TRACE is a quarterly, internationally-distributed magazine with the tagline, 'transcultural styles + ideas'. It focuses on urban culture, and has featured on its cover some of the most significant black artists and models of the last decade, including Snoop Dogg

Snoop Dogg

Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...

, Mary J. Blige

Mary J. Blige

Mary Jane Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B. Blige has...

, Biggie Smalls, Diddy

Sean Combs

Sean John Combs , also known by his stage names Diddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur. He has won three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards, and his clothing line earned a Council of Fashion Designers of America award. He was originally...

, Iman

Iman (model)

Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid , professionally known as Iman , is a Somali-American fashion model, actress and entrepreneur. A pioneer in the field of ethnic cosmetics, she is also noted for her charitable work. She is married to David Bowie.-Early life:Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, Iman is the daughter...

, and Naomi Campbell

Naomi Campbell

Naomi Campbell is a British model. Scouted at the age of 15, she established herself among the top three most recognisable and in-demand models of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and she was one of six models of her generation declared "supermodels" by the fashion world...

 - many of them before they were household names. It was founded in 1996 by Claude Grunitzky

Claude Grunitzky

Claude Grunitzky is a journalist, editor and entrepreneur. He is best known as founder and editor-in-chief of the quarterly publication TRACE, an international fashion and music title, and as a co-founder of the Trace TV network...

, who is still the Chairman and Editor in Chief.

History

TRACE magazine was the successor to True magazine, which the Togo-born Grunitzky had started in 1995. When True failed after less than a year, Grunitzky, then aged 25, launched Trace, choosing the name apparently for its inquisitive connotations and its similarity to the word ‘race’.

The first cover featured Snoop Dog, and was distributed in the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, the US, Australia and Japan. In 1998, after 15 UK issues, Trace moved their headquarters to the US. At least part of the reason for this has been cited as the desire for more accessible and more dynamic kind of publication than London at that time allowed for.

After an inauspicious start (at one point, financial backing for the cash-strapped publication came in the form of a $110,000 cheque from Wu-tang rapper RZA), it rose to become a well-respected voice within the urban style scene. Over the years, its cover stars have included such a-listers as models Naomi Campbell

Naomi Campbell

Naomi Campbell is a British model. Scouted at the age of 15, she established herself among the top three most recognisable and in-demand models of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and she was one of six models of her generation declared "supermodels" by the fashion world...

, Devon Aoki

Devon Aoki

Devon Edwenna Aoki is an American model and actress.-Early life:Aoki was born in New York City, New York, and grew up in California and London, attending high school at The American School in London...

, Iman

Iman (model)

Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid , professionally known as Iman , is a Somali-American fashion model, actress and entrepreneur. A pioneer in the field of ethnic cosmetics, she is also noted for her charitable work. She is married to David Bowie.-Early life:Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, Iman is the daughter...

 and Tyra Banks

Tyra Banks

Tyra Lynne Banks is an American model, media personality, actress, occasional singer, author and businesswoman. She first became famous as a model, but television appearances were her commercial breakthrough...

, actresses Thandie Newton

Thandie Newton

Thandiwe Nashita "Thandie" Newton is a British actress. She has appeared in a number of British and American films, including The Pursuit of Happyness, Mission: Impossible II, Crash, Run, Fatboy, Run and W....

 and Rosario Dawson

Rosario Dawson

Rosario Isabel Dawson is an American actress, singer, and writer. She has appeared in films such as Kids, Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Sin City, Clerks II, Rent, Death Proof, The Rundown, Eagle Eye, Alexander, Seven Pounds, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Unstoppable.-Early...

, boxer Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson

Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson is a retired American boxer. Tyson is a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles, he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old...

, and musicians Diddy

Sean Combs

Sean John Combs , also known by his stage names Diddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur. He has won three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards, and his clothing line earned a Council of Fashion Designers of America award. He was originally...

, Common

Common (rapper)

Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. , better known by his stage name Common , is an American hip-hop artist and actor....

, IAM

IAM

- Concepts :* Identity and Access Management, a concept that combines business processes, policies and technologies.* Innovation Access Method, a high-performance indexed access-method for IBM's z/OS and OS/390 operating systems that provides a transparent alternative to IBM's VSAM* Indo-Aryan...

, DMX

DMX (rapper)

Earl Simmons , better known by his stage name DMX, is a multiplatinum American rapper and actor who rose to fame in the late 1990s. His stage name pays tribute to the Oberheim DMX drum machine, an instrument he used when he made his own rap beats in the 80's...

, Erykah Badu

Erykah Badu

Erica Abi Wright , better known by her stage name Erykah Badu , is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical...

, Kelis

Kelis

Kelis Rogers Kelis Rogers Kelis Rogers (born August 21, 1971 is an American musical artist. She is a BRIT Award, Q Award and NME Award winner and has been nominated for two Grammy Awards. She has had nine top 10 singles on the UK Singles Chart...

, Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress.Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of...

, Missy Elliott

Missy Elliott

Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott , is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, and actressA five-time Grammy Award winner, Elliott, with record sales of over seven million in the United States, is the only female rapper to have five albums certified platinum by the RIAA, including one...

, Foxy Brown, Gwen Stefani

Gwen Stefani

Gwen Renée Stefani is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani is the lead vocalist for the rock and ska band No Doubt. Stefani recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The album was inspired by music of the 1980s, and was a success with sales of over...

, Notorious BIG, Sean Paul

Sean Paul

Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques , who performs under stage name Sean Paul, is a Jamaican pop rap and reggae singer.-1973–1996: Early life:...

, Rihanna

Rihanna

Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...

, Mary J Blige, Lenny Kravitz

Lenny Kravitz

Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads...

, Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys

Alicia Augello Cook , better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano...

, Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...

, Sisqo

Sisqó

Mark Durrell Andrews , known by his stage name Sisqó, is an American R&B singer and actor. He is best known as the lead singer of R&B group Dru Hill, and also for "Thong Song", a song from his first solo LP, Unleash the Dragon, that became an international hit. - Biography :Sisqó was born Mark...

, Eve

Eve (rapper)

Eve Jihan Jeffers , is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer and actress. Her first three albums have reached a total of over 8 million albums sold worldwide. She has also achieved success in fashion as she started a clothing line titled "Fetish." She won a Grammy Award in 2002 for the...

 and Snoop Dogg

Snoop Dogg

Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...

. It has featured photography by the likes of Marc Baptiste, Ellen Von Unwerth

Ellen von Unwerth

Ellen von Unwerth is a photographer and director, specializing in erotic femininity. She worked as a fashion model for ten years herself before moving behind the camera, and now makes fashion, editorial, and advertising photographs.Ellen von Unwerth found fame when she first photographed Claudia...

, Albert Watson

Albert Watson

Albert William Watson was a South Carolina politician.Watson was born in Sumter, South Carolina and served in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He graduated from the University of South Carolina law school in 1950 and opened a law practice in the state capital, Columbia...

 and Juergen Teller

Juergen Teller

Juergen Teller is an artist and fashion photographer.-Life and career:Teller studied at the Bayerische Staatslehranstalt für Photographie in Munich, Germany...

.

It is credited with being amongst the first publications to have ‘discovered’ the (then up-and-coming) artists Mary J Blige, Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys

Alicia Augello Cook , better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano...

, Rosario Dawson

Rosario Dawson

Rosario Isabel Dawson is an American actress, singer, and writer. She has appeared in films such as Kids, Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Sin City, Clerks II, Rent, Death Proof, The Rundown, Eagle Eye, Alexander, Seven Pounds, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Unstoppable.-Early...

, and Tiffany Limos

Tiffany Limos

Tiffany Limos is an American actress best known for her role as Peaches in the controversial film Ken Park, and has been called the muse of iconic photographer Larry Clark...

.



In 2006, TRACE turned 10 years old, and celebrated with a November Anniversary issue, published with three different covers.

Features

In its early years, TRACE focused principally on hip hop culture , and this fact is reflected in the large number of rap, hip-hop and r & b artists it featured on and within its covers. Around the early 90s, it shifted to a broader approach, incorporating more high-fashion and travel features, and appealing to a wider range of racial and cultural backgrounds. This change corresponds to Grunitzky’s growing interest in the concept of ‘transculturalism’, a term which he invented to describe the increasing prevalence of individuals who “transcend their initial culture, in order to explore, examine and infiltrate foreign cultures”. Accordingly, later issues included “Brasil 2000”, “Destination: Japan”, and, “High on Mexico”. Nonetheless, since 1998 they have continuously employed their provocative (and ambiguous) ‘Black Girls Rule!’ catchphrase, which now constitutes the theme for one magazine issue per year.

An international TV network, Trace TV

Trace TV

Trace Urban is a French music video television network devoted to play urban contemporary music videos, founded by the French businessmen Olivier Laouchez and Claude Grunitzky....

 was launched in April 2003 by Claude Grunitzky, Richard Wayner and Olivier Laouchez, with funding from the Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...

Group.

Mentions in pop culture

• Trace Magazine appears in Quentin Tarantino’s 2007 film Grindhouse. In the scene where someone goes into a store to buy a copy of Vogue, as they browse they shelves the camera pans past the Alicia Keys Trace issue
• Trace was featured prominently in the Spike Lee movie "She Hate Me"

Books

• 10 Years of Trace, by Claude Grunitzky and Steven Psyllos, (Booth-Clibborn Editions, 2006) ISBN 1-86154-294-1
• Transculturalism: How the world is coming together, by Claude Grunitzky (TRUE Agency, Inc. 2004) ISBN 1-57687-218-1

Further reading

• Magazine Covers, by David Crowley (Mitchell Beazley 2003) ISBN 1-84533-239-3