The cover was released sometime last week, and if you live in NY you’ve probably already seen the issue all over the place here. But for those that haven’t, check out a shot of the piece (above) and some of the cover story (below).

After all, Sean Combs is the most successful entrepreneur to emerge from hip-hop. He surpassed Russell Simmons back in the 1990s, when the Def Jam co-founder backed away from the music industry. Even his contemporaries, booming businessmen such as Jay-Z and 50 Cent, either lag behind or travel down a road Diddy paved. His label, Bad Boy Records, set the precedent for Roc-A-Fella’s and G-Unit’s partnerships with Def Jam (1997) and Interscope (2003), respectively, when the boutique label signed a deal with Arista/BMG back in 1993.

He was a 360 artist before the term even existed—his business was founded on hip-hop but not limited to it. “Diddy is someone who taught young artists how to turn hip-hop into an industry,” says Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M, where Diddy is now signed as a solo artist, and Bad Boy is signed as a label. Under the terms of the deal, any new artist signed to Bad Boy will be distributed through Interscope, while currently signed artists (and the Bad Boy catalog) will go through Atlantic Records, where Diddy signed a deal in 2005. Besides being an entertainer, he’s a businessman. His vast empire includes Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group, Sean John Clothing, Inc., Blue Flame marketing, which has counted Pepsi and Hewlett Packard as clients, and Justin Combs Publishing, which houses the songwriting credits of artists like The L.O.X. and 112. The latest, non-musical business deal, however, is with the Diageo liquor company. In 2007, Diddy entered an equal-share venture with Diageo to spearhead Cîroc vodka’s brand management. It’s been a fruitful partnership. In the second half of 2007, Diageo shipped 60,000 cases of Cîroc worldwide. That number jumped to 400,000 cases for 2008–2009.

All told, Puffy’s unconfirmed net worth is reportedly more than $350 million. It’s quite a résumé. And he knows it. “I am the champion of hip-hop,” he says. “Hands down, undisputed, I’m the undisputed heavyweight champion of hip-hop.”

READ: Diddy – XXL Interview (Excerpt)

Diddy stalled hopping on his Last Train to Paris to spend a little time with XXL. The hip-hop mogul appears in XXL magazine’s upcoming June issue and it’s his very first time being featured on the publications cover.

In the comprehensive interview written by Thomas Golianopoulos, Puff gives insight into his ubersuccessful business mind, his new album, Last Train to Paris and he reflects on his grind to the top to become hip-hop’s number one mogul.

He also looks back at his overall impact on the industry and culture. “I am the champion of hip-hop” Diddy says in the story. “Hands down, undisputed, I’m the undisputed heavyweight champion of hip-hop. We are going to have to deal with those facts. There is nobody that can fuck with me with what I do, which is getting busy. We are going across the board, as an entrepreneur, innovator, motivator. Who was there first? Who traveled to Europe first? The first. The first. The first. The first. I was the first.”

In addition to the P. Diddy story, the June issue features an in-depth reported piece on the untimely death of rap legend Guru of Gang Starr. Speaking with family members, friends, his former group mate DJ Premier and close friend/business partner Solar, XXL tries to make sense of the beloved lyricist’s final days, while also exploring the mystery behind his last days.

The magazine also pays homage to the 20th anniversary to the making of Ice Cube’s classic solo debut, AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted and gives a detailed guide to hip-hop’s plethora of reality shows. – XXL

Thoughts? Opinions? Bueller?

The house that Harris built released some words from Aubrey that never made the cutting room floor…

How many songs are on Thank Me Later?

Drake: It’ll probably end up being about 15. But it’s just, you know, I love doing R&B music, I really do. And I just always feel like to tie in hip-hop with R&B and to utilize R&B to glue it all together, that’s my trademark. That’s something that only I can do. And that’s why I will continue to do it. There might come a time where I might be like, “Yo, I just want to do an R&B mixtape, or I just want to do a whole [R&B] album,” but I don’t think so, man. I think that that is the makeup of me—melody and just the tone of my voice and all; I don’t think I could ever change that, so…

I’m waiting on the Drake Gangsta Grillz.

