“The Maestro” 

Alicia Keys, photographed exclusively for her feature in the October issue of Vibe magazine by Danielle Levitt in 2001.

Brooklyn-based former executive editor of Vibe Lakán Angelo Ragaza writes about the new J Records artist in a walk-up studio in Alicia’s native West Side Manhattan neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen as she rehearses for her support act on Maxwell’s upcoming national tour in July. Alicia’s Songs in A Minor debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 1, selling over 236,000 copies at the time.

Father to So So Def Recordings’ Jermaine Dupri, Michael Mauldin signed Alicia to the Columbia label when he was senior Vice President of black music. But when he left the label, Alicia languished in development hell. “I think he had the vision for where she was going to be,” Dupri says to Vibe. “Nobody else had that same guidance as far as watching over her project and making sure it was going to go down the way he planned—a real project that you have to take your time with. It probably was a sour experience for her.”

“It’s been one trial, one test of confidence and faith after the next,” Alicia confides to Vibe. “Success doesn’t just mean that I’m the singer, and you give me my 14 points, and that’s all. That’s not how it’s going down. I plan to expand, in every way possible.”