West-Biggie and Puffy Break Their Silence.” October 1996: “Free At Last-Dr. With the exception of the Fugees (who earned their cover look on the strength of their certified-diamond sophomore album, The Score) and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony (whose Sacha Jenkins-penned cover story stands as one of the finest pieces of writing the magazine ever published), the ’96 rap covers were pretty much part of one continuously horrific narrative: December 1995/January 1996: “Live From Death Row.” September 1996: “East vs. Kelly, and the Olympic Basketball “Dream Team” on a gatefold cover (the worst seller of the year but still pretty awesome). VIBE’s cover choices in ’96 reflect the magazine’s wide-ranging mandate: Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, R. Q killed an ultra-expensive Madonna and Dennis Rodman shoot because the Beastie Boys had graced the previous issue’s cover, and his vision presumably meant featuring people who wouldn’t make the cover of Rolling Stone-more on that later. The first EIC, Jonathan Van Meter, had either resigned or been forced out after a creative dispute with Quincy, who objected to the unbearable whiteness of JVM’s cover choices. Twenty years ago VIBE was three years old and still finding its way under its second editor-in-chief, Alan Light. Sometimes his edits were journalistically valid, but his complete disconnect from hip-hop culture was a constant source of frustration. Although Gil was rarely present in the office, he would occasionally kill stories from his home in Connecticut or fax extensive notes demanding rewrites. before ultimately breaking off from the parent company to found the stand-alone business VIBE Ventures. He and his colleague Bob Miller, former publisher of SI, played decisive roles in getting the magazine green-lit in the corridors of power at Time Inc. An elderly, eccentric former managing editor of Sports Illustrated, Gil’s title at VIBE was editorial director. To be sure, there was nobody like Gilbert Rogin on the masthead at other hip-hop publications. CNN, all those guys-when shit got real they were coming to VIBE. As the president of VIBE, I was the commissioner of the culture. “At the time there was no Internet,” says Keith Clinkscales, the magazine’s founding president and CEO. ![]() VIBE was the first periodical to cover rap, R&B, rock, reggae, dance music, fashion, sports, and politics-all through the prism of what people were just beginning to call “urban culture,” another way of describing what Steve Stoute would later dub The Tanning of America. ![]() We had to earn respect by doing great work-and we did a lot of it, printed on large format heavy stock paper, left over in a warehouse after Life magazine folded. Yet our multiracial staff and corporate connects were always viewed with some suspicion by the hip-hop community. With backing from Time Inc., we had deeper pockets than most, and we served up some of the best journalism, photography, and cultural criticism hip-hop has ever seen. With all due respect to The Source, Rap Pages, and Murder Dog, VIBE changed the game in hip-hop journalism. Quincy Jones’ stated goal was to found “a Rolling Stone for the hip-hop generation,” but the staff-which I joined at the magazine’s launch, in 1993-aspired to create something closer to Vanity Fair. In VIBE’s defense, it was never just a rap mag. Reasonable Doubt, It Was Written, ATLiens, and Muddy Waters are four of the classic rap albums to drop that year, none of which warranted a cover in VIBE magazine. This is part of Complex's The 1996 Project: Looking Back at the Year Hip-Hop Embraced Success.ġ996 was a great year for hip-hop-that is, until the whole 2Pac getting murdered thing.
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