Speaker 1: Twist.
Speaker 2: I'm a homegrow that knows a little bit about everything
Speaker 2: and everybody.
Speaker 1: You know, if you don't lie about that. Right, Hey, y'all,
Speaker 1: what's up.
Speaker 2: It's Laura Rosa and this is the Latest with Laura Rosa.
Speaker 2: This is your daily dig on all things pop culture, entertainment, news,
Speaker 2: and all of the conversations that shake the room.
Speaker 1: Baby.
Speaker 2: Now we are back again with another episode of the Latest.
Speaker 2: In this episode, I really.
Speaker 1: Want you guys to sound off.
Speaker 2: I love it when we talk about things here on
Speaker 2: the podcast and then I see you tweeting me about it.
Speaker 2: I see you, you know, posting the podcast and talking
Speaker 2: about it in your Instagram stories, everywhere you can talk.
Speaker 2: I need to hear from you, guys, l O R
Speaker 2: E N l O R O s A on social
Speaker 2: media because I have a question to asks. How do
Speaker 2: you guys feel about the legendary Black You know, it
Speaker 2: is one of the black staple magazines and platforms. Vibe
Speaker 2: Magazine becoming a part of Rolling Stone. And when I
Speaker 2: say becoming a part of Rolling Stone, what I mean
Speaker 2: is Billboard announced this week that Rolling Stone will be
Speaker 2: joining forces with Vibe.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Vibe will bolster rolling Stones hip hop coverage and allow
Speaker 2: the brands to go deeper into the genre. Vibe will
Speaker 2: also print special collectors' editions of the magazine and launch
Speaker 2: a new interview series as spotlights in depth conversations with
Speaker 2: the most important figures, ranging from musicians to superstar athletes
Speaker 2: and fashion icons. Now, the CEO of Rolling Stone said,
Speaker 2: we are thrilled to announce that Vibe is joining forces
Speaker 2: with Rolling Stone. This historical team up will enable Rolling
Speaker 2: Stone to level up the publications hip hop and R
Speaker 2: and B coverage, allowing Rolling Stone to dive deeper into
Speaker 2: the culture. As a part of this move, rolling Stone
Speaker 2: will invest in Vibe across video, podcasts, long form journalism,
Speaker 2: social media, and exponential opportunities, all areas where Rolling Stone
Speaker 2: is a market leader. Vi will continue to power cultural
Speaker 2: conversations and re establish itself as a driving force for
Speaker 2: commentary and reporting. Our goal, the CEO continues, is to
Speaker 2: continue the mission that Vibe was founded on, while leveraging
Speaker 2: Rolling Stone to amplify its presence across all platforms. So essentially,
Speaker 2: what is happening here is like when, for instance, when
Speaker 2: an entrepreneur creates a product, builds that product up up,
Speaker 2: up up up, Rihanna INFINTI, well, it's a little different
Speaker 2: because you know Rihanna and Rihanna, but builds that product
Speaker 2: up up, up up up in a way and then
Speaker 2: decides to partner with a bigger you know, kind of
Speaker 2: like almost like a distribution deal for a music Artisty
Speaker 2: you decide to partner with a h a company, a platform,
Speaker 2: a home that has more resources readily available, has more
Speaker 2: you know, financial resources readily available, so that you're able
Speaker 2: to then take what you build built and not just
Speaker 2: make it bigger, but scale it better as far as
Speaker 2: you know what you're outputting.
Speaker 1: So to me, there's two folds of this.
Speaker 2: On one hand, the first thing I thought of when
Speaker 2: I saw this was why is Rolling Stone and black
Speaker 2: people business?
Speaker 1: And I get it.
Speaker 2: Outlets like Rolling Stone, I mean they cover black people,
Speaker 2: black talent. You know, that's a thing. But historically we
Speaker 2: know that those outlets, the Vibes, the Ebonies, the Jets,
Speaker 2: the Essence magazines, those outlets they're ours, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: but you do have the fact that like BT, which
Speaker 2: is you know, black entertainment television is under paramount and
Speaker 2: you know at one point it was Viacom, and those
Speaker 2: are not black companies, But I don't know, this felt
Speaker 2: a little different, and maybe because it is editorial, maybe
Speaker 2: because it is you know, the conversation in our vibe
Speaker 2: is just I don't know, it's just different.
Speaker 1: And be really honest with you guys as well.
Speaker 2: Prior to this, I don't know much about vibes partnerships
Speaker 2: and you know, who they were working with, who they
Speaker 2: weren't working with. But this was just loud, it was big.
Speaker 2: It was everywhere when it dropped because Rolling Stone is
Speaker 2: such a it's such a relevant brand and pop culture.
Speaker 2: So that was the first thing I thought, and then
Speaker 2: I read a little bit more. Oh and also I
Speaker 2: started seeing, you know, there were a few journalists that
Speaker 2: I follow that once this announcement came out, they posted
Speaker 2: tweets like, hey, you know, today is my last day
Speaker 2: with Vibe magazine because of the Rolling Stone Vibe merger.
