Eminem covers XXL Magazine

Eminem is on the cover of XXL Magazine's June 2009 issue and my my my haven't we been working out! The issue will include an exclusive Marvel comic of "The Punisher" featuring Eminem. In this issue of XXL, Em will get in-depth about his past drug habit, the murder of his good friend, and his thoughts on hip hop. Here are a couple of excerpts from his interview.

On his drug addiction,

"I wasn’t ready mentally. I wasn’t ready to give up the drugs. I didn’t really think I had a problem. Basically, I went in, and I came out. I relapsed, and I spent the next three years struggling with it. Also, at that time, I felt like I wanted to pull back, because my drug problem had got so bad. I felt like, Maybe if I take a break, maybe this will help. I started to get into the producer role more… I can still be out there with my music, like with the Re-Up album, but I don’t have to be in the spotlight the whole time."

and on the death of good friend and rapper Proof,

"Everyone felt his loss, from his kids, to his wife, to everyone. But, for some reason, in hindsight, the way I felt was almost like it happened to just me… Maybe at the time I was a little bit selfish with it. I think it kind of hit me so hard. It just blindsided me. I just went into such a dark place that, with everything, the drugs, my thoughts, everything. And the more drugs I consumed, and it was all depressants I was taking, the more depressed I became, the more self-loathing I became… By the way, I’m just now at the point where I’m better talking about it. It took me so long to get out of that place where I couldn’t even speak about it without crying or wanting to cry… Proof was the anchor. He was everything to D12. And not just the group-for me, personally, he was everything."

I always find it hard to watch Eminem's video for his song "Toy Soldiers" starring Proof, it always gives me goose bumps. Here is a special collector's edition copy of the XXL cover,





The two covers will hit newsstands May 5th.

Source-XXL

Rick Ross covers XXL magazine

Rick Ross is XXL's cover boy for their May 2009 issue and "The Boss" is ready to talk it out.

About what?

Oh nothing, just the C.O. drama,

“Me not answering or addressing that situation has nothing to do with my career. I’ve accomplished enough, and I’ve made enough money for me to be good… Yes, it was me in those pictures. But I’ma tell you this. Me taking that job, I was doing my job. You understand what I mean?”

Oh and his beef with 50,

“50 Cent made a statement [that he'll] ruin somebody life. Where I come from, it takes a AK-47 to do that. Cartoons, we laugh—funny. You put on a wig, come out the closet—funny. At the end of the day, we in the streets finna drop another No.1 album, we pressing on.”

Seems interesting.

Side Order: The whole smoke emanating from the mouth is getting a little played out, no?

Inside the pages of XXL magazine

Talk about juicy drama! The March issue of XXL gives just that. Finally the Dipset crew speaks out on the abrupt departure and missing Cam'ron and the dismantle of the group. The revelations in the interview goes to show that loyalty truly isn't everything.

Before reading the interview I'll be honest, I thought that there was some real grimy activity going on in the foreground. But now that I've read it I think I understand both sides; I do however feel there are some thing's that were chosen to remain a secret, but that's just me I happen to be very suspicious of shady characters.

This interview was a little different. Vanessa Satten (the person that conducted the interview) interviews all of the remaining members of Dipset; they consist of Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, and Freekey Zekey.

What's great about it is that there are different parts and sides to said drama and that makes for a buffet of answers. Here are a few excerpts from the XXL interview.



Juelz Santana on his contract issues with Cam'ron,

"It was a bad deal. He owned so much of my sh*t and everything, he just practically, owned more than what I owned, and it got to a point where I just wanted to get the situation right. I didn't want nothing back. And it's like he wasn't trying to get it right. He wasn't trying to give me what I felt like I was owed. It's like he directed us, and when we got to brick by brick. All he was doing was directing us, and when we got to the top of the building, he don't even wanna share the sandwiches. It's lunchtime now. He wanna give us pieces of a sandwich, and he got one big hero, and we getting pieces. Like, 'Come on now. The building is built. You gotta respect us on another type of level'. And as far as clearances... I was running in that same lane Wayne was running in. But I couldn't...Nike, I did that commercial-that got pulled. I'm still damn near in some shit with them. Just wild shit he didn't clear. I was on over half those remixes that Wayne was asked to be on. Not that the asked Wayne before me, or they asked me before Wayne, but, you know, me and Wayne had the whole I Can't Feel My Face"

Juelz on having a fake title on Diplomats,

"Yeah. It's, like, Cam is still Diplomats. We was all put in a situation where Cam told us we had roles that we never really had. We had invisible roles. And it got to a point where we was like, Damn... To be honest, Jim was never the capo, like on paperwork. I was never the [vice] president. Cam owned everything."

