Vibe is a music and entertainment magazine founded by producer Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip-hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down production in Summer 2009, Vibe was purchased by the private equity investment fund InterMedia Partners and is now issued quarterly with double covers, with a larger online presence, aided by the Vibe LifeStyle Network, a group of entertainment/music websites under the Vibe brand. The magazine's target demographic is predominantly young, urban followers of hip-hop culture.

The magazine owed its success to featuring a broader range of interests than its closest competitors The Source and XXL which focus more narrowly on rap music, or the rock & pop-centric Rolling Stone and Spin. As of 2007^[update], Vibe had a circulation of approximately 800,000. Advertisers ran the gamut from record labels to fashion houses to various cognac brands.

Quincy Jones launched Vibe in 1993, in partnership with Time Inc. Originally, the publication had been called Volume before co-founding editor, Scott Poulson-Bryant gave it the name Vibe. Though hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons was rumored to be an initial partner, publisher Len Burnett revealed in a March 2007 interview that Simmons clashed with editor-in-chief Jonathan Van Meter. Miller Publishing bought Vibe in 1996, and shortly afterward bought Spin. The private equity group The Wicks Group of Companies bought the magazine in 2006.

Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), known by his stage names 2Pac, Pac, and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. Shakur has sold over 75 million records worldwide as of 2010, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world. Rolling Stone Magazine named him the 86th Greatest Artist of All Time. The themes of most of Tupac's songs are the violence and hardship in inner cities, racism, social problems, and conflicts with other rappers during the East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry. Shakur began his career as a roadie, backup dancer, and MC for the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground.

Both of his parents and several other family members were members of the Black Panthers, and Tupac made reference to the organization in the song "Changes". Shakur was involved in a West-coast East-coast rivalry after a major feud with East-coast rappers, producers and record-label members of staff.

On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was taken to the University Medical Center, where he died six days later.

DeAndre Cortez Way (born July 28, 1990), better known by his stage name Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, or simply Soulja Boy, is an American rapper, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur.

In September 2007, his single "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The single was initially self-published on the internet, and it later became a number-one hit in the United States for seven non-consecutive weeks starting in September 2007. On August 17 Way was listed at #18 on the Forbes list of Hip-Hop Cash Kings of 2010 earning $7 million for that year.

Way has currently released three studio albums and one independent album: his debut studio album Souljaboytellem.com (2007) was certified platinum by the RIAA. However, his next two albums, iSouljaBoyTellem (2008) and The DeAndre Way (2010) did not match the commercial success of his debut, the latter only selling 100,000 copies, despite the success of several singles across both albums, such as "Kiss Me Thru the Phone" and "Turn My Swag On" (iSouljaBoyTellem) and "Pretty Boy Swag" (The DeAndre Way).

Tauheed Epps (born September 12, 1976), better known by his stage name 2 Chainz, formerly known as Tity Boi, is an American rapper from College Park, Georgia. He was previously signed to Ludacris' record label Disturbing tha Peace with Dolla Boy as Playaz Circle.

2 Chainz was born Tauheed Epps on September 12, 1976. He was originally known under the name "Tity Boi", a name given to him by his mother, as Epps was an only child and thus the only one his mother would breastfeed. Further research and investigation showed that he had one brother named Dimatri who was 9 months younger than him and adopted by a couple in Birmingham, Alabama. His brother has one daughter named Sakia and one son named Dimatri Jr. nicknamed, DJ. His niece, Sakia is 13 (2011) and his nephew, DJ is 2 (2011). His niece is very proud of her uncle and talks to him alot on the phone. She also loves to visit him on her breaks.

His graduating record in college was a 4.0

Epps formed the hip hop duo Playaz Circle (the word "Playaz" being an acronym of Preparing Legal Assets for Years from A to Z) in College Park, Georgia in 1997 with his high school friend Earl Conyers, who became known under his recording name Dolla Boy. Following the release on an independent album titled United We Stand, United We Fall, the duo were introduced to fellow rapper Ludacris when he moved into their College Park apartment complex whilst he was acting as a disc jockey: after he took an interest in Playaz Circle, he began to record several songs with the group, playing some of them on his radio station.

Justin Drew Bieber ( /ˈbiːbər/ BEE-bər, born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian Pop/R&B singer-songwriter, musician, and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager. Braun arranged for him to meet with Usher in Atlanta, Georgia, and Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher, and then to a recording contract with Island Records offered by L.A. Reid. Bieber's debut single, "One Time", was released in 2009 and peaked in the top twenty in Canada and charted in the top thirty in several international markets. His debut album, the seven-track EP My World, followed in November 2009, and was soon certified platinum in the United States. He became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut album chart on the Billboard Hot 100.