Rap Radar

FADER‘s cover subjects are always out the box. And for their Spring Style issue, Kendrick Lamar and Danny Brown get their shine on. Issue hits newsstands March 6th, but you can read K-Dot’s story here and Danny’s here.

Givenchy creative director, Riccardo Tisci shares his March Vogue feature with Kanye West. In the excerpt below, Tisci shares his experience on working with The Throne.

“I was a little bit scared, ” admits Tisci, “Because I’m not an artist or graphic artist.” He finally agreed and was awed when a meeting sequed into a jam session that involved Rihanna, Swizz Beatz and Pharrell Williams, all freely exchanging ideas “like a family giving opinions to each other,” remembers Tisci, “sharing – which is something that fashion is missing,” he adds plaintively.

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The son of North Korea’s former leader takes the cover of TIME magazine. Uh, wanna bumble with the nukes, huh?

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Make way for the new generation. 2 Chainz, Tyga and Mac Miller take the February/March cover of The Source. The issue’s cover story will feature the three as well as Kendrick Lamar.

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That crown is definitely for the taking. Nicki returns to the cover of VIBE for their February/March issue. Mag hits stands next week, but below is an excerpt.

You were heavy on the fashion scene last year around Fashion Week with Anna Wintour. Do you feel like you’ve been accepted by the fashion world?
Yeah, I realized more recently that even if it’s for a fashion magazine, I’m not gonna change who I am. When I was doing photo shoots last year, I kept on being told, “This is what we want your hair to look like and this is what we want you to look like,” and it really, really stifled my creativity. So the other day I was talking to a photographer, and he said, “You know what, I like your everyday looks so much better than when you do photo shoots for magazines.” And I was like, “So do I, you’re absolutely right.” I’d been getting more and more frustrated for a while.

But I’ve made up my mind that when you see a Nicki Minaj magazine cover from now on, it’s really going to reflect me and it’s going to be something that I creatively had a hand in, because I don’t have to do it anymore. I don’t have to do things just to please people. It’s okay to do what I love because what I love, my fans love. And they’re really the only ones that should matter. The fashion world will have to come to Nicki Minaj, as opposed to Nicki Minaj trying to go to the fashion world.

We are caught in a blur as Nicki graces the Spring Fashion 2012 issue of New York magazine. Below, she explains her wacky alter egos.

What’s the story with your different alter egos?
I have different personalities, so I just started naming them. Like, there’s one that’s angry, a little more in-your-face. I named that person Roman. He guest stars on my new album. There’s also his mother, Martha. She guest-stars as well. She’s from London. I also have a Barbie character that comes out every now and then. She’s soft-spoken, really sweet, and polite. She’s got a kid’s voice.

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For the upcoming Spring issue of Paper magazine, Nicki goes green for the front cover. In the excerpt from her story below, Ms. Minaj weighs on the sound of her next album. So emotional.

“The album is like a collage of all my emotions. I am not sticking to any particular style. I am doing what I feel without restrictions. So it’s very free and very me.”

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Nearly 48 hours after Cory Gunz was bagged in the Bronx for packing a gun, he spoke with the NY Daily News on his arrest. If convicted, he faces three years in prison.

“This was a big mistake on my part. I didn’t have any intentions of harming anyone or committing a criminal activity. So many young people look up to me and I need to fight though this. It’s been really hard, really stressful. When the smoke finally clears people will understand what was going on.”

To commemorate the 15th anniversary of B.I.G.’s passing (March 9th), the late Frank White returns to the cover of XXL. Rare photo. Issue hits newsstands on February 7.

The XXL team spoke to some of those closest to Big for an in-depth look into his life and death. From his kids T’Yanna Wallace and Christopher “CJ” Wallace and their mamas, Jan Jackson and Faith Evans, to his closest friends like members of Junior M.A.F.I.A. and others, many got their chance to share stories and more to pay homage to the beloved MC. Most even disclosed rare, never-before-published photos of Biggie from their personal collections, which are featured in this month’s issue. Since Big was the most swagger-jacked rapper of all time, there’s a list of the 100 best Biggie bites, a look a what The Notorious One might have looked like at 40 plus much more in the magazine.

A$AP Rocky along with designer Jeremy Scott, make their cover debut on Complex. Written by Joe La Puma, the issue hits newsstands February 7th. But why wait? Read it here.

Complex: Why do you think hip-hop is so fascinated with fashion and vice versa?

A$AP ROCKY: As black people it was our thing to show that we’re not living in poverty and that we can afford extravagant things—that kind of stuck with us. So when our great-grandparents were putting on their favorite outfits, it was to put on a front for the hard time. And hip-hop is a bunch of people that never had nothing. Fashion is just an expression. It’s an art. It expresses your taste. Good taste is important in hip-hop. I wake up saying I’m going to look the best I can and do what the fuck I want to do. And that’s what it’s all about. I don’t know if I articulated it good because im pretty high right now—and I have a lisp and I’m going to Mars right now.

Jeremy Scott: [Laughs]. The thing is hip-hop is one of the only communities that really started its own trends.

A$AP ROCKY: Wow.

Jeremy Scott: That’s why I’ve always been inspired by hip-hop artists, because they transform things—even just the jean, turning it around, inside out, sagging it—all these different things. Yes, of course we get little things from other music movements, but hip-hip has been like, Pow! It’s really inspiring and it’s the only new music that has come along in eons. Rock and roll has been around—it’s changing forms. But hip-hip is major.