For roughly 19 of the last 20 years, it has been my privilege to be the Music Editor for Urban Network. Though I'm the only employee who has been a regular contributor to the publication since its very first issue (starting as a part time retail research assistant under our founding retail visionary Harry Akaki), it is my work writing about music and the people who make it that has defined my time spent here. It is a small part of the overall scheme of things around here, so I'd first like to spotlight the professionals I've had the pleasure of working among and befriending.

Urban Network, first and foremost, is about the very special people who have worked here. It's an institution for giving people opportunities to get their foot in the doors of the music, radio and publishing industries. In turn, those people gave generously of themselves to make this publication the one that has lasted to this day.

Those people begin with our founding President Jerry Boulding, whose veteran status and reputation still find him presiding within the business as "The Radio Doctor," a respected consultant and currently as Urban Editor of All Access Music Group. Our founding editor Joe Nazel has, unfortunately, passed on, but he laid the editorial blueprint of cultural pride and fair reporting that we strive to carry forward to this day. And then there is Carole Carper, who also came to us from the world of radio to work her matriarchal management magic over an often younger staff ever in need of guidance. Today, she remains connected to Urban Network as our faithful conference coordinator via her own PMI company.
Of the scores of "folk" who have worked here, many have graduated into successful endeavors of their own. They include Kevin Ross, our former Rap Editor who went on to start his own no-holds-barred publication Radio Facts and become a busy real estate broker now based in Atlanta. Another former Rap Editor, Lee Cadena, is now an artist manager for Teena Marie and others. Kai Chase, an early writer and multi-tasker, is now a Cordon Bleu-trained personal chef to celebrities such as Cedric the Entertainer and Steve Harvey, and is soon to publish her first book, nibble. Dusean Dawson (along with her husband Norman) has started a company that helps men and women fresh out of prison acclimate themselves "back to the world." Graham Armstrong, Gary Jackson, David Kimbrough, Mark Hill, Stephanie Morgan and Renee' Featherston are also professionals you may be familiar with who spent some quality time at Urban Network as well. These stories and many more prove that Urban Network has been a nurturer of dynamic personalities and creative minds.

Where Urban Network was once the black music and radio division of the Album Network corporation, today it is an independent entity owned and operated by Motown industry veteran Miller London whose relationships with power players throughout the business have made him uniquely able to serve the needs of that industry with his magazine as well as our ever-growing "Entertainment-Marketing Summit," formerly known as the "PowerJam Conference." Contributing heavily to both dominions is David Mitchell, our former Vice President and Managing Editor who has masterminded the many informative panels of the conference for several years now while also maintaining the integrity of the magazine editorially. The lady who recently moved into David's position as he transitioned into the record company and artist management sides of the business is Tosha Thomas, "Our Girl in Hollywood" who is also a major presence at the Summit and makes sure the magazine is on-point when it comes to the latest lifestyle interests of our readership. And our affiliate publisher Ron Daniels has parlayed his connections at the upper echelons of music and video distribution networks to tap into executive intelligence for both Urban Network as well as his on-line newsletter the iNDI.

Our "Inspired" Gospel correspondent in St. Louis, Lin Woods, is among the most respected and connected people in that key niche of the music industry. Our Art Director Vera Paras is the latest in a long line of creative people who has been an inexhaustible ace juggling magazine and on-line content as well a myriad of other tasks requiring her technological expertise. Our Sales/Business Development Executive Arthur Mitchell and his crack team have been busy expanding Urban Network with fresh branding and cooperative deals. Finally there is David Lilly, our resident communication and distribution expert who gets our messages out to the world (that is when he's not sticking his mug into cameras as a TV, film and commercial extra).

Personally, since February 1988, I've had the distinct pleasure of immersing myself in my first love - music - listening to and writing about thousands and thousands of songs, albums and artists. Urban Network stretched me from day one. While I love all styles, ultimately I'm most enamored with anything based in jazz…which is why my first artist interview here with rappers the Fat Boys was truly a taste broadening experience! I later was proud to champion eclectic hip hop originals such as Digable Planets, Digital Underground, Simple E, and Busta Rhymes while also covering icons from their beginnings that include Ice-T, Ice Cube, Too $hort Salt-n-Pepa, Common, ?uestlove of The Roots, and Chuck D & Flava Flav of Public Enemy (separately).

My first cover story was an in-depth multi-pager with Vanessa Williams that I am proud of to this day. The lady justifiably survived all the b.s. to rise from her debut CD The Right Stuff when I chatted with her to become a mother, a Broadway star and an unforgettable presence on television with her deliciously wicked portrayal of "Wilhelmina Slater" on Ugly Betty.

