As a journalist covering multiple nascent scenes in the late ‘90s, URB was one of the few places who gave my words the presence and visual support they needed to be brought to life. Thanks Raymond and team for supporting not only the scenes, but the writers chronicling them.
I have been waiting for this for a long time. Been with ya before Science. Sundays, if I recall...
On a side note from all the music stuff, thanks for answering the question "why substack?".
Now then, onto the question of how to bring the archive forward.
There's a mountain of juicy click-bait like "all the acts ranked 33rd" or "top soulful/retro/futuristic acts" etc which will all be great to see.
You can take that to a deeper level with "Tracks recorded on X piece of equipment" or at a specific studio, or "best vinyl printings", or "appeared in a movie/video game", etc.
There's definitely some research spikes for some of those.
This day in urb history might have some potential....
Your magazine was inspiration and lifeline to me at my Kate teens and twenties. It literally changed my life - and made me a publisher as well (Sacramento area). Those were such heady and exciting times. URB deserves to be a pillar of those times and archival for reference for as long as possible. Thank you for doing this. 🙏🏻💯
Thanks for sharing this Raymond, and so excited to see these essential stories documenting the culture coming back to life. I still own almost every copy published and lived by the gospel of the pages from 92 on - the first 10 years from the East coast and the West coast from '02, the magazine being an inspiration for making that move across the country. From Da Scoop, the reviews, the fashion the club listings, to the look of Rivas graphics - MASSIVE. So many stories to tell, would love to see the some of those original party reviews from Da Scoop in the archives, and would love to be involved myself with the next chapter. Cheers!
I also loved a couple cover stories from the mid-90's - the jungle scene story with the red cover (Can't remember who was in the photo, but it was a whole crew - maybe SS and MC Det?) the cover story on Goldie from like 95, and the Kool Keith / Dr. Octagon story where he's being all weird on the streets in LA. HA! So good! BTW- I've always had a dream project of documenting the US rave and hip hop scenes using URB as a chronological reference with Da Scoop / Rave Reports for the stories, connecting them with the flyers (I have a massive archive of flyers), and linking to archives of mixtapes from the parties or creating playlists where there aren't mixtapes.
These are great notes. Was looking at that Jungle cover today, actually. And the Dr. Octagon shoot on the streets of downtown was hilarious. Much more to come.
Working at distributors in the 90s, seeing the artists whose stuff we started selling to the DJ shops on the cover of URB was like a validation of what we were doing. Great stuff, great memories. Time to go dig in the crates a bit!
My years at URB were wonderful. Even at the time, I knew URB was special. I still have most of MASSV archived on various old hard drives, if there's anything you're missing. Happy to help with this project, and thrilled you're putting the archives online.
Nicole! :) Nice to be reunited here. I loved URB and the little bit I contributed to was an honor. You were great to work with as well, that I do remember.
Thanks for all the love, heart and soul that you and your team put into URB. You efforts, creativity and professionalism were much appreciated and still are. Forever grateful. Stash ICU Art
I’ve been so hopeful to see this happen! Your dedication to make it so is truly admirable and inspiring… I have proudly held onto my historical URB Magazine collection along with an impressive rave flyer collection through a mess of life learning to become an adult, with this I say Thank you so much for passion and time into the evolution that it has become… ♥️🎶
So glad you're doing this, Raymond! I loved URB and probably still have a few issues with my clips in it in an archive box in my closet. Excited to follow along here and witness the next chapter.
Always there...still in Raymond! :-)
“URB Magazine was where the coolest kids spent their time.” Truer words never spoken 🔊🔊🔊🔊🔊
said with the the utmost humility
As a journalist covering multiple nascent scenes in the late ‘90s, URB was one of the few places who gave my words the presence and visual support they needed to be brought to life. Thanks Raymond and team for supporting not only the scenes, but the writers chronicling them.
It was always the most gratifying to be a home for great writers and journalism--thank you
I have been waiting for this for a long time. Been with ya before Science. Sundays, if I recall...
On a side note from all the music stuff, thanks for answering the question "why substack?".
Now then, onto the question of how to bring the archive forward.
There's a mountain of juicy click-bait like "all the acts ranked 33rd" or "top soulful/retro/futuristic acts" etc which will all be great to see.
