When you’re considered one of the richest men in your profession, finding other interests to entertain yourself is probably almost second nature. Some pursue acting while others try their hands in the real estate industry. For Swizz Beatz, the world of art (not music) is his release. The new issue of YRB - their Art Issue – features three different covers. Swizzy was given the honor to design one of the three (the one above).

In related news, the multi-platinum award winning producer recently inked a deal with Everest Entertainment/Atlantic Records for his second (still untitled) album. After the jump are the two other covers. As a heads up, the issue will be released next week.

Credit: YN

(Keep reading…)

Eminem is the latest superstar to grace the cover of Billboard Magazine. His seventh studio album, Recovery, released Tuesday, is expected to sell upwards of 650,000 copies in its first week in stores.

T.I. is hard at work to reclaim the spot he was forced to vacate before reporting to prison during the spring of 2009. A mixtape with DJ Drama and DJ MLK, defiant comeback single and an album and movie set to be released the same month show Clifford is hell bent on doing just that. Not that he’s fallen off that far, but a year away from whatever it is you love doing is always going to have its resounding impacts.

XXL recently caught up with Tip for their July 6 issue. He’s still got the same drive which catapulted him to rap’s elite and he’s still got the edge and he is by no means ready to had over his “King of the South” title to anyone who he deems undeserving. How do you really get under The King’s skin, you ask? Label him a “snitch.” (Keep reading…)

Hard work does pay off in some cases. In the latest issue of The Source, several influential Hip-Hop journalists, bloggers and personalities were chosen for an in depth piece regarding their place in the game and the always entertaining “blogger beef.” All jokes aside, it is testament to how far and how much the online game has changed the scope of rap music.

It’s a serious subsidiary of the game and one that people are looking to more and more for “official” opinions on everything that happens in this crazy, mixed up, unpredictable (but yet predictable) genre we have all come to know and love at some point in our lives. Of course, Karen Civil was chosen was one of the personalities who is making serious strides. Clap for her.

Others who were included were: (Keep reading…)

Continuing in the new VIBE tradition of split covers, Nicki Minaj is one of June/July’s cover subjects.  In the feature titled “Character Study” written by Siobhan O’Conner, rap’s latest “it” girl shares some interesting insight to her new found fame, female MCs before her and her weird voices. Check out some experts from the cover story which hits stands June 15th.

“People don’t get when you’re off, or you’re having a bad day,” she says, obliquely referring to the photograph that bounced around the blogs of her hand- in-hand with Diddy, looking especially miserable. The speculation was inevitable: Had she been crying? Was she just tired? Are they doing it?

“When I grew up I saw females doing certain things, and I thought I had to do that exactly,” she says. “The female rappers of my day spoke about sex a lot . . . and I thought that to have the success they got, I would have to represent the same thing. When in fact I didn’t have to represent the same thing.”

“I’m not abandoning the funny voices. I just did a crazy tribute to ODB’s ‘Shimmy Shimmy Ya,’” she says, perfectly impersonating the late Wu-Clansman. “But it’s coming up more with the album. I had a teacher in elementary who would stand on her table and whisper. We’d all turn around like, ‘What is this lunatic doing?’ But she would achieve what she wanted. She wanted us to stop talking and listen. I feel like I need to mellow it down so people can hear what I have to say.”

The Miami native covers, The Source’s Summer Heat issue, and has a whole lot on his mind. MTV was able to get an excerpt from the June/July issue, in which the MC talks about his roots in other cities down bottom. Ross reveals that his mother is from Clarksdale, Mississippi, and that he was born in the region’s Coahoma County.

“I always felt in touch with my black side riding by cotton fields at 5, 6 years old, seeing big mills of cotton balls. I was always in touch with slavery, when I could recognize a palm tree at the same age,” added the rapper, who was raised in Florida. “I always respected my culture, my people. Growing up in the streets of Miami, I saw different ways to escape a lot of conditions that I knew was around the corner in Mississippi. It always made me see the world from so many different aspects. I saw the fast life of Miami, but I also saw the slow countryside of a small, country town with a small population. I heard the struggles.”

When he’s not on the road promoting the Albert Anastasia mixtape or his upcoming album, Teflon Don, Ross is often in Atlanta. He opened up about why he spends so much time these days at his house in Georgia.

“Atlanta is a great place to resonate and meet a lot of producers,” he said. “It’s a great wealth of producers here, I believe more than any major city in the South. To really stay on top of your beats as an artist or make big moves — you should have a presence in Atlanta.” But Ross was quick to point out he hadn’t made a permanent relocation, telling the magazine, “I don’t live here. Miami is my primary spot. I own three studios and this is one of them.”

The new issue of The Source is a split cover; Ludacris has the other.

Who wants to keep a secret like this…Nicki Minaj is going to grace the June/July Vibe Magazine cover and here is an outtake to prove it! No, this is not the actual cover. Just a teaser make you go crazy.

-Vibe

VIBE will be  highlighting a celebrity making an impact as the VIBE.com cover story every Tuesday. They have chosen Hov’s choice for our first cover subject: Roc Nation’s flagship rookie J. Cole. In the inaugural cover story, Roc Nation’s increasingly respected 24-year-old draft pick talks debut details, Drizzy, and ditching groupies.

What were Jay’s words when he first heard the single?
He liked it a lot, said the beat reminds him of a Biggie’s “Hypnotize.” I believe him. That’s why they call him Hov [laughs].

When I first interviewed you last year, you said your conversations with him were limited. Has that relationship changed?
Now it’s more… I think his brain is in the same boat as mine. He’s really in executive mode like, ‘How can we take this kid to the next level. What do I need to be doing as Jay-Z to help this kid.’ I can see that all in his moves.

Read rest of story…

In outtakes from XXL May 2010 Cover Story, Drake gives his thoughts on maybe one day doing a DJ Drama “Gangsta Grillz” Tape

I just find that boring, you know. There’s certain people where it’s impressive, like with Lil Wayne, to hear him freestyling over other people’s beats for an hour is impressive because it’s just like, Yo, this guy never runs out of clever shit to say, but for me, people might want to hear it, but it’s just not something that I really want to give you. I’d rather just give you something that lasts a little longer than that ’cause those mixtapes never really last much longer than six months. When the songs become played out, and…

XXL: Well, it’s different now. It’s like Dedication 2 and Dedication 1 and Jeezy obviously, Trap or Die…

Drake: Yeah, but even so, do you listen to those on a constant basis or would you rather put in an album where somebody’s giving you original compositions and moments that maybe apply to your life as opposed to listening to like… I don’t know? I know to listen to freestyles over songs that maybe I’m just sick of, even though somebody kills it, there may be one or two or three that really, really, I love, but other than that, I’d rather just listen to like somebody’s music.