I am most indebted to Urban Network for the opportunity to have interviewed many legends who are no longer here... And at the top of that list is Curtis Mayfield, a man whose words and music sparked personal and social revolutions of the mind. I interviewed him once before the tragic accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down, and many times after – encounters I will treasure forever as lasting touchstones of inspiration. Sadly, this section also includes Gerald Levert, easily the artist that I interviewed more than any other as a solo star, producer, member of the groups Levert and LSG, and as a partner with his father Eddie Levert, Sr. Though we have no say in such things, I truly feel he left us far too soon. And then there is Luther Vandross, the prolific last great soul man whose legacy, in my mind, is untouchable. Of the many times I talked with him, I'll never forget Memphis…when he was feuding with En Vogue. Peace and props also to Lou Rawls, Barry White, Eddie Harris, Milt Jackson, Ike Turner, Rick James, Jon Lucien, Ms. Phyllis Hyman, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez, Aaliyah (I was among the last to ever interview her on the set of her video for "We Need a Resolution"), Grover Washington Jr., Art Porter, George Howard, Gwen Guthrie, Bernard Edwards of Chic, Kenny Greene of INTRO, Tony LeMans and songwriter Static.

I've had the pleasure of championing many artists from their beginnings – some of whom are still thriving and others who, sadly, failed to "blow up." Of the former, I'm so proud of Chante' Moore and Kenny Lattimore who individually represent excellence as singer/songwriters with open minds and boundless talents, and now as a married couple continue that magic personally and professionally. I‘m also extremely honored to call Will Downing a friend. Talk about a warrior, Will's steady triumph over the muscle disorder Polymiositis is a Herculean inspiration. I've got mad love for Mint Condition and Slapbak, the only black bands to start and still thrive within the last two decades. And then there's my top shelf list of survivors who shared some time with me: Lalah Hathaway, MeShell NdegeOcello, Erykah Badu, Alicia Keys, India.Arie, Amerie (when she works with Rich Harrison – y'all need to recognize), Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Anthony Hamilton, Missy Elliott, Frank McComb, Amp Fiddler, Terri Lyne Carrington, Kenny Garrett, Christian McBride, my old Baldwin Hills garage jam homie Lenny Kravitz, K-Ci & JoJo and Usher (the best all-around entertainer in the game).

The living legends I have been most honored to interview are Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Bobby Womack and Leon Ware (all in their homes), Stevie Wonder (in memory of Stevie Ray Vaughn), B.B. King, Sade (a trans-Atlantic phoner but STILL one of the greatest days of my life), Ashford & Simpson, Isaac Hayes, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, Milton Nascimento, Bootsy Collins, George Clinton, Ernie Isley & Ronald Isley, Sugarfoot & Diamond of the Ohio Players, Ramsey Lewis, Les McCaan, Stanley Clarke, Al Jarreau, George Duke, Charles Wright, Richie Havens, The Time (all 7 members in Minneapolis for the Pandemonium reunion), Roberta Flack, Angela Bofill, Ron Carter, Donna Summer, Mary Wilson, Stephanie Mills and my all-time crush Pam Grier (for The ‘L' Word). Tina Turner, Little Richard, Norman Whitfield and Frankie Crocker also popped up at Urban Network's door, but not for interviews.

The butthole award remains a tie between Bobby Brown and Christopher Williams.

The ladies who most mesmerized me with their presence: Nicki Richards, Brigette McWilliams, Tyler Collins, Cree Summer, Rhonda Clark, Toni Braxton, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Yolanda Adams, Cindy of En Vogue, the Good Girls and Paula Abdul ("Forever Your Girl" era). The most sexually provocative conversation I ever had was on a hotel bed with Adina Howard.

The independent artists I'm championing the hardest are Marcus Miller, the duo Albright, Eric Roberson, Esperanza Spalding, Nuwamba, Fertile Ground, Liv Warfield, Conya Doss, Aya, Karen Briggs, Latonya Holmes, Raheem DeVaughan, Lynne Fiddmont, Clairdee and Ledisi.

That leaves "The Question Marks" - artists with so much talent yet sidelined for so long that I don't know what to make of them. Let's just say I'm keeping hope alive for Rachelle Ferrell, Maxwell, Lauryn Hill, D'Angelo, Eric Bene't and Whitney Houston.

Praise God for the iPod and YouTube, both of which have given us all the freedom of choice to not have to suffer at the greedy hands of corporate media (currently on the receiving end of some bitter karma). Makes me wanna get out my dashiki and holler "Power to the People!" Here's to the future. Whatever it may bring, it's all in our hands. "Pass the music on…"

This piece is dedicated to the memory of our departed, yet forever loved brother and sister, Joe Nazel and Kym Winfrey.