It was announced earlier this morning that one of the Black community’s most esteemed magazine publications, VIBE, would be folding. The news came as a shock to the MESH. team and we are deeply saddened because magazines such as this one have paved the way for young Black journalists, like ourselves. Below is a snapshot of the official last issue of VIBE magazine, which will not be hitting stands. It features The Dream and Christina Milian.

VIBE was an entertainment and lifestyle magazine started by producer Quincy Jones in 1993. Since then it has featured legendaries, such as the late Michael Jackson, Barack Obama, The Fugees, TLC, Mary J. Blige, Beyonce, and many more. VIBE spoke to a younger Black audience, unlike it’s counter parts Essence and Ebony. The publication will be deeply missed and not forgotten.

Click [here] for the official statement from former CEO Steve Aaron and former CCO/Editor-In-Chief Danyel Smith.

Someone decided to get mouthy and compare VIBE to BET. Here’s what my MESH. PNC Aaron had to say..

Not only has VIBE been the proverbial parchment for such masters of the art of journalism as Keith Murphy, Touré, Danyel Smith, Dream Hampton, Aliya S. King, and so many others who are respected around the world, it has done, in its history, what BET has failed to do: retain readers, while still expanding upon it’s horizons and raising its legacy rather than resting upon it.

No other hip hop magazine has a subscription base of over 800,000 persons and is consistently the first to sell out on newsstands.
No other hip hop magazine has won numerous EDITORIAL awards for their outstanding caliber of writing.
No other magazine has been able to garner the noted respect of such giants as TIME, VOGUE, The New Yorker, Readers Digest, and so many others, on the superb quality of its content.
No other magazine pays attention not only to hip hop, but art, current affairs, literature, fashion, and so much more.

Read the Rest After the Jump

You compare VIBE magazine to a paltry has-been teeny bop tabloid, or network known more for its degradation of our culture rather than its uplifting.

Yet, you point these fingers as you sit in your 21st floor penthouse office–oop. wait. You’re just a blogger. On your ass in mom’s basement talking about something that has produced and influenced more than you can ever hope to.

People like you, sir, quite frankly disgust me as you speak on things to which you have no clue. You talk, as we say in the hood “out cha ass.”

Now, for the sake of being unprofessional I will not get too informal with this message. However do know that with whatever barb you throw at this magazine, I will have a rebuttal to tell you why you are utterly and profoundly incorrect. We can discuss this in any forum you’d like. I look forward to dialoging with you and dousing your ignorance on the issue that is the unparalleled excellence of VIBE magazine.

Until then, I think you should take heed in the words of Plato.

“A wise man speaks because he has something to say. A fool, because he has to say something.”

Don’t be a damn fool Locohama

AR
MESH.
[PROUD] VIBE Magazine Summer 2009 Editorial Intern

Once again, MESH. triumphs over the haters.

Aisha