Posts: 4

1. 

   Lenny Kreavitz, All Hail The King

   08.May.08, 21:18 EDT
   
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   ALL HAIL THE KING
   Lenny Is Back With A Fresh Outlook And A New Revolution.
   
   By George Hagan
   
   If you had any doubt at all of Lenny's "rock god" status, all you have to do to be assured is be in the general vicinity when he rolls through a magazine shoot with his accompanying entourage. First off, there's the heavier than usual fleet of publicists busily tapping away on Blackberries and iPhones, ensuring that Lenny keeps his cluttered schedule of press engagements. Next, you got his hair and grooming people followed closely by the no-nonsense personal stylist in the fierce stiletto boots and matching Prada dress. And you can't forget the other assorted friends and hanger-ons who are there to perform miscellaneous duties, like providing downtime banter and ordering Lenny's lunch you know, superstar stuff.
   
   In the center of this cluster of supporting cast, Kravitz has no problem standing out. He's back to wearing his hair in a trim, funky 'fro, and his choice of attire is standard rock deity fare; extremely fitted, dark leather jacket, super-skinny black denim pants, slinky black t-shirt and black-as-night wraparound sunglasses. Everything about his aura exudes the global icon he is all the way down to the swagger and lean of his walk. If there was ever an accredited school that graded musicians on being the most "rock n roll," Kravitz would probably be campus valedictorian.
   
   The New LP
   
   "I really have no favorite out of all my albums," Lenny says, while winding down from a shoot in which he nailed like every single frame (no joke, Tyra from America's Next Top Model would be envious of Kravitz's prowess in front of the lens). "I feel that each album chronicled my life and what I was going through for the period in which it came out," he continues. "But you know what I feel that this new album is my best one yet."
   
   Kravitz is on to something. No matter how jaded a music critic you might be, it's impossible to deny the quality and creativity of Lenny's new disc, . Perhaps it's even better than the progressive, ingenuous 5 he put out in 1998. Similar to how that album had stacks and stacks of winning cuts like "Fly," "I Belong to You," and "Thinking Of You," Love Revolution is similarly loaded with amazing songs from beginning to end.
   
   What makes this new album even more special is its wide-reaching range and diversity. "This is the kind of record you really have to sit down and take in because, musically, it's all over the place," Lenny excitedly explains. "I recorded in many different places too Brazil, NYC, Miami, Paris and I played all the instruments as well," he adds.
   
   For every barn stomping, stadium rocker on Love Revolution, like "Bring It On" and "Time for a Love Revolution," there are a handful of beautifully-crafted, slow-burning love songs like the idyllic "I'll Be Waiting," the bittersweet "I Love the Rain" and the poignantly urgent, "This Moment."
   
   There are some special surprises thrown into the mix too. One of them is "Will You Marry Me," a chunky slab of James Brown-style funk that blares out the speaker and hits you square in the face. Another standout is a downright lustful groove called "Dancin' Till Dawn." The latter was conceived after a memorable night Lenny spent at a swanky spot in NYC's kitschy Little Italy neighborhood.
   
   "I was working really late," he recounts, "and I finally got out around 3 a.m. and decided to hit this spot called Gold Bar that's right around the corner from my house. It has a really cool interior decor, it's really loungy and the DJ plays really, really great music. So while I'm there, I started thinking about being in a club and imagining this beautiful girl that was there, and the song began forming in my head.".........
   
   For the complete story get ISSUE 82 "THE FASHION ISSUE"

2. 

   Rick Ross, BLOW

   08.May.08, 21:17 EDT
   
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   BLOW
   Rick Ross serves up more yayo on his loaded sophomore album
   
   By David Diehl
   
   Rick Ross does everything large.
   
   He wears large clothes. Large shades. Large shoes. He smokes large amounts of kush. Eats large meals. He travels in large vehicles; SUVs, yachts and fan boats. His watch is rather large and shiny. The rest of his jewelry is as well. His head is large and wrapped in large facial hair. He rhymes about how large he is, literally, and also how large his influence is in the current hip-hop world. He is, as you know, the King of Miami. The Boss. His first album, Port of Miami, saw large success. He expects his second Def Jam LP, Trilla, to be even bigger.
   
   The past few months have been particularly noteworthy for Ross. He hit the news on both Thanksgiving and Christmas of last year for his philanthropy, and especially for his healthy, fast food chain in Miami, the Hip-Hop Grub Spot. On Thanksgiving, he gave away turkeys to the needy in Miami, and he also organized a toy and food drive. One of Ross's personal philosophies is to keep it humble, and when asked about his Turkey Day good deeds, he just responds with how relaxing it was for him, and not about all the good he brought to his community.
   
