XXL Mag

Everyone in TDE has bars—even the man with the business plan. Punch, TDE's boss hog, surprised listeners last year when he unexpectedly and unceremoniously dropped loosies via his Soundcloud page. The biggest question on everyone's minds was what took so long? Well ...

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Maybe there's something to be said about the ghost in the machine. Kanye West's 2008 bloodletting 808s & Heartbreak has been widely credited with spawning a generation of imitators. And rightly so--Drake, Kid Cudi, and a litany of others have explored their insecurities in the moody negative space, becoming stars in the process. Bu...

It's every aspiring rapper's dream to bring the crew up to Hot 97 and spit bars on Funk Flex's show. Last night, Troy Ave did just that when he brought his B$B clique to downtown Manhattan to rap over classic instrumentals. Ave, Young Lito, Avon Blocksdale and King Sevin repped their borough and traded bars while Flex flipped beats ...

Lupe Fiasco wants your attention, except he doesn't. The Chicago rapper has spent most of the last month jumping at every chance to court vitriol, engaging in wars of tweeted words with the likes of Freddie Gibbs, Azealia Banks, GrandeMarshall, Kid Cudi, and simply the world at large...

The Redemption Of The Beast fiasco has caused nothing but headaches for DMX and his team. X is now looking to get legal revenge on the people responsible for the album. According to HipHopDX, X's manager/brother Montana sent a cease and desist letter to Seven Arts Entertainment and claim that the release is a breach of the contract X signed with the entertainment company ...

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon have been split up for quite a while now, but Cannon finally made the breakup official by taking his divorce papers to the court house. According to reports from TMZ and Daily Mail, Cannon and Carey hashed out a settlement in early December and Cannon filed his divorce papers on Dec ...

When rappers need to let off steam and Twitter’s 140 characters doesn't provide enough space, MCs turn to Instagram. Many hip-hop stars use the social site as an outlet to air their opinions on various cultural and personal topics. From Diddy voicing his dissatisfaction of the rulings in the Mike Brown and Eric Garner cases to Chris Brown apologizing to Karrueche, IG is where rappers let it all ou

Tupac Shakur's legacy lives on through his music and message and the legendary persona will be honored by the Grammy Museum with the "All Eyez on Me: The Writings of Tupac Shakur" exhibit. The exhibit will include the Versace suit he wore to the 1996 Grammy Awards, handwritten notes, lyrics, poems, interview and performance footage, and more ...

The holidays are a time to see old friends, eat (and drink) too much, and sit uncomfortably as your family members say outlandish things. Turns out, that's pretty much how things go at ESPN, too. Last night (Jan. 15), the reliable trio of David Pasch, Bill Walton, and Jay Bilas was covering the Colorado-Arizona game in Tuscon, when Walton decided to play Santa Claus...

Fans of rappers appearing on CNN debates may be in store for a treat. HLN host and former prosecutor Nancy Grace is ready to go another round with 2 Chainz in the debate over the legalization of weed. Their first debate, which aired earlier this week, went viral after the artist formerly known as Tity Boi schooled the talking head on bud ...

The Showtime hit series "Shameless" returned back for its fifth season last Sunday, Jan. 11. The show which debuted in 2011 has provided viewers an excellent and compelling story about a dysfunctional family trying to survive in the rough streets of Southside, Chicago...