Speaker 2: And I mean, I didn't see anything bad from them,
Speaker 2: but I did see that as well.
Speaker 1: So that was my first thought.
Speaker 2: And then I'm on my timeline on X and all
Speaker 2: I see are journalists because some of these people I
Speaker 2: don't know, I just follow because they tweet out the
Speaker 2: stories that they cover or you know, they're tweeting different
Speaker 2: news and I follow news everywhere, That's just what I do.
Speaker 2: But I'm seeing, like, I mean, like an influx of
Speaker 2: because of the Vibe and Rolling Stone merger. Because of
Speaker 2: the Vibe and Rolling Stone merger, over and over and
Speaker 2: over again, I now no longer have my job. Thank
Speaker 2: you for the three years of this. And you could
Speaker 2: tell that, you know, people were keeping it super like
Speaker 2: there's nothing we could do. We was laid off, you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. But I'm like, oh, ouch, wow, okay,
Speaker 2: So that made me to be like, am I supposed
Speaker 2: to be apprehensive about this? Am I supposed to be
Speaker 2: happy for Vibe Magazine about this? People are losing their job.
Speaker 2: It feels like Vibe is about to be gentrified, Like
Speaker 2: what is going on here? And I come from, you know,
Speaker 2: working with major outlets before TMZ. I worked in a
Speaker 2: fashion closet at Cosmopolitan magazine. Like I've only ever known
Speaker 2: outlets that were not black centered.
Speaker 1: But had to be inclusive because they just had to be.
Speaker 2: And it's just different like now, you know, working with
Speaker 2: the Breakfast Club and being here on the Black Effect
Speaker 2: Podcast network is different when you're at something that is
Speaker 2: for us by us and even if not like fully
Speaker 2: owned right because Breakfast Club is an iHeart, you know show.
Speaker 2: It's black focused and black centric and I work with
Speaker 2: black people.
Speaker 1: It's very different than.
Speaker 2: Anything I've ever experienced in my work career, my work life.
Speaker 2: So it made me think about what the new tone
Speaker 2: and the work energy vibe will be. And I started
Speaker 2: thinking about that because that tone and that energy and
Speaker 2: that culture will pour out and will reflect and the
Speaker 2: content that they put out. And I think with the
Speaker 2: way that the landscape is changing in media and what's
Speaker 2: important and how people are digesting news and opinion and
Speaker 2: what they care about, people got to really believe it
Speaker 2: to even want to support. And I think those legacy magazines,
Speaker 2: I've always wondered what was the what's the fix for them?
Speaker 2: I think Essence Magazine has definitely figured out how to
Speaker 2: reinvent their voice a bit, like I love it when
Speaker 2: they do the thread breakdowns whenever something happens, like you
Speaker 2: can always count on that, whether it's on Twitter or
Speaker 2: it's a swipe through on Instagram. Their social media team
Speaker 2: really stepped it up. Their covers really stepped it up.
Speaker 2: And I don't mean stepped it up in a way
Speaker 2: of like they weren't ever good. I mean as a
Speaker 2: legacy media outlet when in times where things are changing,
Speaker 2: you gotta reinvent, you gotta connect and reach people differently,
Speaker 2: especially today, because there's somebody right now, at this very moment,
Speaker 2: turning on their camera on their phone, about to post
Speaker 2: a video with an opinion or reporting of something that
Speaker 2: can potentially go viral and become the number one outlet
Speaker 2: of whatever genre that is, and all they did was.
Speaker 1: Turn on their phone.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, you have full you know, editorial teams at places
Speaker 2: like Vibe, Jet, Ebony, all of these essence, all these places,
Speaker 2: and they now have to compete with that person.
Speaker 1: Things are just different now.
Speaker 2: So I've always thought, like, you know, what is the
Speaker 2: answer for our legacy magazines because with me, I want
Speaker 2: to be in that middle space. I always want to
Speaker 2: understand that middle space of like, Okay, here's all the
Speaker 2: fly stuff that our legacy magazines were known for, here's
Speaker 2: where everything is now, here's you know, with the focus
Speaker 2: of news should be, and here's how you bring it
Speaker 2: all together. I've always like that's always been like my
Speaker 2: vision for content of like what was being done before us.
Speaker 2: That's stuck and made these really big careers, whether it's actors, journalists, reporters,
Speaker 2: personality with what is where are things now? And how
Speaker 2: do we mess that together? So on the other side,
Speaker 2: I say all that to say on the other side,
Speaker 2: when I saw this, I was like, Okay, Vibe Magazine
Speaker 2: can now.
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe it's.
Speaker 2: Be I don't know what the issues were internally that
Speaker 2: made them feel like they needed this merger. But and
Speaker 2: I'm sure you know there'll be more coming out on that.