   "Oh man, my Thanksgiving was lovely. I stayed in bed all day. That was the first time in five years that I didn't leave the house. Major kush and turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, collard greens, a little fish here and there. More kush," he revels. "And then when I get the munchies, I need a bowl of Fruit Loops. Smoke another one, then it's more dressing and turkey and cranberry sauce. Then I got a massage for about two hours. Then more kush. My Thanksgiving was blessed."
   
   As for the Grub Spot, which Ross calls his "baby 40-40" (as in Jay-Z's couture club venture), he took a former Miami drug spot and turned it into a positive community center. The Spot offers jobs to young people as well as creative outlets.
   
   "You can come in, get your burgers, fish sandwiches, all that kind of shit, shakes, fries, [and] there's eight plasmas in there with video games set up for the kids," he boasts. "It's just a spot that I really wanted to make for kids, especially young kids that want to get into the music business. I want to start showing them how you can become an entrepreneur and do your little thing independent, remain independent. There are a lot of little kids on iTunes spending 99 cents for this and that, when you could go to school and press some singles and sell them for 99 cents. I got a little corner for them to put their little CDs up. I teach them how to spend ten dollars to press out records. Invest in they selves."
   
   With his soft side exposed, it's not surprising that Ross is a big fan of Valentine's Day. This year, February 14 marks the release of his sophomore album, Trilla, and his self-produced documentary, M.I.Yayo, a film depicting Miami's ten biggest dealers.
   
   "That's what me and my homies always been known as, the City of Dope. The Cocaine Capitol," Ross explains. "I call it the M.I. Yayo, and it is what it is. I just paint pictures of what I see. Other side of the bridge is a mother fucker, believe that. They can't get no realer."
   
   Where Port of Miami found Ross just rapping over beats, on Trilla he was able to collaborate with some major figures. "For the records that I put together, after Port of Miami, I just took everything that I experienced on the road and learned, and I applied it to this album," Ross says as he takes another pull off his blunt. "And the records that we came up with reach every aspect of bigger and better. The theme for these records was just to be the best. And then me and Jay-Z collaborated and it was just one of those special moments in hip-hop. I mean that's Jay and Ricky Ross, and people are going to appreciate the way I stepped up to the plate. It was just some real nigga shit."
   
   For the complete story get ISSUE 82 "THE FASHION ISSUE"

3. 

   Taryn Manning, Scorpio Hottie

   08.May.08, 21:15 EDT
   
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   SCORPIO HOTTIE
   The Multi-Faceted Taryn Manning Is Now Ready For Her Full Close-Up
   
   By Nikki Playne
   
   It's so easy to look at the fine bones, big blue eyes and porcelain skin of Taryn Manning and categorize her as just another born in Beverly Hills up and coming starlet.
   
   But push aside the films including the breakthrough 8 Mile with Eminem and the critically lauded Hustle and Flow with Terrence Howard. Forget her upcoming roles in several major motion pictures slated for release this year. Ignore that she's the lead singer of Boomkats and has partnered with her best friend, actress Tara Jane, to relaunch their contemporary lifestyle clothing line, Born Uniqorn. Manning is anything but a stereotypical Hollywood prima donna.
   
   First, there are the cultural and psychological changes when her mom sought to escape her abusive father and plucked Taryn and her brother from their childhood home in Falls Church, Virginia. Various moves, including to Arizona and California, brought more turmoil as her parents divorced and her father committed suicide. And, as an adult who moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting and dancing, found her faced with a new set of cultural mores.
   
   "If you want to read my diary, listen to my music," said Manning. "On my MySpace page the first song that comes up is "Runaway." It's sometimes you just want to run away from life. When you see so clearly but other people around you are trying to fake it. I'm just like, `Ok, I don't get you and you don't get me so I just need to run away. The video is cool because it's a party I throw, but I'm like a phantom at my own party. Everyone is so involved with themselves, so involved in their own conversations, and their lives are so much more interestingÉ it's like I'm a phantom and no one ever sees me. For me, that's like a big part of LA."
   
   Of course, some people did see her. It was her mom's efforts, taking the young Manning to dance and acting classes, that got her career started. And, yes, some well-connected industry insiders she met through happenstance plugged her in with the right people who landed her a guest spot on the TV hit The Practice. But it's clear in talking to Manning that this is a woman who captains her own ship.
   
