Big Sean graced the cover of XXL Magazine’s Spring 2016 issue. In the issue, whichs drops April 19, Sean Don discusses his rise to stardom, what’s to come and everything else in between. You can cop Big Sean and Jhene Aiko’s new project ‘Twenty 88‘ here.
The second installment of the 2015 XXL Freshman Roundtable is finally here, featuring OG Maco, Vince Staples and GoldLink. The 10 MCs in the 2015 XXL Freshman Class are DeJ Loaf, Fetty Wap, GoldLink, K Camp, OG Maco, Raury, Shy Glizzy, Tink, Vince Staples and the winner of the fan-voted 10th Spot, Kidd Kidd. Check out the XXL Freshmen performing live in Los Angeles at Club Nokia on Monday, July 13, 2015.
Lil Wayne graced the cover of XXL August/September 2014 issue! Inside the mag Weezy talks about readying his 12th album Tha Carter V for release this year, admits that he’s nervous about how it will be received. He also shares why Prince is one of his biggest inspirations, and opens up about signing Drake and Nicki Minaj to his label.
On Tha Carter V: “I’m always feeling like I ain’t done shit. I’m still nervous about Tha Carter V… I’m confident about what I do, but I’m still nervous about what people think.”
On being authentic: “I know I’m authentic because I’m 35 million years in the game. I don’t know where the authenticity is in the game anymore. Today everyone sounds alike, they looking alike, they acting alike, they dressing alike. I came out when everybody was super different. You had an ODB. You had a Busta Rhymes and then you had a 2Pac. You had a Biggie. And everybody was different. Biggie was talking about Mob and Mafia shit. 2Pac was wylin’, talking about West Coast this and that. You had ni**as like Meth and Red talking about how high they got and making people laugh. And then now, you got them, them. You got the categories and then everyone falls under it.”
On Prince: “It was the way he pronounced words and the way he used his voice. It was like if he was playing with a baby. You know if he was playing with a kid. [Imitates a baby cooing] It was the way that he was exploring it. He wasn’t doing it because it was funny. He was doing it because he could make it sound good and exceptional. I realized that I could do that too. He wasn’t afraid of how he sounded because he knew what he was saying and how he was saying it would always sound good.”
On Drake: “Call me old-fashioned and country, but with Drake, that was the first time I’d seen someone that knew HOW TO SING and rap. That’s all it was. I didn’t know nobody who knew how to do that. You had those old school singing ni**as, where people would do a little eight-bar verse on their songs. But [Drake] was spitting and singing and killing that too. It took a while though. It wasn’t until I heard him spitting on one of my beats when I was like, ‘This fool’s retarded.’ When I hear something that I know I can’t do better? That’s when I’m like, ‘They need to be on the team.’”
On Nicki Minaj: “I wanted a female. Every team needs a female to rep your gang. She was annihilating ni**as. I mean males. I was like, ‘I have to beef my shit up on that muthafucka.’ She just knocked it out the park from day one. She’s just Nicki. I don’t know whose idea it was, but it was a good idea.”
XXL magazine has unveiled the 12 artists that make up their 2014 Freshman Class! This year’s list includes Chance The Rapper, August Alsina, TY Dolla $ign, Isaiah Rashad, Lil Durk, Rich Homie Quan, Lil Bibby, Vic Mensa,
Jarren Benton, Kevin Gates, Troy Ave, and Jon Connor.
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Eminem, Dr.Dre, and Jimmy Iovine graced the cover of XXL’s April/May 2014 issue. Inside the mag they discuss Beats Music, MMLP2, and the ever changing music business.
Magazine hits stands March 11th.
XXL celebrates 40 years of Hip-Hop with 5 covers featuring 5 icons of the game: Jay-Z, Outkast, LL Cool J, Lil Wayne & Snoop Dogg.
The issue also includes year by year lists of the 10 most important albums and songs from 1973 through 2013, as well as stories on Nipsey Hussle, Strange Music and Karen Civil.
50 sat down with XXL magazine and talks about the influence of Hip-Hop culture on commerce, Kanye’s fashion aspirations and rants, the “body of work” he’s about to drop and the Kendrick Lamar phenomenon.
Yesterday it was Snoop’s 20 year anniversary since he released Doggystyle to the World, XXL got a hold of Kendrick and asked him to review Snoop’s debut album.
On the first time hearing it:
I actually listened to it when I was 6. Believe me, when you’re from Compton, Long Beach, Watts, South Central, Inglewood…that’s all they were playing around you as a kid. I couldn’t escape it. I remember seeing Snoop Dogg on this video station called The Box. Somebody kept ordering “Ain’t Nothing But A G Thang.” I watched videos a lot, so I was familiar with him.
On the influence it had on him:
I’m definitely influenced by that album. The structure. The cohesiveness. The skits. The flow. The melodies Snoop kicked. The raw raps. There wouldn’t be a Kendrick Lamar without Doggystyle.