Drake: [Laughs] I just find that boring, you know. There’s certain people where it’s impressive, like with Lil Wayne, to hear him freestyling over other people’s beats for an hour is impressive because it’s just like, Yo, this guy never runs out of clever shit to say, but for me, people might want to hear it, but it’s just not something that I really want to give you. I’d rather just give you something that lasts a little longer than that ’cause those mixtapes never really last much longer than six months. When the songs become played out, and…

READ: Drake x XXL: The Lost Tapes
PREVIOUS: Drake – Miss Me (prod. Boi-1da) [NoDJ]

Here are visuals from XXL’s sold-out Freshmen ’10 show in New York last month, featuring behind the scenes footage & highlights from the show.

So most of youse know of me from my “Slap-Boxing With Jesus” days a few years ago, and some have asked when I was getting back into writing of that nature. Well, for all those interested I’ve signed on to be the newest scribe over at XXL, with my new column “Slang Editorial.” I’m still a bit rusty (I haven’t done anything “Meka Soul”-related in over a year), but it should be an interesting ride. “Slang Editorial” kicks off on Monday over at XXLMag.Com.

According to the good ship Harris:

Without giving away too many details, Tip’s longtime associate DJ Drama, confirmed with XXLMag.com that he will be hosting the tape, and fans, especially those from the King of the South’s hometown, are sure to love the new songs. “He was doing his pushups and his situps, [and] now we about to have the streets in a frenzy,” Dram told XXL. “I’ll just put it to you like this, Bankhead Zone One is gonna love this.”

Promising a lot of surprise guests, one rapper that the tightlipped DJ says will definitely appear on the tape is Lil Wayne.

Speaking of CLifford, check out the video of him recording “Bet I Bust” down bottom.

PREVIOUS: T.I. – F*ck a Mixtape (Trailer)

You can add Devin the Dude’s name to the long list of rappers who owe their careers to Dr. Dre. The Houston rapper recently stopped by the XXL offices to talk about the impact of appearing on the good doctor’s 2001 album.

…When Devin received a call from the West Coast producer in 1999 to be on the one night stand anthem “Fuck You,” it gave the Dude a sense of purpose. “When Dre came along and asked me to be a part of [2001] it really uplifted me, man, and let me know I was here for some type of reason. He told me he used to listen to our music with the Odd Squad back in the day when him and Snoop was on the first Chronic tour and that just put so much fuel in me, man…I was like, ‘Oh, okay, cool, man. I’ma just try to go at it full throttle.’” – XXL

PREVIOUS: Devin the Dude – I Can’t Handle It

Wow, she’s really going all in for this “blonde wig on a black chick multicolored hair pieces on an African American, female rapper” look. And you know the Latarian Miltons of the world – you know, the ones that like to do hoodrat things – will eat this up. Anyways, here’s a piece of her cover story XXL.

You are both a new female rapper and a new rapper from New York. Do people recognize your gender more than that you’re a New York artist?

I think very often people miss that I’m from New York, and I don’t really know why that is, but I remember I said on Twitter one time, “Shout out to Queens,” and all of the gay boys thought I was talking to them, and I realized that people haven’t gotten that I’m Southside Jamaica, Queens, New York City. I feel like I say it a lot, but I guess I’m not saying it that much, or it’s that I’m so diverse and I don’t always rap with the New York accent—I switch it up, you know. People don’t see me as just repping one city or one state. I actually really like that. That was always my goal: to be able to bridge that gap, you know, whether it’s to London.

When I listen to my favorite artists, I don’t care where they’re from. When you listen to Whitney Houston, you don’t care if she’s from New Jersey or France. Like, she has an incredible voice. So I’m glad that sometimes people don’t put me [as the] “new, New York artist.” But I am very proud to rep New York. Who wouldn’t be? We’ve seen the best male and female artists, so it’s an honor to be from New York.

More photos from the Jonathan Mannion-shot session down bottom.

Millz talks with The Source about all the responses he’s gotten about his XXL Freshmen thoughts.

Two more shots of Nicki in this month’s XXL, in which her and Drake grace the cover.

Legendary photographer Jonathan Mannion recently put up two shots from the upcoming XXL that featured both Nicki & Drake on the cover. Hit the jump for full versions.

Click to enlarge.

It hasn’t been a secret for over a week but here goes Nicki and Drake’s cover for the upcoming issue of XXL, which hits newsstands on April 20th. And speaking of Drake, he’s currently wrapping up the last song on Thank Me Later.

YM BONUS: Gudda Gudda – Small Thing to a Giant f. Lil Wayne [Tags]