Show & Prove
Huey

 •  Show & Prove  •  by XXL Staff  •  18 Comments

It seems strange, but there hasn’t been a single serious (read multidimensional) lyricist to emerge from St. Louis. Sure, there have been a handful of rappers that have repped for the city. But it’s not like the St. Lunatics or ...

Read More

360
The Inspiration

 •  XXL Magazine  •  by XXL Staff  •  3 Comments

Dear Godfather, We could pour out a river of liquor, and it wouldn’t be enough. How else is there to say it? If there had been no you, there’d be no us. Kool Herc, Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash—they took the rhythms you ...

Read More

Editorial
Do U Wanna Ride

 •  Bloggers  •  by XXL Staff  •  8 Comments

Happy New Year! That’s what you’re supposed to say to muthafuckas when you first greet them in the ’07. Happy New Year, sir! Happy New Year, shawty! Well, I’m sick of that shit, and I’m sick literally. Feeling under the ...

Read More

March 2007

 •  XXL Magazine  •  by XXL Staff  •  2 Comments

Cover Stories "U KNOW WHAT IT IS" He said it, and apparently he meant it. King of the South. T.I. is extending his reign over the whole hip-hop nation. With a royal court of a crew, his majesty rules over a vast ...

Read More

When it all falls down

 •  Bloggers  •  by XXL Staff  •  66 Comments

It's weird to think that as recently as a few years ago Kanye West was the rapper who felt the black woman's pain. In addition to his penchant for teh ghey-looking shirts and tiny jackets, he had songs that spoke ...

Read More

T.I.
U Know What It Is

 •  News  •  by XXL Staff  •  113 Comments

Robert Greene calls it the “strategy of the crown.” It’s when a proactive dreamer doesn’t settle for mere self-confidence. Instead, one almost hypnotizes oneself into self-conviction, eventually morphing into one’s ideal identity. The result: Onlookers see nothing but a king. ...

Read More

Bow Wow
Mama I’m So Sorry

 •  News  •  by XXL Staff  •  38 Comments

On August 5, 2006, Bow Wow became a man. There were plenty of witnesses. Paris Hilton led the sordid cast of characters on hand. Washed-up ’80s TV star David Hasselhoff was there. So was Mini-Me. Shoot, it was a Who’s ...

Read More