The 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Magazine Covers

Image via Complex Original

Before the blog boom, the magazine was the principle information source for hip-hop heads. In those days the publication world was merely a reflection of the hip-hop industry and a driving force within it. Frequently their most memorable component was the gift wrap on every issue—the cover.

Cover images burned forever into the hip-hop consciousness. They were pasted to lockers and bedroom walls, as well as autographed at shows. They broke stories and told stories. They fueled beefs, squashed beefs, and then mourned the consequences of those left unresolved. They bolstered identities and sometimes even created them.

In celebration of the form, we took a look back at 50 of the greatest magazine covers that hip-hop ever produced. And yes, we included a few of our own, although we did our best to be as objective as possible.

#50. The Notorious B.I.G. (The Source, 1995)

Issue: July 1995
Art Direction: Ola Kudu
Photography: N/A

Biggie's first Source cover blew him up to the size of his namesake, chilling Godzilla-style next to the World Trade Center. It's an awkward display to say the least, but significant in that it crowned him the "King Of New York," and also provided the impetus for Snoop Dogg and the Dogg Pound's "New York, New York" video, in which they worked a similar conceit—except it featured the West Coasters kicking down all the buildings.

#49. Missy Elliott (V Magazine, 2004)

Issue: Summer 2004
Art Direction: Stephan Gan
Photography: David Sims

Emerging in the wake of mid-90s sex kitten rap, Missy undoubtedly redefined image expectations for the female rapper. And while her non-tradiitonal beauty didn't exactly play to the rap magazine demographic—she would only grace The Source once at Timbaland's side, and never XXL—the rest of the publishing world, like fashion pub V, embraced her as a cover icon.

#48. Freshman Cover (XXL, 2009)

Issue: November 2009
Art Direction: Davina A. Lennard
Photography: Ben Watts

Music critics just love to play forecaster. For about as long as the craft has existed "Next Big Thing" predictions have been a favorite of music publications across the board. It's roughly the critical equivalent of "FIRST!" blog comments. XXL brought this mentality to newsstands everywhere with their "Freshman" cover. A reworking of "The Leaders Of The New School" cover from two years earlier, the spread was a selection of blog friendly would-bes across three covers.

Though their selections were hit or miss—the subsequent success of acts like B.O.B. and Kid Cudi are weighed down by embarrassments like Charles Hamilton and Ace Hood—the cover set a tradition for the magazine, launching thousands of lunch room arguments and half-baked Twitter beefs between up-and-coming rappers.

#47. Roc-A-Fella Crew (The Source, 2002)

Issue: September 2002
Art Direction: Paul Scirecalabrisotto
Photography: Jonathon Mannion

In its prime the Roc-A-Fella roster was a rap juggernaut and The Source highlighted that era by splitting Jay, Dame, Freeway, Beans, Cam, and Bleek across two covers. But like so many rap dynasties that came before it, the downfall was inevitable. (Noticeably absent is The Roc's most famous alumnus, as Mr. West was then still a little known producer.)

#46. Method Man (ego trip, 1994)

Issue: Fall 1994
Art Direction: Christine Schaar
Photography: Lisa Leone

It's easy to forget that Method Man, like the rest of his Wu brethren, had a reputation as a genuine menace before turning into Redman's goofy pothead foil in the late '90s. ego trip built on that rep for this fanged out cover, drawing out Meth's inner demon, and predating the recent vampire craze by at least a decade and a half.

#45. Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, & Kool Herc (The Source, 1993)

Issue: March 1993
Art Direction: Chris Callaway
Photography: Chi Modu

At its peak The Source was not just the voice of hip-hop's present, but its past as well. They put their money where their mouth was when they threw the holy trinity of old school DJ legends on the cover. While a generation of rap fans may have only had the vaguest idea who the old heads were, it was a bold gesture to the genre's forefathers.

#44. Ghostface (Pound, 2001)

Issue: December 2001
Art Direction: Christian Pearce
Photography: Siphong Hoang

From Flavor Flav's clock to Rick Ross' face, outrageous jewelry has long been a staple on the rap mag cover. But maybe no diamond dangling cover comes close to when Ghost debuted his almost to scale eagle piece on the cover of the Canadian publication, Pound. Ghost, being Ghost, gives the eagle a big kiss.

