So, this year we wanted to come out for Hollywood—swinging.
We did not want to do the same old thing.
We brainstormed.
We came up with Mara Brock Akil (page *12) because she writes and directs the spectacularly cogent comedy The Game (The CW), perhaps the most underrated show on television. We came up with Tracy Morgan (page *8) because crazy tickles our funny bone.
We came up with a tribute to The Wire (page 114) because almost everyone on the staff swears by it. Had to get Lauren London (page 118) in there. Had to see what all the bigwigs—Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Jennifer Hudson, Will Smith, Angela Bassett, Forest Whittaker (see the news on page *25)—were up to. Because the Internet has obviously completely upended the way we view and interact with music videos, we gathered too many fun facts about the era in which television video channels ruled (page 54).
And because it’s way more than just the latest Hollywood cause celebré, we’ve laid out for you, in no uncertain terms, why it’s past time for you to “go green” (page 69).
We came up with 50 Cent because of Righteous Kill, the film he stars in this summer with Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Donnie Wahlberg, and John Leguizamo. Then we asked ourselves, as we often do about any given cover, what would kick it up a notch? What would make our Hollywood Issue bigger, even, than Curtis Jackson?
And that’s when we came up with De Niro. De Niro because he’s been The Godfather. Because he was Neil McCauley in 1995’s Heat. Because he was Al Capone in 1987’s The Untouchables. De Niro because everyone from Jeezy to Lil Jon to Jay-Z name-checks him in songs. De Niro because he’s De Niro.
It was an interesting, fun day. Cover shoots are often tense, and full of profound negotiations over everything from cufflinks to bubbly water to hummus to the exact temperature of the room. But there was a lot of laughter on the set (photographer Jake Jessum is the bomb). De Niro’s presence at the shoot was businesslike but still deliciously warm (pretty much all he requested for the day was a black car with no tint on the windows and a copy of that day’s New York Times). He seriously resisted having his hair slicked back for the camera—and then just as seriously relented. 50 was in a charming mood (this is his fifth VIBE cover), and his usually high-strung crew was so chill around De Niro, I wished I could invite him to every G Unit shoot. After a whispered exchange, De Niro wore 50’s watch for a series of snapshots. They looked so good together. They had jokes. We had jokes. We put De Niro and 50 together because, as I often say: VIBE claims all—always has; always should.
See you next issue. To paraphrase Puffy (or Diddy, if you must): It only gets stronger—it only gets more intense. And fun.
Danyel Smith
Editor-In-Chief
P.S. Would like to welcome to the VIBE staff Mark Shaw as Art Director and Carla Shackleford as Managing Editor. And to Janelle Grimmond on her promotion from Fashion Assistant to Associate Market Editor—congratulations.
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