Photography by Justin Hogan

The third Complex cover for December/January 2015 issue has been released featuring J. Cole.  The Carolina natives third studio album entitled,  2014 Forest Hills Drive is set to release December 9, 2014. In this intimate interview Cole goes back to North Carolina and gives a tour of his childhood home, the same home he intends to use to house needy families.  There isn’t much out about what the new album sounds like, but he definitely gives insight on the inspiration for this album. Releasing an album with no single or radio play seemed to be extremely ambitious, but after the interview it makes perfect sense.  He makes it clear he doesn’t feel pressure to make a hit. In reference to his most successful commercial hit ‘Work Out’ he states “I’m never going through that again.”

J. Cole on love

 “I became more conscious of that with this album. That’s what Hollywood represents versus 2014 Forest Hills Drive, which is home. Home is wherever the authentic, unconditional love is. The fake shit, the synthesized love, is Hollywood.”

The post J.Cole Covers Complex and Speaks on Authentic Love appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Next month, rapper Nicki Minaj will grace the cover of Complex Magazine in promotion of her upcoming album, The Pinkprint. In the exclusive interview, Minaj talked about a lot of things—from her multiple personalities to having babies to being compared to Jay-Z with the title of The Pinkprint. As the author Lauren Nostro puts it, “No one is going to tell you what Nicki Minaj is doing except Nicki Minaj.”

While Minaj discussed how The Pinkprint is going to be her most personal album yet and how being on the road has had a damaging impact on her relationship with her family, perhaps the most intriguing concession was that the chart-topping hit, “Anaconda,” which samples Sir Mix-a-Lot‘s “Baby Got Back”, was created as a joke.

“I wanted to create a song that embraced curvy women. I wanted to be sexual but be playful with it. And I wanted it to be so melodic that even if you don’t understand English you could still go along with the melody and you would have no idea about all the raunchy shit I’m saying—I get a kick out of that. It was simple to write. I just created the melody and then I let the words happen. I started laughing when I said, “Boy toy named Troy.” [Laughs.] That whole song, I was just being dumb. It was a joke. My biggest thing was seeing how my girlfriends Sherika and Thembi were going to react. If they don’t like a song, they’ll be like, “No.” As soon as they walked in the studio, we were laughing and having fun. I thought, if we’re doing this, then everybody is going to have fun with it.”

Even the artwork came about unplanned. Minaj said:

“The artwork was not premeditated. I was shooting the “Anaconda” video and I had my photographer there taking pictures. When I was about to shoot my next scene, I asked to see the pictures he’d taken. He went through five or six and that one came up, and I was like, ‘[Gasps.] Oh my God. Yo, that picture is crazy!’ What made me excited about it was that people hadn’t seen me do a picture like that in years.”

The artist cited the reason for foregoing such revealing shots as professionalism—she had to prove herself in the industry as an artist and a lyricist before doing any sort of shoot that might damage the professional, Boss Girl in the Boys’ Club image that she has worked over the past four years to create. Even the sexy-dancing and hand-slapping when Drake tries to touch her in the “Anaconda”, according to Minaj, were totally impromptu.

Though Minaj has not been playing in the Little Leagues for quite some time now, “Anaconda” is definitely a reclamation of independence in the industry:

“I’ve proven that I’m an MC. I’m a writer; I’m the real deal, so if I want to take sexy pictures, I can. I’m at the level in my career and in my life now where I can do whatever the hell I want to.“

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After leaving the music scene in 2003 and returning in 2011 with mixtape .sailing soul(s) and Sail Out in 2013, R&B songstress Jhene Aiko dropped her debut album, Souled Out, today. Aiko is one of the biggest up-and-comers in the R&B scene right now, Souled Out being on both Complex Magazine and MTV‘s lists of the most anticipated albums of 2014.

In the past few years, Aiko has been featured on tracks by the likes of Big Sean, Drake, and J. Cole. With her latest release, Aiko’s talent speaks for itself and on most of the tracks her raw emotion carries them through without the need for big name rappers; however, “To Love and Die” feat. Cocaine 80’s and “Pretty Bird [Freestyle]” feat. Common are welcome additions. Another collaboration on the album, “Promises”  features not only her daughter, Namiko, but also the previously recorded voice of Aiko’s brother, Miyagi, prior to his death in 2012. While all of her music is deeply personal, here the album hits an especially intimate note.

From start to finish, the album chronicles a transformation—one that Aiko’s velvety voice glides through. From heartbreak to healing, Souled Out runs full circle with pitfalls, day dreams, and victories along the way. Aiko is devilishly sly in the way her soft croons cut deep into her enemies (mainly men who have wronged her). Souled Out is a welcome retreat from the party, like those moments alone in the bathroom of the house party where you re-examine everything you’ve done wrong, or the silent walk home alone from your significant others’ house. Her tracks are pensive, resonant, and sometimes deceptively angry. Drift off with Aiko and you’ll be lost for hours.

You can download Souled Out: here

Listen to her full album below:

Here is the tracklist:

1. Brave
2. To Love & Die (Feat. Cocaine 80s)
3. Beautiful Ruin
4. It’s Cool
5. Lyin King
6. Wading
7. The Pressure
8. Eternal Sunshine
9. Limbo Limbo Limbo
10. Promises
11. W.A.Y.S
12. Pretty Bird

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