Freekey Zekey on why he can't mend the relationship between Cam'ron & Jim Jones,

"Cam needs to humble himself and be like, 'F*ck it, we here, let's rock out'. That's my honest opinion. And Cam know I love him. This is basically my shout-out to him".

Jim Jones on why he and Cam fell off (subliminally),

"I don't know. Somebody told me that you never know who your friends are 'till y'all have money. And I don't know what he meant by that, when he told me, but a bit of it makes sense, because when you broke, you thick as thieves, and you do everything together. But when you get money, you seem to get jaded."

Jim on being the pillar of Dipset,

"I was one of the pillars to hold the whole thing up. I did what I had to. I did what we agreed I would do. That would be take care of the business and whatever else I had to do to make Cam'ron famous and make us some money. And once Cam got famous enough, then he would be able to make us all artists and make us into something that would be relevant to making some paper. That's what went on...I don't know if I always aspired to rap. I don't know that that was my thing. I just knew that I had it. I just had something in me since I was younger that-since school, since high school".

Jim on loyalty,

"Loyalty becomes a bad thing when the person-or anything that you're being loyal to--doesn't have the same love, respect and loyalty for you. If they just use your loyalty and have an ulterior motive for you, then what good is it? it's just crazy that you'd be willing to put your life on the line for something you believe in... And that person or that thing doesn't appear to do the same thing, or doesn't have a way to do the same thing, if it came down to it. So it was like, hmm".

Jim on possibly jinxing the feud *eyebrow raised*,

"I think I might have jinxed us. Me and Cam was talking a long time ago about somebody that was breaking up. I was saying that would be kind of crazy if we was to break up but fake it--like, act like we was mad at each other and then get back together and make all this money off of it. And Cam was like, "Why would you say something like that? Don't start talking no stupid sh*t." I'll never forget that. And now I'm like, What the f*ck, is this an ill paradox? I be thinking about that sh*t all the time. Hopefully, we could get this money, 'cause Lord knows there's a lot of private jets".

Interesting, I know! I don't feel that crazy after reading this interview when I said I thought the break-up was a marketing ploy, who knows I'm probably still bugging, or am I?

I believe that Cam left for more reasons other than the falling out between he and Jim. If you can remember, he was shot in October of 2005 twice by unknown carjackers trying to steal his car at a stoplight and might have still been going through some other personal issues. Either way I see why the group may have needed to back stab Cam; they had to eat...right? Luckily, we get to get all sides of the story because conveniently enough, Cam'ron is the cover boy for XXL's April issue. We will finally get the full spectrum of the truth.

This issue of XXL is on stands now! Make sure you pick up your copy.

Cam'ron sighting number 2

Snagged this from the fellas over at Highbrid Nation. Here is the April issue of XXL mag and look at who is the cover boy. Cam'ron decided to pose for a mag cover. A cover that comes out right after the Dipset crew made their little debut on the very same magazine.

I don't know, I have a very strange feeling that there is something very weird going on here.

I might be bugging just a bit but I'm starting to think that this whole Cam'ron going missing and Dipset supposedly turning on one another just might be a marketing ploy. I could in fact be wrong but something just ain't right here...

Cam'ron's album Crime Pays is scheduled to make an April 24th debut so look out for that.

Jim Jones and Co. does XXL

Fresh month, fresh off the press mag covers. In this edition, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, and Freekey Zeky all grace the March issue of XXL.

Is this the future of hip hop?! *shutters at the thought*

Side Order: We can say whatever about ol' Jimmy boy, but the man is doing big things. I think the overall agenda is to take Cam's spot as the leader of Dipset. Got loyalty? We'll see...