XXL magazine’s October/November issue may have served as a milestone for West Coast-based, rap quartet Black Hippy, but upon seeing the cover of the magazine a handful of those in the group immediately expressed concern with the way in which the group’s name was pictured on the cover.
The group was listed as “Kendrick Lamar & Black Hippy” and did not include separate mentions of the other group member’s names.
Ab-Soul, who also appeared on XXL’s Freshman Class 2013 cover, was the first to express his distaste for the cover as he informed publications via Twitter, “If y’all keep printing ‘Kendrick Lamar & Black Hippy’ I will remove myself from the group. Thanks.”
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The TDE wordsmith recently clarified his remarks during an interview with Bootleg Kev and revealed that his tweet was meant for all blogs and media outlets, and not just XXL.
“I’m glad you asked that cause that wasn’t exactly directed at XXL,” Soulo said. “That’s everybody. That was for all blogs, all social media, all media outlets. A lot of them are printing it like that and that’s just not what—that’s not the name of the group…I wouldn’t even have been mad if they had his name super big and they just put our names under his real small. I wouldn’t even have been mad at that.”
Prior to speaking on XXL’s October/November issue, Ab-Soul shared the names of the artists who have had an impact on him musically. Among the rappers mentioned were Canibus, Eminem, and Jay Z. Soul also referred to Jay Z’s Reasonable Doubt as being his foundation.
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“I grew up in a record shop,” he said. “So, I think that might have a lot to do with it. You know what I mean? I definitely have a diverse catalogue of music…The first album that I probably went crazy about was Twista’s Adrenaline Rush…And then I got into like Canibus. And Eminem came around. I think my favorite album is Jay Z’s Reasonable Doubt. So, I mean I think that album was probably like my foundation.”
In addition to Ab-Soul, ScHoolboy Q also expressed his frustration with the way in which Black Hippy was portrayed on the cover of XXL, calling it “disrespectful” during a November interview with MTV News.
“That’s so disrespectful, so disrespectful,” Q said. “We didn’t go into that shoot saying, ‘This is Kendrick with Black Hippy photo shoot for the cover.’ We went in there and said, ‘This is a Black Hippy shoot,’ so we expect a Black Hippy shoot.”
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