You can take that to a deeper level with "Tracks recorded on X piece of equipment" or at a specific studio, or "best vinyl printings", or "appeared in a movie/video game", etc.
There's definitely some research spikes for some of those.
This day in urb history might have some potential....
Such killer feedback--thank you for all of it
Your magazine was inspiration and lifeline to me at my Kate teens and twenties. It literally changed my life - and made me a publisher as well (Sacramento area). Those were such heady and exciting times. URB deserves to be a pillar of those times and archival for reference for as long as possible. Thank you for doing this. 🙏🏻💯
Late teens, not Kate. lol
Much respect to a fellow publisher, and thank you!
Thanks for sharing this Raymond, and so excited to see these essential stories documenting the culture coming back to life. I still own almost every copy published and lived by the gospel of the pages from 92 on - the first 10 years from the East coast and the West coast from '02, the magazine being an inspiration for making that move across the country. From Da Scoop, the reviews, the fashion the club listings, to the look of Rivas graphics - MASSIVE. So many stories to tell, would love to see the some of those original party reviews from Da Scoop in the archives, and would love to be involved myself with the next chapter. Cheers!
Please keep the feedback coming. The archive is immense and I need input from you.
I also loved a couple cover stories from the mid-90's - the jungle scene story with the red cover (Can't remember who was in the photo, but it was a whole crew - maybe SS and MC Det?) the cover story on Goldie from like 95, and the Kool Keith / Dr. Octagon story where he's being all weird on the streets in LA. HA! So good! BTW- I've always had a dream project of documenting the US rave and hip hop scenes using URB as a chronological reference with Da Scoop / Rave Reports for the stories, connecting them with the flyers (I have a massive archive of flyers), and linking to archives of mixtapes from the parties or creating playlists where there aren't mixtapes.
These are great notes. Was looking at that Jungle cover today, actually. And the Dr. Octagon shoot on the streets of downtown was hilarious. Much more to come.
Can’t wait to hopefully scroll through all the covers in order. So many memories.
Great note. The covers will be a part of this, for sure.
Working at distributors in the 90s, seeing the artists whose stuff we started selling to the DJ shops on the cover of URB was like a validation of what we were doing. Great stuff, great memories. Time to go dig in the crates a bit!
Absolutely!
I want to see all the URB comic strips from backinthedayz!..that would be a cool look back.
Definitely adding this to our list!
My days at URB were some of the greatest of my life and career. Excited to see what you've got to share from the archives.
Is that levine at the top?
Yep. And caption updated!
Really glad you’re doing this. Looking forward to looking back.
Love "looking forward to looking back."
My years at URB were wonderful. Even at the time, I knew URB was special. I still have most of MASSV archived on various old hard drives, if there's anything you're missing. Happy to help with this project, and thrilled you're putting the archives online.
Amazing and what a mark you had in culture through these pages. I’ll be in touch :)
Nicole! :) Nice to be reunited here. I loved URB and the little bit I contributed to was an honor. You were great to work with as well, that I do remember.
Mia, how wonderful to be reunited with you too. You were an absolute delight to work with. Miss you <3
Thanks for all the love, heart and soul that you and your team put into URB. You efforts, creativity and professionalism were much appreciated and still are. Forever grateful. Stash ICU Art
Means a lot, thank you amigo
I’ve been so hopeful to see this happen! Your dedication to make it so is truly admirable and inspiring… I have proudly held onto my historical URB Magazine collection along with an impressive rave flyer collection through a mess of life learning to become an adult, with this I say Thank you so much for passion and time into the evolution that it has become… ♥️🎶
Your profile pic :)
:) yep… that’s me! ♥️🎶
i have a very similar story... also a music publisher in my home country and URB was a big source of inspiration and ideas. Thanks and "welcome back"!
Wow, thanks so much for sharing a little of your story. Are you still producing content?
Also paused for some years (coincidence!) but 'back on track' with a new website this month... but only for fun, basically!
Good luck man for us ahahaha!
So glad you're doing this, Raymond! I loved URB and probably still have a few issues with my clips in it in an archive box in my closet. Excited to follow along here and witness the next chapter.
Thanks for spreading the word, Mia :) It's greatly appreciated.