XXL Mag

Forty years of hip-hop is truly amazing. It’s hard to believe it’s really been that long. Sure, the game has changed tremendously since it was birthed in the Bronx in 1973. But it’s cool to see how hip-hop is now old enough for fathers and sons to talk about it, share music and put each other onto artists and trends. It’s even kind o ...

It was the morning of Christmas Eve, 2012, when news slowly began spreading across the Internet that Capital STEEZ, promising up-and-coming rapper and first lieutenant for Brooklyn's Joey Bada$$-led Pro Era crew, was dead. It was shocking, jarring—another young rapper dead, this one to a reported suicide—but, unfortunately, not new to a world that has lost too many for a genre of music too young.

DJMLK comes through with his latest mixtape, Good Night Don’t Exist In ATL 3. The project contains exclusive new tracks from T.I. and his Hustle Gang crew. Tip remixes Que and K Camp’s respective hits “OG Bobby Johnson” and “Cut Her Off.” Other highlights on the tap...

Funk Volume’s ace producer Kato On The Track lays down this bombastic beat for “Day 1 Homies.” Gathering indie acts Irv Da Phenom, Futuristic and Chris Webby, the three lyrical assassins go in with verses about how they’ve been down with one another since the beginning. “No New Friends” is no...

Yikes. Rappin' 4-Tay, who made his debut on Life Is...Too Short (1988), expressed his distaste for Drake's verse on YG's "Who Do You Love," via a tweet he sent out Monday (Dec. 30). New Song w/ @YG Feat @Drake In This Song Drake Copys My Lyrics & Lines From My PlayazClub Song & Pays No Homage! ??? ht...

T-Pain is slowly, but surely making his way back into the scene. After dropping his visuals for “She Said,” he supplies us with “850,” which is a remake of Rico Love’s “They Don’t Know.” Paying homage to his area code in Florida, Pain delivers another catchy tune that hits home. ...

Mac Miller plans to follow a strong 2013 campaign by releasing four albums in 2014. No word whether the projects will be under his original moniker or one of his aliases, but the rapper/producer has confirmed each offering is “unfinished” but has a “foundation of at least seven songs.” In addition to ...

The boys are back. In December, Pusha T spoke about his follow-up to My Name Is My Name, revealing he’ll be in the studio with his former running mates The Neptunes. The studio sessions would be a 20-day run starting Jan. 2, and true to his word, Pusha took some photos of Pharrell and Chad Hugo. The ...

He professed it like prophecy five years ago. He lived it in 2006. T.I.’s on the tip-top of hip-hop. But Being King ain’t all rose petals and platinum. Interviews Bonsu Thompson Images Phil Knott Robert Greene calls it the “strategy of the crown.” It’s when a pro...

Actor James Avery, best known for his role as “Uncle Phil” on the television sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, died yesterday (Jan. 1) at the age of 65. Avery had recently undergone open heart surgery and died from complications from the procedure. The Fresh Prince of ...

While many can argue whether or not Kanye West is the God he proclaims to be, Yeezus can add another convincing argument to his case. Now the face and inspiration of the newly emerging form of cryptocurrency, Coinye West, Kanye seems to be well on track as starting 01/11/14, Ye' will have a currency named in his honor and he did nothing to launch it...

New Year's Eve is meant to usher in a new beginning, but it turned out to be a sorrowful end to some. On December 31, Anna Drayton, Flavor Flav's mother, passed away. Her cause of death is yet to be disclosed, Flav officially announced his mother’s death over his personal Twitter account: Hey everybody I just lost my mother Anna Drayton thismorning newyears eve she passed away and I'm gonna miss