Smith, Danyel 1966(?)–

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Danyel Smith 1966(?)–

Writer

Writer Danyel Smith began writing about hip-hop music for magazines and newspapers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, just as the genre was beginning to take over mainstream music. Her writing career actually followed the trajectory of hip-hop; she went from writing record and concert reviews for San Francisco-Bay Area publications to moving to New York to take editorial positions at Billboard and the New York Times. In 1997 Smith reached the pinnacle of her career in journalism by becoming the first African American and first female editor in chief of Vibe, a music and lifestyle magazine. She left after two years to focus on writing, and began writing fiction. Her first novel, More Like Wrestling, was published in 2002 to favorable reviews.

Smith was born in Oakland, California, around 1966. At the age of ten, she moved with her mother and sister to Los Angeles and lived there until she was 18. She began writing when she was in the first grade, and has almost always kept a journal. She cited such writers as Zora Neale Hurston, Terry McMillan, Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor, Joan Didion, Cristina Garcia, and Sister Souljah among her influences. Smith returned to the Bay Area at age 18 to attend college. After three years at the University of California at Berkeley, she dropped out and began working in retail. “While I took my own road, it was emotional for me,” she is quoted as saying in a 1998 San Francisco Chronicle story. “And sometimes if felt like I was on the wrong road. At Cal, I was confused. I didn’t have any guidance, and I didn’t know how to fix my mouth to ask for any.”

Started Writing on Hip-Hop Scene

Smith found the guidance she was looking for when she took an internship with the San Francisco Bay Guardian. There, she was encouraged by arts editor Tommy Tompkins, who recognized the young writer’s talent. “Danyel was a remarkable individual, strong-willed, interesting, and cantankerous,” Tompkins said in a 1999 interview with the San Francisco Examiner. Tompkins’ encouragement worked. “Tommy convinced me I had something to say, even at 25 years old,” Smith told the Examiner. She began writing about the evolution of hip-hop culture from inner-city rap in the 1980s to its domination of mainstream music in the 1990s and beyond. “When I first heard hip-hop, there’s no way to describe how it affected my life,” Smith told the Examiner. “It was such a great conversation, and no one was writing about it. I was happy to.” Smith soon began covering hip-hop, writing record and concert reviews for the Guardian and the East Bay Express.

Smith’s freelance writing gave way to a 1991 position as music editor for the S.F. Weekly. Though interested mainly in the hip-hop scene, which was thriving in the Bay Area in the early 1990s, Smith began to broaden her interests and write about a wider range of topics. Her career really took off when she began writing a column called “Dreaming America” for Rolling Stone and record reviews for the New York Times. She remained in the Bay Area until 1993, when she picked up and moved to New York. “In some ways, being from Oakland is like being black,” Smith said in an interview with SF Gate. “You always have to explain yourself,

At a Glance…

Born c. 1966, in Oakland, CA. Education: Studied at University of California at Berkeley, c. 1986-89; Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, fellowship, 1996.

Career: Freelance music writer, c. 1989-91; SF Weekly, music editor, 1991-93; Billboard magazine, R&B editor, 1993; New York Times, music writer, 1994; Vibe, music editor, 1994-96, editor in chief, 1997-99; Time Inc., writer, 1999-; novelist 2003–.

Address: Publisher —Crown Publishing Group, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

work twice as hard to get half as far. It’s an underdog city.… But I like being an underdog.”

After five months as R&B editor at Billboard magazine, where she felt stifled, Smith worked for a year as a music writer for the New York Times. She also freelanced for Vibe, a new music/pop-culture magazine founded by music producer Quincy Jones. Editor in chief Alan Light noticed her contributions to the magazine, including an early cover story of actor Wesley Snipes, and hired Smith as music editor for the magazine in 1994. After more than two years in the position, Smith landed a grant to study at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and left the magazine for a year.

Took Over Vibe

When she returned to New York, her music-editor position at Vibe had been filled, but a better one opened up. Light was leaving the magazine, and named Smith his successor as editor in chief. She was the first African American and the first woman to be hired editor in chief in the magazine’s five-year history. As the magazine’s writers and readership are heavily black and multicultural, “having a black editor will be very good psychologically,” a source at Vibe told James Ledbetter of the Village Voice.

Her first day on the job, Smith called her mother for advice, she told the San Francisco Examiner. “Mom said, ’Look smart. Give clear answers. If you don’t know, tell them you’ll think about it. Go with your gut.’ That was the best advice she ever gave me.” Hip-hop was going through very painful, tumultuous times during Smith’s two years as editor in chief. Hip-hop stars Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. were killed, apparently as part of the East Coast/West Coast rap rivalry. Under Smith’s leadership, the magazine’s circulation grew from 500,000 to 700,000.

After two years as editor in chief of Vibe, Smith felt it was time to move on. “I feel a job like that requires a high level of commitment,” she told the Examiner. “Especially if you’re like me, an over-compensator. Plus, I missed writing too much.” Smith continued to freelance for Vibe’s parent company, Time Inc., and taught a creative writing class at the New School in New York City.

Began Writing Fiction

Smith started writing fiction in 1996. The transition from journalism to fiction was an effort for her at first. “Learning to make up stuff and feeling comfortable with it was hard,” she told Joshunda Sanders of the San Francisco Chronicle. “Fiction gives you a chance to go beyond the facts and that takes some getting used to, as fun as it is.” Her first novel, More Like Wrestling, was released in 2002. The book follows two sisters, Paige and Pinch, who venture out into the world alone to escape their mother’s abusive boyfriend. The story is set in 1980s Oakland, when the city was a hotbed of drugs and rap music. “For many people who lived in the Bay Area during the 1980s,” Chronicle book critic Laura Fraser wrote, “Oakland was less a city than a series of headlines. It was a place full of tragedies—most caused by crack cocaine—where the media reported an escalating tally of drive-bys, murders, and deaths of innocent bystanders.” In the book, it isn’t long before Paige and Pinch become immersed in Oakland’s drug trade.

More Like Wrestling was well received by critics, especially for a first novel. Though they openly pointed out the novel’s faults, most critics were forthcoming with their praise. Despite some run-on sentences and a plot that is “not goal oriented,” wrote New York Times critic Tim Appelo, “Smith has created vivid characters, a palpable sense of place, and a wholly absorbing story.” A Publishers Weekly critic concurred regarding Smith’s use of under-punctuated sentences, but noted that, overall, “Smith’s lyrical if sometimes rocky prose make this a substantial and strikingly original debut.”

Selected writings

More Like Wrestling, Crown Publishing Group, 2003.

Also is the author of numerous magazine articles and essays in such publications as Vibe, San Francisco Bay Guardian, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Village Voice, Spin and the New Yorker.