   "It's been a long journey," said Manning. "A lot of people like to automatically assume that I knew someone, but I didn't know anyone when I came to Los Angeles. I went step one, head shot; step two, write a resume. I took dance classes, acting classes; I started on the ground floor and worked my way up."
   
   And her star is still rising. She has at least two films slated for release this year: Jack Ôn Jill vs. the World, a comedy with Freddy Prinze Jr., and The Kill Theory a teens go to summer-camp horror flick with some gnarly twists. She's also on the brink of releasing her second album with Boomkats and re-launching her clothing line, Born Uniqorn.
   
   "It's hard," she said. "I'm pretty much stressed a lot and I don't like living under those conditions. It's definitely hard when I go away to film; I take my laptop and am as involved as I can be. There are times I think, `Oh, God, what am I doing? I'm stretched so thin.' But then I'm so thankful and grateful I have created so many interesting things in my life."
   
   Take Born Uniqorn, a twist on the phrase "Born Unique," which Manning and her best friend adopted as a mantra when they were 13-years-old. To Manning, the business, for which she and Tara Jane do all the designing and color selection, is just another creative outlet born from their early love of fashion.
   
   For the complete story get ISSUE 82 "THE FASHION ISSUE"

4. 

   Lil Wayne, Man Interrupted

   08.May.08, 21:12 EDT
   
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   Man Interrupted
   LiL Wayne Already Conquered Hip Hop. Next Stop: History
   
   By Chris Faraone
   
   We didn't feature Lil' Wayne in this issue because we wholeheartedly agree that he's hip-hop's greatest asset. Nor did we do so on account of having ignored him in the past; not long ago we schooled you with an exclusive Wayne and Baby interview previewing their debut collaboration. For the record, we didn't make the decision because we felt he hasn't clocked enough covers; between magazine stands and mixtape spots, he gets enough face time on urban streets to make even the most egomaniacal ayatollah jealous. Honestly, we asked Wayne to grace our glossy for one simple reason: to sell units, and if you're on the bowl right now dropping science to the tune of this article, then our plan worked.
   
   But it's not that simple. As many sides as homeboy has, they've all been relentlessly covered. In November, Spin schooled Wayne with a piercing Q&A; that same month, he surfaced in a straight jacket in Complex, which famously quoted that he fancied himself a Martian. Every blog, rap rag and web site from Timbuktu to Bucktown has negotiated the homophobic fodder concerning him and his adopted pops, Birdman, and his extraordinary prolific spirit was well documented in Vibe, which recently listed the "77 Best Lil' Wayne Songs of 2007." Looking to set things in a different motion, we asked Wayne for a fresh angle on his master narrative.
   
   "They cover a lot of things, but while I wouldn't say that they perceive me as a bad father, the media doesn't focus much on the things I do with my daughter," he says. "It's mostly all about music and females and all of that, but she's the most important part of my life, so it's interesting that they don't talk about that a lot more. God blessed me with an understanding daughter; if I was home every day she would ask me why I wasn't on the road and why I wasn't in the studio. She's the same way with me that I was with my mom."
   
   Chances are you want to read about Wayne's daughter as much as you want to read about Kanye's mother (sorry, bad example). It's definitely notable that he manages to simultaneously play dad and vie for rap's leading role hell, Hova can't say that for himself but it's old news. He made that statement years ago cradling her on an XXL cover; we wanted something wholly unique.
   
   "Maybe you can write about how there's some new bullshit written or said about me every two hours and I don't give a fuck," Wayne suggests. "To me this is all part of the game. If I ain't ready for that, then this isn't for me. Then I ain't made for this. This was supposed to be done. I'm not the first person it's been done to, and I damn sure ain't gonna be the last, so I know I ain't gonna be the motherfucker who complains."
   
   Now we're getting somewhere. Wayne has a case and point; he was crucified for showing affection for the man responsible for his being a multi-millionaire instead of another drug, street or Katrina statistic. He's currently in the sights of mainstream media for his part-time fuck affair with Karrine "Superhead" Steffans; and, perhaps most pressingly, he's the subject of countless debates about whether or not he is or at least has the potential to be the greatest cat who ever kicked it. And from the outside, it seems like all that baggage just inspires him to travel forward.
   
   "I started calling myself the 'Best Rapper Alive' first, but I only started saying it because Jay-Z said it," he claims. "He was retired at the time, and I just thought that it was time to step up. It's kind of working over now, but only because it's something that I would love to live up to not because of what everybody else is always saying. For me, I feel like I should die if I don't live up to that."
   
   For the complete story get ISSUE 82 "THE FASHION ISSUE"