Ebony Rocks

I do love it when magazines get all creative and produce numerous covers for a special issue. There is something really exciting and celebratory about seeing different covers of your favourite mag; it is a bit like putting pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together. So when I saw that picture of Mary J Blige channelling Diana Ross in her Mahogany mode, I was pretty smitten and then I found out via Harlem Loves that there are a whole bunch of covers featuring current African American stars as past African American stars from iconic issues and you can say I was pretty psyched. We have Nia Long as Dorothy Dandridge, Usher as Sammy Davies Jnr, Taraji P Henson as Diahann Carroll, Regina King as Eartha Kitt, Jurnee Smollet as Lena Horne, Yolanda Adams as Mahalia Jackson, John Legend as Duke Ellington, Lamman Rucker as Richard Roundtree, Blair Underwood as Sidney Poitier, Omar Epps as Muhammed Ali and Samuel L. Jackson as Martin Luther King. The covers are all really vibrant and eye catching. What a better way to celebrate the publication's 65th anniversary. This combined with the super duper double December issue of Essence which features the whole cast of For Coloured Girls means that the US Black magazines are stepping up their game and long may it continue.

You can find these special covers inside the November issue of Ebony which is the 'special collectors edition.