Roots]
Dart’s Rant Of The Day: The Bullshit © Jeru Tha Damaja [via Poisonous Paragraphs]
Vibe Magazine’s #20 Best Rap Blog [via The T.R.O.Y. Blog]
Vibe Magazine’s Top 50 Hip Hop Blogs List [via Notes from a Different Kitchen]
Rap Magazine’s Hip Hop Blog List Catches Bad Vibes [via Animal New York]
We Are 22nd! [via BEATS and RANTS]
A Message for Low Key….. [via You Heard That New]
The Real Top 50 Rap Blogs [via XXLmag.com]
New York Mag X Gay Talese
Still the Greatest
Back in 2003 it was about a year since I quit working for Universal Motown Records and I was scrambling to get enough freelance writing work to keep the lights on and the rent paid. I’d heard many times and in many different forms from many a scribe that I respected that good writers should always be reading good writing.
True, so one of the magazines I started picking up and paying more attention to was Esquire Magazine. Though for years I’d always flipped through issues in passing, seeing Muhammad Ali on the cover of October 2003 issue (itself a play on its August 1966 cover (left) which featured Ali and Floyd Patterson) motivated me to actually buy it (and subsequently subscribe since a 12 month run was like a dirt cheap $8 at that time).
The point of this story is that in the middle this 70th anniversary issue of Esquire was a small pamphlet that contained what is considered by many to be the greatest magazine profile of all time; “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” by Gay Talese. At the time I wasn’t too up on “New Journalism” and all the hoo-ha it’s been given over the years. I just knew that Gay Talese was an incredible storyteller and his gift with words was pure inspiration.
Considering today’s limited word counts and the stumbling publication industry, it’s sad to think that a next Gay Talese or Hunter S. Thompson—better yet, Harry Allen or Bonz Malone—may never get his or her proper shine. Epic dissertations, no matter how creatively informative, just don’t mesh with the day’s blog at the speed of type, or Tweet in 140 words or less, culture. All this is to say that Talese is dropping a new book and one of my favorite publications, New York Magazine, has a profile on the distinguished author. [A Nonfiction Marriage via New York Mag]
Coincidentally the profile is written by Jonathan Van Meter, a founding editor of Vibe Magazine; a mag whose recent drama, is nothing new.
“Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” [via Esquire]
Slang Rap Democracy 