Hopefully his vaccines were in order. In case you're wondering why Team Canada never wore this colorway in a game, it's because when Nike proposed it, Wayne Gretzky said, "Canada doesn't wear black." If you're wondering why Ghost is rocking a Team Canada jersey, he reportedly only agreed to wear it if no copies of the magazine were shipped to the U.S.

#43. Jay-Z (XXL, 1997)

Issue: #1 (1997)
Art Direction: Donald E. Morris
Photography: N/A

For XXL's premier issue they featured Jay-Z doing his regular Jigga slick routine, with inside sunglasses and a fat cigar hanging from his lips. It was a particularly appropriate collaboration, predicting a decade where XXL would eventually topple The Source's reign as the dominant hip-hop publication and Jay's successes would exceed even the biggest rap stars that came before him. Hov later acknowledged the look spitting, "I got bail money, XXL money," on "Imaginary Player."

#42. MF Doom (The Wire, 2005)

Issue: March 2005
Art Direction: Non-Format (Kjell Ekhorn & Jon Forss)
Photography: Jo Ann Toy

Cartoon cameos and limited edition lunchboxes might be his current trade, but MF Doom's legacy has a much darker backstory. Like so many villains before him, his origins are tragic—a failed major label rap career and a brother dead before his time. British avant garde music publication, The Wire, drew out his dark side with this subtly intimidating flick of the Villian, concealing his eyes completely and focusing on his exposed bald head and over-rusted mask.

#41. Eminem (Complex, 2010)

Issue: December/January 2010
Art Direction: Tim Leong
Photography: Matt Doyle

Eminem is Detroit, and Detroit is Eminem. So for the Dec/Jan 2010 cover, shot at the low-point of the recession, Complex played with the theme of I Am Legend, as Eminem is captured alone, the last man standing, in what looks like a post apocalyptic Detroit.

The irony of course being that there has been no apocalypse, just 40 years of economic neglect. The interview within found Marshall alternately introspective and candid, admitting that Relapse was not what it should have been, and also relaxed and silly, joking about porn and Superbad.

#40. Jeru the Damaja (On The Go, 1995)

Issue: #15, 1995
Art Direction: Ari Forman
Photography: Jean Marie Guyaux

Jeru always had something of a hero complex, often positioning himself as a savior to rap music from the villianous forces of corporate and pop influences. His "One Day" even formalized his mission, warring with the Bad Boy empire for the soul of the genre. On The Go built off this aspect of his personality, portraying the Brooklynite as a caped crusader on this charmingly low-budget cover.

#39. The Greatest Day In Hip-Hop History (XXL, 1998)

Issue: #7 (October 1998)
Art Direction: Donald E. Morris
Photography: Gordon Parks

Modeled after Art Kane's legendary "Great Day In Harlem" Esquire shoot from 1958, XXL's "The Greatest Day In Hip-Hop History," was a reminder that the hip-hop world could still come together in the name of unity. The original featured 57 jazz icons chilling on a 126th St. stoop.

XXL upped the ante and bumped the number to a whopping 200 hundred hip-hop artists and personalities, across a fold-out cover. It was a relevant and even-handed distribution of acts from across the hip-hop nation—Rakim, the Native Tongues, Hierolyphics, Scarface, E-40, Twista, and Pete Rock are just a random sampling of the crowd. (There is a highly recommended three-part documentary on the making of the cover available on YouTube.)

#38. Jay-Z (Stress, 1996)

Issue: Summer 1996
Art Direction: Daniel Hastings
Photography: Cartel

On the heels of Reasonable Doubt, Stress was the first magazine to bless Jigga with the cover treatment. Rumor had it that in keeping with their buy-our-way-into-the-rap-game ethos Jay and Dame actually offered to pay for the printing of the issue in order to secure the cover (to be fair to Stress, regardless of whether or not this was true, it was not uncommon in the '90s for labels to contribute financially to the execution of stories on their artists in indie hip-hop mags). The coverline—"keeping rap dollars in rap pockets"—proved prophetic as he would become rap's most visible entrepreneur.

#37. The Notorious B.I.G. & Faith Evans (VIBE, 1995)

Issue: October 1995
Art Direction: Diddo Ramm
Photography: Eric Johnson

So many of Big's iconic VIBE covers were tied to beef and subsequent tragedy that the existence of this one is relieving in its innocence. It finds Big and his bride, Faith, lamping in the back of a rag-top on a sunny day, clearly in love.

