Letter From the Editor

A note from me to you

Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.

Allow me to preach the young adult gospel. Your twenties should have been filled with experimentation. It’s when you could handle after-work debauchery five days a week — and still make the 9:30 a.m. meeting.

Before becoming editor in chief at VIBE and an executive at BET, I certainly made the most out of being twentysomething. Helicopter rides with Puff? Check. Watching Janet rehearse? Saw it. Navigating marriage and nightlife? Did it. Tried to, anyway. That’s a balancing act that takes practice. My wife and therapist would agree.

Salute to that time in life, but LEVEL isn’t that kind of party. It’s still a hell of a celebration, though. When the lights turn up and you’re on the other side of 29 — that’s where we’ll meet you. This is home base for mature Black and Brown men. We’ve been nomads in need of a meeting place. Sit for a minute.

I know simply existing isn’t enough to get you to join us. You want to know the value proposition. Here is exactly what we’re serving: race and identity, life, and culture.

At LEVEL, it’s deeper than a lifestyle. It’s about connecting and making a commitment to improving your life through discourse.