Rap Radar

Tunechi will soon be adding author to his resume. AP reports he has signed with Grand Central Publishing to release Gone Til November, which will feature diary entries from his stint at Rikers Island. The pub is set for a November 28 release.

Back in November of 2010, Dwayne Carter was released after serving 8 months for his gun charge. During that time, he interacted with fans through a series of letters and journals through his site.

hhdx

Esco’s It Was Written turned 15 years old back in July. And in a recent interview with XXL, he reflects on his sophomore album.

What was your inspiration for “I Gave You Power?”
A Premier beat. Just a beat from Premier… in the studio. Back then I was around a lot more guns and my reality was that. There was no armed security back then, it was just us moving around so that was a lot more in my world.

I remember you had “Silent Murder” on the cassette. What made you put a bonus track on cassette at a time where things were moving to CDs?
Well, the cassette still wasn’t dead. They was still sellin’, so we figured, the cassette is what we grew up on. CDs is takin’ over so we need an extra attraction to get people to not buy the CDs, and also try to keep the cassette alive. We needed something to help keep the cassette alive so that’s what we did with Stretch and that was his last works, that was his last works with me. I miss him. I do. I think about him from time to time. Great dude. He was a real good dude.

I still got my cassette. Read the entire article here.

For The Source‘s upcoming issue, Rick Ross returns as Man Of The Year. Below is an excerpt of the Bawse speaking on his near fatal health condition written by Kim Osorio.

“I went and seen an actual neurologist to tell me what was really going on. My condition was basically extreme exhaustion,” says the boss, “…it was a real eye-opener for me.” 

After the jump, Big Sean makes his first major print cover as the issue’s Rookie Of The Year, written by Kazeem Famuyide.

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XXL gives us an exclusive behind the scenes look at Curtis and Money’s photo shoot for their December/January cover. Pick up a copy or 5 at your local newsstands now.

thisis50

Hip-Hop’s Cheech and Chong take the cover of this week’s Rolling Out issue. In the excerpt below, Snoop and Wiz respond to the public’s take of the pair promoting marijuana.

Snoop: We push having a good time with ourselves and not pushing it on you. We celebrate marijuana because of the joy it brings us. Our relationship was us enjoying that first. Once we put one in the air, we could talk about anything.

Wiz: Some people take a little here and there. Whatever gets you by. We don’t encourage marijuana use for people to be doing what we’re doing. We celebrate it because of how it makes us feel.

Max B has a story to tell. Despite being behind bars, Max will add author to his resume with his upcoming memoir. The project will also be released on Blu-ray.

Max Biggaveli is currently serving a 75 year sentence for orchestrating a murder and robbery back in 2006. In March of 2010, the rapper was granted an appeal in the murder case. So wavy baby.

50 is back to hitting the books. Curtis is preparing his next publication, Formula 50: A 6-Week Total Body Transformation Plan which will focus on metabolic resistance training (MRT) and will include a nutrition guide.

Last month, the rapper just released Playground focusing on bullying and tackled the keys to success on The 50th Law in 2009. Formula 50 is scheduled for a January 2013 release. Get fit or die tryin’.

hhdx

Drake recently erected a billboard in his Toronto hometown to promote his new album, Take Care. The ad features the city’s population and utilizes the font as the official Welcoming Sign. City spokeswoman Francine Antoino-Forte told local newspaper, The Star:

“We would suggest that the treatment of the word Toronto used on the billboard is very similar to the wordmark that forms part of the Toronto logo. The similarity of the wordmarks, in conjunction with other creative elements used for the billboard, may cause some confusion about the source of the information. While the city is proud of its local and international talent, we have a general practice of reviewing and addressing reported or known cases related to the possible misuse of the Toronto logo.

brokencool

FADER looks towards the future (no pun) for their NOW issue. Sharing the cover with Rock star Cass McCombs is Mr. Tony Montana himself (no Al Pacino).

It’s still a Cole World. And the Grammy Best New Artist nominee takes the cover of YRB’s latest cover. You can read the cover story here. Below is an excerpt on his project with Kendrick Lamar.

Another project that he’s keeping quiet on is his joint studio album with Kendrick Lamar, which originated as a mixtape. Though the two haven’t hit the studio since laying down cuts including K. Dot’s “HiiiPoWeR,” Cole spoke with the Compton rapper about flying him out to London to spend a week recording their collaborative LP. “At the end of the day, you’re dealing with two solo artists who are on the move all the time,” he explains. “At some point, you’ve got to connect. I think it will happen.”