Wiz Khalifa Rolling Stone Cover Shoot

Wiz' Rolling Stone cover on news stands now.

Wiz Khalifa Rolling Papers on Rostrum/Atlantic Records arrives March 29th.

T.I.: Rolling Stone Magazine 'King Uncaged' Feature

T.I. is setting the bar high for his post-prison album, King Uncaged, comparing it to Tupac’s 1996 classic All Eyez on Me, which was released months after ‘Pac got out of prison. “This is the most significant return from incarceration that the game has had since then,” T.I. says. “Just given the enormous success of that project, everyone’s expecting the same results. I just want to meet the expectations, if not surpass them.”

The Atlanta MC says he didn’t get much work done while serving 10 months in Federal penitentiary in Arkansas on weapons charges (”I didn’t have a lot of time by myself just to think,” he says), but he got cracking on the day he was released to a halfway house in January, recording the defiant single, “I’m Back.”

He’s been on a creative tear since, recording more than 60 songs for the album, due out in August, working with the producers who have crafted his biggest hits, including Jim Jonsin, who made the beat for Paper Trail Number One hit “Whatever You Like,” Danja (”No Matter What”), and DJ Toomp (”What You Know”).

“Some songs talk about my time in prison — how I was affected by that, the way I’ve grown from that, things I see now that I may have not seen then,” says T.I. “Sometimes I talk about love, some songs I talk about life, some songs I talk about me being the shit on every level.”

No songs will talk about T.I. carrying a gun. “Regardless of what may happen, what circumstances may present themselves, how extreme they may be, I will not be the one carrying firearms,” says the MC, who was arrested in 2007 for trying to buy a small arsenal of weapons, including machine guns. He has said he was buying guns in a misguided attempt to protect himself after his best friend Philant Johnson was killed.

T.I. considers the new album the last chapter in a trilogy that began with 2007’s T.I. vs. T.I.P. and continued with Paper Trail, which was the eighth best-selling album of 2008. “If it was a film, the opening act would be the night that Phil got shot, and all the emotions and the sentiments that led to T.I. Vs. T.I.P.,” he says. ”From there, the schizophrenia of it all led to an unfortunate chain of events that left me incarcerated with federal weapons charges, which inspired Paper Trail, and now, people are waiting to hear the end of the story.” (source)

Rolling Stone Magazine Top ’80s Hip-Hop Songs Readers Poll

Last week, in memory of Newcleus’ Chilly B and their hit “Jam On It,” we asked our readers to tell us their favorite 1980s hip-hop tracks. Public Enemy, Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys rightfully dominated the list, but it was Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s “The Message” that won the popular vote, beating out “It’s Tricky,” “Brass Monkey” and “The Breaks.” (source)

1. Grandmaster Flash- “The Message”
2. Afrika Bambaataa – “Planet Rock”
3. Public Enemy – “Fight the Power”
4. Run-DMC – “It’s Tricky”
5. Beastie Boys – “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)”
6. Public Enemy – “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos”
7. Run-DMC – “Walk This Way”
8. Run-DMC – “King of Rock”
9. Kurtis Blow – “The Breaks”
10. LL Cool J – “I’m Bad”
11. Beastie Boys – “Brass Monkey”
12. Beastie Boys – “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”
13. Slick Rick- “Hey Young World”
14. De La Soul – “Me Myself and I”
15. Public Enemy – “Rebel Without A Pause”

Dam-Funk: Rolling Stone Magazine Breaking Artist Feature

Who: Los Angeles funk connoisseur Dam-Funk, a one-man wrecking crew of thumping beats, smooth bass and iced-out synths. After honing his craft as a session musician for rappers like Ice Cube, remixing acts like Animal Collective and becoming an MVP on the DJ circuit, Dam-Funk’s debut album Toeachizown has everyone from Southern Cali to Seoul to Tel Aviv hitting the dance floor, literally ruling one giant nation of funk fans under the groove.

Sounds Like: Dam-Funk’s aural odysseys travel from P-Funk to G-Funk through Cybotron and Prince with an undercurrent of the prog-rock that Dam worshipped in his adolescence. On his mammoth debut album Toeachizown, comprised of five EPs he released on Stones Throw in 2009, Dam breaks out something for everyone, from intergalactic dance-funk epics like “Searchin’ 4 Funk’s Future” and “Could I Be Losing Another Lover” to infectious Paisley Park gems like “One Less Day” and “I Wanna Thank U (4 Steppin’ Into My Life).” “I look at Toeachizown as the album I always wanted to hear. Even my friends tell me this, ‘We grew up wanting to hear something like this record,’ ” Dam tells Rolling Stone.

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Rolling Stone - Breaking: Dam-Funk

Alicia Keys Upcoming Rolling Stone Magazine Article

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Rolling Stone - Alicia Keys' Suburban Soul Factory

Alicia Keys - 'The Element of Freedom' on J Records in stores December 15.