Critical Reading: VIBE

VIBE magazine was founded in 1993 by Quincy Jones; the magazine prides themselves on being the “preeminent brand in urban and music culture.” Most of the publication talks about ‘swagger,’ which VIBE’s editor in chief defines as “sexy pride personified. Usually associated with men and the way they walk, swagger has come to mean an overall sense of confidence, style, attitude, and an unadulterated knowledge of, and love of, self.” The authors and editors strive to put ‘swagger’ into every article and advertisement because they target younger, urban music lovers. Compared to Rolling Stone’s 1.4 million subscribers VIBE is relatively small with a circulation of only 800,000.
The July 2008 issue features Usher on the cover and has a four-page spread about his recent ascent to the top of hip-hop culture. The article focuses mainly on the reclaiming of his previously abandoned hip-hop throne but gossip about his relationship with his mom, and his new life with wife and baby seep through the seems of Mitzi Miller’s interview. The story begins by setting the surroundings; “Usher Raymond adjusts the cuffs on his navy BStar button-up and momentarily exposes a glimmering gold Cartier watch”, “he’s barely seated himself on the edge of an oversized armchair in a swank Midtown New York City hotel.” The mention of his attire and where the interview is taking place seems to enhance the notion that Usher Raymond was once dubbed The King of Hip-Hop and was paid extremely well.
The reader experiences the ‘happily ever after’ feeling when Miller gives a brief history of Usher’s struggle to gain respect in the music business and the results of such hard work; “nearly 26 million albums sold worldwide.” With five Grammy Awards and a troubled past, his father Usher Raymond III was absent throughout his childhood, Usher seems to fit the pattern of hard upbringings, scandals and gossip of many other hip-hop artists. “In my youth, I was made to feel like I had to be wary of [my biological father] because he was into drugs and a lifestyle that might not necessarily have been the best thing for me,” said Usher. “If there was anything that I would take back [about being so focused on my career], it’s the lack of connection with my father.”
In May 2004 Usher gave a similar interview to Vanessa Grigoriadis, an author of the popular music magazine Rolling Stone. In Grigoriadis’s interview Usher was portrayed more as a wild, more skeptic artist. Rolling Stone is not apprehensive about using profanity in their articles so most quotes are not edited and are directly from his mouth; the editors aren’t worried about how they depict celebrities as long as they sell magazines. Usher seemed to be more comfortable at Fox Theater, “the ornate 1920s palace in downtown Atlanta”, where the interview is taking place. He cracks a few April fools jokes and says “I sold millions of albums in my time and never been on the cover of Rolling Stone? Shoot, I thought they don’t put black faces on those covers.” This shows that black artists don’t expect Rolling Stone to have an interest in featuring them. The interview is mainly about his music and never mentions Usher’s childhood past focuses his hopeful future. “I'm going to be one of the richest motherfuckers in the world,” he says.
The advertisements in VIBE are solely focused on increasing one’s ‘swagger’. Advertisements such as Urbanworld Film Festival, Dark and Lovely hair conditioner and Pure 50 body spray by 50 Cent are a few examples. Most advertisements are dark in color and take place in Urban settings such as cities, street corners or with cars. Because the magazine is targeted toward young African Americans, African Americans are in almost every advertisement throughout the magazine. This most likely helps the products sell to their targeted consumer audience. The advertisements in Rolling Stone are targeted toward general music fans and vary in race, settings and content.
At the beginning of the magazine there’s a section on scandals from the past fifteen years including Kim Kardashian and Ray J’s sex tape, Halle Berry and Eric Benet’s relationship shocker, Senator Larry Craig’s “lewd conduct” in a public bathroom and New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s affairs with high end prostitutes. Most of the stories are informal and make fun of the news being reported. None of the reports go into too much detail and slang is used through out the stories.
The story on Governor Spitzer’s scandal doesn’t stay on topic and lacks important details that most mainstream magazines would report. The author of article lacks connection with the stories because each ‘scandal’ is only a paragraph long which doesn’t leave enough room for any background information. When Rolling Stone reported on these issues, Senator Larry Craig and Governor Eliot Spitzer, the same type of format was used. Because both magazines’ target audiences are music fans the editor knows not to waste time and space on issues that readers won’t be interested in reading.
The main objective of both magazines is to make money and they use the same techniques to sell magazines: attract a certain audience and relate to their interests. The message that VIBE seems to send to their subscribers is that being sexy and having swagger is achieved by listening to their featured artists and buying what they advertise. They are trying to convince the consumer that what they feature is popular so most of their articles on artists are biased and slanted to make the reader buy the products.
By Katie Montgomery