#36. Rawkus w/ 12" (Stress, 1998)

Issue: March/April 1998
Art Direction: ((Stereo-Type))
Photography: Malik Yusef

Mos Def & Talib Kweli's Black Star was perhaps the most anticipated project of the Rawkus label's brief underground reign, so fans were appropriately psyched when Stress debuted their Boogie Down Productions-inspired first single "Definition" as a freebee tie-in to their Rawkus feature.

The cover had a die-cut window revealing a flexi-disc—a paper thin 7" that fits between the pages of a magazine and was popular amongst teenybopper fan clubbers in the '60s and '70s—peaking through the cover alongside Rawkus' ubiquitous razor blade.

#35. Ice-T (Rolling Stone, 1992)

Issue: August 1992
Art Direction: N/A
Photography: Mark Seliger

With "Cop Killer" Ice-T shook the music industry to its core. Despite the fact that it wasn't even a rap song—he was singing, fronting his metal band Body Count—the blame fell squarely on the head of hip-hop as parents and police groups boycotted Ice-T, Warner Brothers, and the genre at large. Ever the provocateur, Ice donned a cop's uniform for this classic cover. He must've enjoyed the role—the Iceman has spent the past decade portraying a policeman on Law & Order: SVU.

#34. MF Doom x Ghostface (Mass Appeal, 2005)

Issue: #36 (October 2005)
Art Direction: Sally Thurer
Photography: Keith Martin

Though both have been known for their twisted humor, here MF Doom and Ghostface eye down the camera in a serious-as-cancer moment. Ghost even dusted off the ski mask from before the Face was revealed. Doom and Ghost's planned collaborative full length Swift & Changable never came to be, but at least we got a dope cover out of the conceit.

#33. Mobb Deep/Ice Cream Cops (On The Go, N/A)

Issue: #16
Art Direction: Ari Forman
Photography: Jean Marie Guyaux

Having its roots in the visual arts, thanks to owner Stephen ESPO Powers, the Philadelphia-based underground publication had a tendency to bring a playful sensibility to many of its covers. The graffiti-minded mag had this aesthetic in mind when pairing the perpetually screwfaced Mobb Deep alongside some literal shook ones—snowmen cops.

#32. Eazy-E (Rap Pages, 1995)

Issue: August 1995
Art Direction: Brent Rollins
Photography: B+ (Brian Cross)

After Eazy E's passing Rap Pages transformed their cover into a heartfelt memorial to the West Coast's most beloved bad boy. Like the cover itself, the issue was a devotedly patchwork tribute to the fallen rapper, including a reprint of his first solo interview, an in-depth Q&A with his NWA partner DJ Yella, and a feature on AIDS fundraising in minority communities. Fittingly, the photographer B+ also shot the cover for Eazy's last album before passing, It's On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa.

#31. The Notorious B.I.G. (ego trip, 1997)

Issue: March 1997
Art Direction: Christine Schaar
Photography: Shawn Mortensen

After Biggie's car crash he adopted the use of a cane as both a necessary rehabilitation device and a pimpish affectation. This ego trip flick, which ran posthumously, captures a casual Big Poppa just hanging out with his Timbs untied (he definitely ain't trying to run). Looking at this photo it's easy to imagine Big as being in a good place before he was taken from us.

#30. Lauryn Hill (Rap Pages, 1995)

Issue: December 1995
Art Direction: Brent Rollins
Photography: B+ (Brian Cross)

Gods and Goddesses are generally no strangers to controlling the elements: Earth, wind, etc. That Captain Planet shit. But for their 1996 photo issue Rap Pages mutated Lauryn Hill into a four-armed goddess that controlled the elements of hip-hop culture. Okay, four element worship is sort of a cheesy premise today, but putting the focus on Lauryn specifically predicted her forthcoming run as the most successful female rapper of all-time by a few years.

#29. Tone Loc (Newsweek, 1990)

Issue: 3/19/1990
Art Direction: N/A
Photography: N/A

Newsweek's Tone Loc cover was one of the first in a long line of poor representations in the history of mainstream media hip-hop coverage. That milquetoast "Wild Thing" emcee was hardly the face of "Rap Rage!," as the cover only hints at how wrong the publication would be.

Jerry Adler's now infamous accompanying essay "The Rap Attitude," barely veiled its generational and racist disdain for the genre. He dismissed it as "repulsive" and mocked rappers for wearing gold chains and blaming police for their problems.

