Rap Radar

The online division of RESPECT. caught up with Mr. Machine Gun Kelly. He spoke on his recent session with DMX and joining Drake on stage.

Longevity’s everything. And you’ve worked with some pretty crazy artists lately. You were in the studio with DMX and then you performed with Drake. DMX’s voice is crazy when you hear him just talking. You think he got made fun of as a kid with that voice?
Yeah, DMX is the realest person I’ve ever met in my life. He’s exactly what he says he is.

It must have been surreal.
Yeah, he actually came in when I was on top of a table rapping one of his songs, so it was like an awkwardly good moment.

And Drake brought you out to perform “Wild Boy” in Cleveland. What does someone like Drake mean to hip-hop? He shows so much love to everyone? He embraces all the younger artists.
It’s fucking cool. It’s tight. You know, I learned from that. I learn from him when he speaks how he does, when he acts how he does towards other artists. It definitely makes me mature as a young artist, it makes me be like, “Okay, maybe shunning people is not the route.” Not that I do that, per se, but I definitely do have a lot of competitiveness in my blood, where I’ll be like, “Shit, muthafucker, I want that number one spot.” But when you see Drake who has the number one spot so willingly give it all, it’s cool.

For the year-end issue, T.I. returns and splits the cover of VIBE. Mag hits newsstands on December 6th, but below you can take a look at an excerpt from the cover story below.

T.I. on people criticizing Tiny for not taking the drug charge
I’ma tell you, 50 Cent and anybody else, we not gonn’a  have no discussion about what my ole lady should’a, would’a, couda done for anything as it pertains to me,” begins his rant. “We ain’t gonn’a do that. I’m the only one in my family that’s gonna take a lick when it pertains to the legal system. Since me, none of my other family members have seen a jail cell. Nobody. I’m the last one. The buck stops here. I feel that a person that stands behind [his woman for a criminal charge] is a coward anyway.”

I doubt she would have gotten any time.
She wasn’t gonna catch it period, ’cause I’m there. That wasn’t even a consideration. Even if she asked me to I would’ve been like, “Nah, you trippin’. “

So you didn’t feel you were more valuable to your family, employees and business partners on the street?
That’s a discussion between me and another man. Not with the mother of my children. Not with the nurturer of my household.

For this week’s issue of Billboard, Ricky Rozay and Wale make their cover debut. Below is an excerpt from the cover story in which Rozay speaks on the success of MMG/WB this past year. Full cover story here.

“I understand why New York’s a huge fan of Derek Jeter — because in the playoffs he always delivered, he always came through,” Ross says. “And that’s what it is when it comes to big records, big collaborations. I was fortunate last year to have a run with the biggest names in the game.”

Oh the peanut gallery is going to have a field day with that headline. Anywho, prior to the release of Take Care, Drake made headlines on the Wall Street Journal. Occupy the feature by clicking the image.

ovo

Your boy is back with the dude who raps for Hovi-Hov’s label. Light-skinned Jermaine earned this look, son. And as you can see the rest of the story line-up is clean and mean. New RESPECT. hits stands next Tues. Nov 29. Cop Cole cover!

pic: arthurpitt

Mr. Miller certainly has a reason to jump for joy. Mac covered Saturday’s NY Times Art section. The feature highlighted the recent success of his debut as well as J.Cole’s and Wale’s new albums.

Eminem and Yelawolf took to an abanded Detroit automobile plant for their VIBE shoot. Issue on newsstands December 6. Radioactive in stores next Monday.

Now that’s white power. VIBE closes out the year with two of Shady’s most wanted. Issue hits newsstands on December 6, but peep the excerpts of their interview with Erik Parker below.

Eminem, what advice do you offer, if any, on being scrutinized for being a white rapper. Do you guys ever talk about race in that way?  

Eminem: We make jokes about it, but I don’t think we talk about it in depth. As I was listening to his music, I am not even thinking about any of that shit. It’s just the music. That’s one of the things that’s great about it. I’m not even thinking about it when I hear the music.

Yelawolf: We do poke fun of it because it’s funny. Like, he calls me White Dog. 

 

Oh, you called him that on the BET Awards Cypher. I didn’t realize it was an ongoing joke?
EM: Yeah, or Beige Sheep. [Laughs]
YW: Cracker Nuts. Whatever, I think it’s kinda unspoken.
EM: We deal with it enough as it is. So now, let’s make music.
YW: Let’s make great records. At the end of the day, that’s all there is to do.

For the December/January 2012 issue of XXL, Curtis graces all 5 covers including one with Floyd Mayweather celebrating the 5 Faces of 50 Cent in honor of his new LP coming in January. Excerpt below.

“I don’t see what I fell in love with,” he says. “So now I gotta make music that reflects what N.W.A made. I have to make music that has the moments that Nas had. I have to make music that has what Biggie offered.” He also discusses his currently untitled 5^th solo album: “For me, I’m still up against what I’ve done,” he says. “So in order to top it, I know it’s a difficult task. You know, I see the bloggers. My audience hasn’t grown with me. They keep saying, “Aw, man, I want the old 50!” ’Cause those people, it would take them on a safari. I was bringing them close enough to the animals, without being able to get hurt. I was taking them into my neighborhood, where you can very well get your ass killed.”

Peek-A-Boo, we see you. Odd Future strikes a pose on the cover of the December issue of Spin. Before you purchase the issue on newsstand, you can read the entire feature here. Clancy approves. Tyler, not so much.