Speaker 2: But now they can, they can hire more people. But
Speaker 2: dang people ooh lost their jobs. Now Vibe can be
Speaker 2: a part of the conversation, you know, potentially, because it
Speaker 2: still matters what you put out, but you know, now
Speaker 2: Vibe has a large platform partner who can position their
Speaker 2: content in a way where it reaches more eyes. And
Speaker 2: then I started to think, like, but do we wanted
Speaker 2: to reach all those eyes? Like why can't we gate
Speaker 2: keep what's ours and it still be just as big
Speaker 2: and as effective as.
Speaker 1: As Golden Like why not?
Speaker 2: Like like the gentrification conversation, like why does why do
Speaker 2: why do our neighborhoods have to be gentrified for the
Speaker 2: price to go up?
Speaker 1: That's how I thought about this.
Speaker 2: It's like a catch twenty two of like, I want,
Speaker 2: you know, us to be able to get the resources
Speaker 2: we need, move on do better in business. And you
Speaker 2: got a partner with where the business, the money and
Speaker 2: the doing better is happening. Black, white, green, yellow, doesn't matter,
Speaker 2: you know, the color of the of the person or
Speaker 2: the people.
Speaker 1: Or the company doing it. Businesses business.
Speaker 2: But I don't know it just I'm kind of stuck
Speaker 2: in the middle here because as a business woman, I
Speaker 2: understand and I'm like, oh, that was kind of smart
Speaker 2: for them, and not even just for them, it was
Speaker 2: smart for Rolling Stone because I think one of the
Speaker 2: best things that a company can do right who doesn't
Speaker 2: understand something is.
Speaker 1: God and hire somebody who do.
Speaker 2: And hiring a black writer or two or three or
Speaker 2: five doesn't make you like, yes, rolling Stone Magazine has
Speaker 2: a prestige to it. But with black culture leads media
Speaker 2: a trend all of the things period. You need a
Speaker 2: real strong force in trust. You need brand identity and
Speaker 2: trust in that area to be able to be a
Speaker 2: part of that conversation in a real way. And obviously
Speaker 2: rolling Stone is like, okay, we cover you know, black music,
Speaker 2: black things, but they wanted more validity and more trust
Speaker 2: for whatever their reasoning was, too so, And I mean,
Speaker 2: now it's Vibe. We trust Vibe, We've seen Vibe, we've
Speaker 2: grew up on Vibe, we've grew up reading Vibe. So
Speaker 2: it's going to be there or is it. I don't
Speaker 2: need y'all to answer these questions for me. Was this
Speaker 2: a great business.
Speaker 1: Move by Vibe magazine? Yes? Or no? And again?
Speaker 2: And I'm not even I mean, I guess you do
Speaker 2: got to talk about like business as far as like
Speaker 2: numbers and things, right, like, you know, where does this
Speaker 2: put them budget wise, you know, per quarter per year
Speaker 2: to be able to put out products and projects and
Speaker 2: all these things. But I would even ask the question
Speaker 2: just simply as a consumer of media, because it was
Speaker 2: a shock for me to see Vibe partnering with Rolling Stone.
Speaker 2: And I think it's because our legacy see magazines have
Speaker 2: always stood on were gonna.
Speaker 1: Figure this out. We got it, We're cool, We're gonna
Speaker 1: figure this out.
Speaker 2: But hey, maybe that's why, you know, it's been so
Speaker 2: hard for a lot of our legacy magazines to take
Speaker 2: the forefront of conversation the way that they.
Speaker 1: Did some years ago. Let me know how y'all feeling.
Speaker 1: I want to know was.
Speaker 2: It a good idea? Was it not a good idea?
Speaker 2: Were you shocked when you saw the news? Will you
Speaker 2: continue to support Vibe and what they do? I honestly
Speaker 2: don't see a reason for us not to. I think
Speaker 2: it was a shock and I was trying to figure out, like,
Speaker 2: am I supposed to like this?
Speaker 1: Like what is happening?
Speaker 2: Is it's alright, collab, it's hey business or girl, you
Speaker 2: losing your black cart because you support it? But at
Speaker 2: the same time, I mean, I think people's feelings are
Speaker 2: valid because, like I told y'all, I was watching it
Speaker 2: was like a mass exodus of people talking about they
Speaker 2: lost their jobs. And I'm like, well, why y'all getting
Speaker 2: rid of the people? The black people say it ain't
Speaker 2: got no jobs, just supposed to help the people get
Speaker 2: the job. Let me know what y'all think. It's the
Speaker 2: latest with Laurna Rose. Are getting the streets, get in
Speaker 2: the tweets, talk to me outside, were outside, were outside
Speaker 2: outside At the end of the day, you guys could
Speaker 2: be anywhere with anybody talking about all of these things,
Speaker 2: which you choose to be right here with me. Every
Speaker 2: single time my Lowriders. I appreciate you guys for that.
Speaker 2: I'll see y'all in my next episode.