But hey, they put a rapper on newsstands throughout the country and that alone was a huge look for the burgeoning hip-hop nation. Ten years later they'd do it again with Eminem and Dr. Dre.

#28. Kanye West (Complex, 2008)

Issue: April/May 2008
Art Direction: Kanye West, Chris Milk, & Tim Leong
Photography: Chris Milk

Kanye West doesn't do anything half-assed. So when Complex shot him over the Thanksgiving 2008 holiday, while on a six-hour layover in L.A. while en route from Germany to New Zealand, it should not have been a surprise when he asked to kill the shoot in order to give the cover its due time and consideration. The result? A three-month-long CGI project working with video director Chris Milk, the digital studio behind Benjamin Button, and Complex, working to create a tone-on-tone world of Yeezy's imagining. Lost in a world, indeed.

#27. Redman (The Source, 1994)

Issue: November 1994
Art Direction: Chris Callaway
Photography: Stephen Newton Chin

In a testament to Redman's general oddity, this cover found the Jersey spitter chilling in black shades with a tissue balled up in his left nostril. However, weeks after it hit stands the issue was pulled and replaced with another cover, sans tissue, due to morality concerns of newsstand proprietors.

Also of note, this issue of The Source contains the Dave Mays-inserted Almighty RSO feature which violated an editorial ban on the Benzino-led group and caused a walk out of the entire original staff.

#26. The Notorious B.I.G. (XXL, 1997)

Issue: Test Issue 1997
Art Direction: Donald E. Morris
Photography: Barron Claiborne

A magazine's test issue—a teaser to potential advertisers and readers—can define a new publication. The mission statement that XXL emblazoned on the cover of this preview—"Genius. Respect. Style. Soul. The Truth"—was bold and almost unnecessary. Biggie said it all with his street, but sophisticated presence. (Whether or not XXL would actually go on to meet these lofty aspirations is a topic for another discussion.)

#25. Lil Wayne (BLAZE, 2000)

Issue: #13 (March 2000)
Art Direction: Mark Shaw
Photography: Sarah A. Friedman

Before Lil Wayne became the best rapper alive, the short-lived BLAZE magazine proved their prescience by putting Wayne and his young baby on the cover. Still a teen himself, Weezy announced "my daughter is the most beautiful hot girl." It's one of hip-hop's sweeter magazine covers and certainly shows the rapper in a different light.

#24. Eazy E (The Source, 1990)

Issue: December 1990
Art Direction: Rich, Butts, & Partners/Black Ink
Photography: Reef

The rapper-points-barrel-at-camera motif may seem cliche today, but it was still shocking back in 1990, when Eazy aimed his pistol at viewers on this early Source cover. The photo captured Eric's attitude to a T and inadvertently created the blueprint for dozens of Murder Dog and 4080 covers to come.

#23. Pharcyde (Rap Pages, 1995)

Issue: May 1995
Art Direction: Brent Rollins
Photography: Ricardo Martin

Mostly unheralded today, in its prime Rap Pages stood as one of the more visible rap mags, boasting high-quality reporting, niche hip-hop coverage, and some very original covers. The Larry Flynt-owned publication boasted ego trip's Brent Rollins as its art director (thankfully Complex has him today) for much of its run and he was responsible for some of their most ambitious cover shoots.

For their Pharcyde cover the group's angst towards the recording industry was captured by wrapping them them in thick recording tape. The experience must have been a little trippy for the group considering that shortly after showing up for the shoot, they ordered pizza and started eating shrooms. The classic image would later resurface as the cover for their 2005 compilation, The Sold My Soul: The Remix & Rarity Collection.

#22. 50 Cent vs. Kanye West (Rolling Stone, 2007)

Issue: September 20—2007
Art Direction: Joseph Hutchinson
Photography: Albert Watson

With Kanye's Graduation and 50's Curtis sharing a release date, the two rappers announced a competition to see who sold the most records. It was mostly playful in nature, but fans read it as a spiritual battle for the fate of hip hop—the street-minded gangsta vs. the artful backpacker.

Rolling Stone capitalized on the rivalry by putting the two face to face on their cover. Graduation would eventually take the win, topping Curtis' first week sales by a gap of more than 250,000, leaving 50 to weakly make accusations that Def Jam had rigged the competition by buying CDs themselves.

