February 15, 2007 @ 11:47 am

VIBE 150: Shakira

Celia San Miguel

The Colombian superstar embraced hip hop and shimmied her way up the charts

NYC-based writer Raquel Cepeda interviewed Shakira Mebarak for her VIBE Next (April 1999), and was shocked to discover that the Colombian/Lebanese singer-songwriter didn't like rap. "I was like, Not even the Fugees? I think you'd sound so good with one of them!" Cepeda recalls telling Shakira, then 21. They were at the Altos de Chavon amphitheater in La Romana, Dominican Republic. The diminutive bombshell was performing alongside Jon Secada, Gloria Estefan, and Juan Luis Guerra in a Hurricane George Relief concert. Shakira had just released her fourth Spanish-language album, the platinum-selling, Emilio Estefan-produced Donde Estan los Ladrones? (Sony Discos, 1998), and was working on 2001's Laundry Service, her first English-language album (Sony). Shakira dismissed the idea of a hip hop collaboration. But eight years later, Shakira had her first Billboard No. 1 single with 2006's sultry "Hips Don't Lie" (Oral Fixation Vol. 2, Sony) - featuring none other than Wyclef Jean. The pair's undeniable synergy scored them a 2007 Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals. It was Shakira's first nod in a non-Latin category. Shakira's coy vocals, shake 'n' bake choreography, and coquettish demeanor are nothing new to Cepeda. "I remember, at one of her shows in New York, she taught me how to belly-dance and I taught her how to samba," Cepeda says with a laugh. The two became fast friends after she received a handwritten letter from Shakira months after the VIBE interview. "She always wanted to dance."

Article tags: VIBE, 150, Shakira 

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