When Nas first made comments about XXL and The Source, both decided to retaliate, but chose to use different means. In the September issue of XXL, Nas takes over the cover of the magazine and sets fire to The Source, Vibe, Rolling Stone and other magazines (including XXL) to make the point of letting the media know they need to step up their hip-hop coverage.
In the September issue Nas also discusses his often-rocky relationship with manager Steve Stoute, his fiancée Kelis and what he feels hip-hop magazines lack. Nas said,“My whole career magazines treated me bad- except for the first time I came out. I know what they say because it’s so predictable…VIBE don’t know what the f**k hip-hop is. Barely Source and XXL is on it, you know what I’m saying? Hip-hop has been misrepresented since it’s been on the scene. So it’s never been properly represented 100 percent. This is reason for a revolution. It’s time to destroy and rebuild.”
Although Nas and XXL are not shying away from possible controversy and backlash with the burning of other magazines, Nas says “This is reason for a revolution. It’s time to destroy and rebuild. That’s not to say I won’t do a cover no more. I’m on the XXL cover right now. I’ll still be on covers if n**gas want me on their covers.”
When asked about the decision to put Nas on the cover of XXL EIC (Editor in Chief) Elliott Wilson said, “The idea came from reading Nas comments in a New York Times article that ran last January about the beef between XXL and The Source. He said something to the effect of “if these mags are gonna go at each other, they should both burn down.” The Source decided to retaliate by writing a negative piece about Nas being a hypocrite. I decided to let him burn our magazine and theirs on our cover. Something like that hadn’t been done before and I knew the image would be shocking and get people talking. Our main goal is to document hip-hop better than any other magazine. Any other magazine! When people look back at the yellow ni**a reign, I want them to recognize that me and my great staff did the best job covering everything that was going on in hip-hop at the time. We never lose sight that we’re trying to document hip-hop culture and not dictate it. I feel my book is the truest reflection of the climate of today’s rap music.