#21. Clipse x KAWS (Complex, 2009)

Issue: October/November 2009
Art Direction: Tim Leong
Photography: Matt Doyle

Graf artists turned gallery big shot, KAWS, collaborated with photographer Matt Doyle and the Complex team to imagine the Virginian duo as collectible vinyl action-figures (KAWS' highly collected and collectible specialty). The theme notwithstanding, Toys Rnt Us.

#20. Nas (XXL, 2003)

Issue: September 2003
Art Direction: Rommel S. Alama & Davina A. Lennard
Photography: Piotr Sikora

At the height of the XXL and The Source feud, XXL took a bold shot by having Nasty Nas light a copy of the rival mag ablaze for this cover. In an obvious nod to neutrality Nas is also burning a copy of XXL on the cover as well as a bevy of other publications—VIBE, Mass Appeal, BLAZE, Fader, Complex—with his face on them in the actual pages (inexplicably enough, a Rolling Stone with Ashton Kucher on the cover also landed in the pit).

But it's The Source that he's holding front and center. Surely Benzino was not pleased. XXL EIC Elliott Wilson did little to quell the flames in his purposely vague Editorial Letter either—"I don't like you. You don't like me. It's not likely we'll ever be friends."

#19. Goodie Mob (Rap Pages, 1995)

Issue: November 1995
Art Direction: Brent Rollins
Photography: B+ (Brian Cross)

One of the biggest advantages Rap Pages had was its less centralized West Coast orientation. As such the magazine took notice of the regional rap explosion well before its New York counterparts. This Goodie Mob cover (their first) brought their swamp water funk to life with the group sneaking onto restricted government land in Georgia. And like their classic debut, there's both a religious, baptismal vibe and a hint of menace, with Khujo clutching a blade between his teeth, which was understandable considering there were snakes in the water.

#18. Kid Cudi (Complex, 2010)

Issue: October/November 2010
Art Direction: Brent Rollins
Photography: Perou

For the interview where he comes clean about drug usage, a secret child, and so called beef with you know who, high fashion might have seemed like an unlikely direction. But that's Cudi—suited and booted, and raging for reasons not all together clear to anyone but himself.

In a nod to famed photographer Robert Longo, and a wink at the 4th wall, Cudi thrashes on the cover, against the cover, and peels back the magazine page to reveal the literal outer space behind, in a physical demonstration of his interview attitude within.

#17. Kool G Rap (Rap Pages, 1995)

Issue: September 1995
Art Direction: Brent Rollins
Photography: B+ (Brian Cross)

Another classic from the Rap Pages vault, this one places Kool G Rap blindfolded and facing a firing squad. The Kool Genius, of course maintains a perfect calm throughout it all, but maybe that's because his executioners clearly had such terrible aim. Ja Rule later appeared on the cover of VIBE under very similar circumstances.

#16. Nas & Large Professor/50 Cent's Gun (Mass Appeal, 2002)

Issue: #18 (2002)
Art Direction: Adrian Moeller
Photography: Piotr Sikora

The specter of Illmatic's acclaim has hovered over Nas for the entirety of his career. Eight years after its release Mass Appeal followed Nasir and the album's main architect, Large Professor, down to Orlando, FL, where they were recording God's Son, and sat the once estranged partners down for their only interview together.

For the cover image photographer Piotr Sikora took the duo into the streets of Orlando and captured them in the dining room of a random hospitable couple. A few years later Scratch would revisit the premise teaming Nas and DJ Premier for a significantly less aesthetically pleasing, but nonetheless exciting cover.

The flip of the magazine featured a single .38 Special. Although the accompanying 50 Cent feature was presented under the premise that he was critiquing random guns commonly found in the hood, the twist here was supposedly all the firearms used for the photo shoot were straight from the G-Unit stash.

#15. Jay-Z, DMX, & Ja Rule as Murder Inc. (XXL, 1999)

Issue: June 1999
Art Direction: Donald E. Morris
Photography: Jonathon Mannion

Before Murder Inc. became a playground for Irv Gotti and Ja Rule's most obvious crossover attempts and Ashanti's "Oh Baybee" love songs, it was a planned rap supergroup. And in the annals of abandoned rap supergroups, the lineup—Jay-Z, DMX, and Ja Rule—is up there as one of the more promising ones. This cover finds the trio looking suspiciously goonish. The flip side of the cover seems to confirm those suspicions—all three are brandishing concealed blunt objects, Ice-T style.

