What Rapper Deserves a Cover But Never Got One? – Conversations With JD

In case any of you missed last night’s discussion on Twitter, @LILife aka Jermaine Dupri asked @XXLStaff, “Why ya’ll never gave Bow Wow a cover any point in his 12 year career?”

Apparently, JD had tweeted the question earlier in the day but my co-worker Ans, who was manning the Twitter account, didn't see it until much later, following a bevy of RTs. His response: “probably timing and buzz at the moment. If you go back and check his [Bow Wow's] album releases versus who got the cover at that time I assume they [were] bigger, that's just my guess but really couldn't tell you since I haven't been here 12 years.”

Well, as the conversation continued, the So So Def executive proceeded to ask, “has anybody been there in 12 years that can explain why XXL overlooked #ATRUEHIPHOPMOMENT?” Truth is, there's barely a handful of people who’ve been around these parts that long. In fact, this is officially my second week on the pay roll but I've been paying dues for well over a year. Anyway, since none of the OGs were around for this late night conversation we'd just have to get back to JD offline on that one.

Funny thing is, when one of my other co-workers caught wind of the JD Twitter conversation, he pointed out a time where he had a similar discussion with the ATL CEO that was quite different. When asked about Bow Wow's career and the possibility of him gracing the cover in the March 2007 issue, Dupri had this to say:

“I think [Bow Wow's] career is a strain on his brain... A lot of times he feels like he is stuck in a world and has nowhere to go. He asks me questions all the time, like, ‘When are they going to put me on the cover of XXL?’ and you automatically kind of know, ‘That ain’t going to happen, Bow, because the people that read XXL ain’t really buying your records.’ He thinks about that. He starts feeling like, ‘Shit, I should just do something else until I turn 22, 23.’”

Being as Bow just turned 23 this past March, I'm guessing that's why JD is singing a different tune. Now, I’m not saying Bow doesn’t have talent—as he was clearly has enough to sign to Cash Money/Young Money and has more than a few hits and plaques under his belt—but is he still focused on music? The rap star has flirted with retirement in recent years and is still racking up those Hollywood checks. Again, that's not taking anything away from the young man's catalog and history, but we can't harp on what could of been when we're right here in the now.

Still, JD posed an interesting question and I wanted to address it here. So y'all tell me, should Bow Wow have gotten a cover at some point in his career? And what other artist do you think should have gotten one that never did?

This should be interesting. —Amber McKynzie [RT by Anslem Samuel]