A cultural writer since the late ’80s, I’ve interviewed everybody from MC Hammer and Gangstarr to Toni Braxton and Tricky to Frank Miller and Walter Mosley, I also co-wrote the groundbreaking hip-hop book Bring the Noise: A Guide: A Guide to Rap Music and Hip-Hop Culture (Crown, 1991). I’ve written stories and reviews for Spin, High Times, Ebony, Mode, XXL, The Village Voice and Entertainment Weekly. My essay on black call girls appeared in Best Sex Writing 2005 edited by Violet Blue (Cleis Press) and a composition on pimp culture entitled “Cashmere Thoughts” will be included in the forthcoming collection Verbal Intercourse: Critical Writings on Hip Hop Culture edited by Kenji Jasper (Harlem Moon/Random House). The former “Black Metropolis” columnist for New York Press and writer-at-large for Vibe magazine, I’ve written countless cover stories for The Source (back when it was good) that included Jay-Z, Nas, Trick Daddy, Lauryn Hill, Snoop Dogg, Cypress Hill and L.L. Cool J. In addition, I’ve penned cover stories on Prince (Code), Toni Braxton (Vibe, Eve (Suede), Erykah Badu (Essence) and Jennifer Lopez (Latina). Other essays have appeared in Rock and Roll is Here to Stay edited by William McKeen (W.W. Norton), The Vibe History of Hip-Hop edited by Alan Light (Random House), Men of Color: Fashion, History, Fundamentals edited by Lloyd Boston, Soul (Black Power, Politics and Pleasure) edited by Monique Guillory and Richard C. Green (NYU Press) and Vibe’s Hip-Hop Divas edited by Rob Kenner. Gonzales has published short fiction in Bronx Biannual literary journal (edited by Miles Marshall Lewis/Akashic Books), Proverbs for the People (edited by Tracy Price-Thompson/Dafina Books) Uptown magazine, Untold UK, Ego Trip, Russell Simmons’ OneWorld, Trace and the first three volumes of the Brown Sugar erotica series edited by Carol Taylor (Simon & Shuster). Currently writes a column called “On the Corner” www.popmatters.com/music/columns/gonzales/051222.shtml) for PopMatters.com.