#14. The Notorious B.I.G. (Rap Pages, 1997)

Issue: April 1997
Art Direction: Jerry Pao
Photography: Barron Claiborne

Biggie might have more iconic magazine covers to his name than any other rapper. As a visual presence he was almost as captivating as he was on a record. But it's this later Rap Pages cover that stands out above the rest. So simple, yet so unforgettable.

Photographer Barron Clairborne caught the late great veteran in all his glory, "black and ugly as ever," with a tilted crown perched sloppily on his over-sized head. The King Of New York on his throne. You don't even have to crack the pages, his eyes alone tell the story.

#13. Eminem (STRESS, 1998)

Issue: 1998
Art Direction: Jus Ske
Photography: Jus Ske

Oft overlooked underground pub, STRESS dressed Em up as Clockwork Orange's demented protagonist, Alex, for one of his earliest covers. The shoot not only highlighted Shady's crazy side, it also served as an ill subliminal to rival white rapper Cage, who was then best known for his Clockwork-sampling underground record "Agent Orange." The flick was so nice that it got used twice, later turning up on a Spin cover as well.

#12. Tupac Shakur (Rolling Stone, 1996)

Issue: 10/31/1996
Art Direction: Gail Anderson
Photography: Danny Clinch

After Pac's murder it was inevitable that most music mags would give him a memorial cover. Vibe and The Source both took the somber approach, with similar headshots of Pac in serious glance. It was Rolling Stone who really rose to the occasion, showing a shirtless and tatted Pac, wearing the delicate balance of passion and rage on his face. The portrait itself has found continued life in the dorm room poster canon, hanging alongside such classics as the Bob Marley's Legend cover and John Belushi in his Animal House "college" sweater.

#11. Run-DMC (Spin,1988)

Issue: May 1988
Art Direction: Basil Berry
Photography: Chris Carroll

Run-DMC's rise wasn't merely musical, it was visual. They stripped the flash from the hip-hop star. No chains, leather pants, or shiny jackets. This Spin cover makes that image the centerpiece and pushes their actual faces into the background (or crops them out entirely). Instead their Cazals, fedora hats, and the slightest glimmer from their dookie chains draw viewers' eyes.

#10. Kanye West (Rolling Stone, 2006)

Issue: February 2006
Art Direction: Amid Capeci
Photography: Dave LaChapelle

Spinning off the success of "Jesus Walks," Rolling Stone placed Kanye in a crown of thorns a la Christ himself. 'Ye wasn't the first rapper to implicitly put himself in the big man's shoes—Pac was crucified in painting form for his Makaveli cover and Nas and Puff had gotten flack for depicting the same in the "Hate Me Now" video—but repetition never dulls society's need for a scandal. Today it rates pretty low on the scale of Kanye outrages.

#9. The Notorious B.I.G. (VIBE, 1997)

Issue: April 1997
Art Direction: Lee Ellen Fanning
Photography: Guy Aroch

When VIBE photographer, Guy Aroch, shot Biggie in the classic Alfred Hitchcock pose for a fashion spread in the September 1996 issue, the tone was half-jokey, playing off Hitch's film, Notorious. Big liked the flick so much that he ran with the comparison, officially dubbing himself the "Rap Alfred Hitchcock" on "What's Beef?" But just months later the context of some very different shots turned the photos somber. The flick and the cover now stands as a reverent tribute to Big Poppa, hip-hop's own Master of Suspense.

#8. Ol Dirty Bastard (Rap Pages, 1995)

Issue: June 1995
Art Direction: Brent Rollins
Photography: B+ (Brian Cross)

Parodying Janet Jackson's infamous and topless Rolling Stone cover, Rap Pages had ODB cup the breasts of an anonymous Wu-Wear-clad chick. It's a legendary magazine cover in its own right, with Dirty peeking out from behind the chick's shoulder with his classically psychotic gaze. Fortunately Dirt McGirt had the good sense to keep his own clothes on.

#7. Treach (VIBE, 1992)

Issue: Fall 1992 (Preview Issue)
Art Direction: Gary Koepke
Photography: Albert Watson

When Quincy Jones and Time Inc. introduced VIBE, heads were taken aback by how artful and high brow it was, graphically. The Source did a lot of things great, but typeface and layout were not often among those things.

VIBE created, for the first time in hip-hop, images as iconic and dynamic as the music itself. And no image could have set the tone for what they would do, aesthetically, over the next few years better than this photograph of Naughty By Nature's Treach, shirtless and mean mugging, dangerous and powerful.

#6. The Notorious B.I.G. & Puff Daddy (VIBE, 1996)

Issue: September 1996
Art Direction: Lee Ellen Fanning
Photography: Dana Lixenberg

This issue is a double-edged sword. On one hand it's a perfect enactment of the Bad Boy dynamic, with Big in the forefront blowing out blunt smoke and Puff as his carefree corner, playing the back and hyping his every move.

But the ominous, incendiary coverline "East Vs. West" brought VIBE to the center of the controversy, and the magazine's journalistic ethics into question, since the feature itself finds the duo downplaying the Death Row beef.

Pac would be dead in a month. Biggie would suffer the same fate seven months later. And subsequently there was no shortage of critics pointing their finger at this cover and laying culpability at publication's feet.

#5. Eminem, Dr. Dre, & 50 Cent (XXL, 2003)

Issue: March 2003
Art Direction: Rommel S. Alama & Davina A. Lennard
Photography: Sacha Waldman

Officially marking the beginning of the era of the Aftermath/Shady/G-Unit hydra, XXL featured all three figureheads on this '03 cover, released weeks before 50's blockbuster, Get Rich Or Die Tryin'.

Embattled by Murder Inc. and Benzino, this cover served as a statement of power, bringing the trio together for the first time publicly, and gave the three the opportunity to address and dismiss their detractors as a unit.

The striking image, controversial cover story, and overwhelming buzz shared by Em, 50, and Dre, would propel this issue of XXL to be the magazine's all-time highest seller.

#4. Snoop Dogg, 2Pac, Suge Knight, & Dr. Dre (VIBE, 1996)

Issue: February 1996
Art Direction: Diddo Ramm
Photography: Ken Nahourn & Michael O'Neil

At the height of the East Coast/West Coast feud, it seemed like one party or the other was on the cover of VIBE every month. For this Death Row cover they presented the label's four principles—Snoop, Pac, Suge, and Dre—as mafioso kingpins, brothers united, in a perfect visual articulation of cover writer Kevin Powell's threatening description of the the gangster workings of label.

Within a matter of eighteen months this empire would crumble, with Dre jumping ship by the summer of '96 and Snoop also distancing himself from Suge's reign in the wake of Pac's murder.

#3. Snoop Dogg (VIBE, 1993)

Issue: September 1993
Art Direction: Richard Baker
Photography: Dan Winters

For VIBE's test issue they gave the cover to Naughty By Nature's Treach, definitely a very popular entity in the marketplace, but one who was also tied to the previous hip-hop generation. When the proper inaugural issue came about they instead went with an artist who was clearly in the midst of ushering in a new era of hip-hop.

Snoop was a young West Coast gangsta and after stealing the show on Dre's album, the fever for Doggystyle was higher than that of any rap album prior (and maybe even since). The cover of the large format pub featured a minimalist headshot of the rapper, shifty eyed and in a Beanie. Today it's weird to see Snoop, who has spent the 18 years since in a stoned haze, look so alert.

#2. Dr. Dre (The Source, 1992)

Issue: November 1992
Art Direction: Chris Callaway
Photography: Shawn Mortensen

Before he became the Men's Wearhouse Casual spokesman, Dre was a gangsta ass wild card. Splitting from the N.W.A. pack to start his own label could've easily been career suicide and this cover illustrates it literally, finding the good Doctor with his pistol pon cock and aimed at his own temple. This cover caused a shitstorm with advertisers who were already dubious of The Source's content and audience to begin with.

#1. Tupac Shakur (VIBE, 1994)

Issue: February 1994
Art Direction: Richard Baker
Photography: Shawn Mortensen

The world might never truly understand Tupac. What, if any of his persona was an act and what was reality? Was he a calculated genius? Was he crazy? Was he both? We'll never know. But the image of him on this classic VIBE cover captures the dichotomy of his character. Even in an insane asylum he maintains a "don't-give-a-fuck" look on his face. Complex later paid tribute to its legacy by wrapping up Lil Wayne in a similarly straight-jacketed pose in 2007 and asking the same question.