We’ve heard from a few people—more than a few actually—surprised at our choice of cover stars for FADER #66. This shock is not over the individual artists, but over their juxtaposition. This is what FADER has been about from day one, though. The people who have and always will make this magazine (and, we hope, the people who read it) embrace everything from everywhere, put it next to its unexpected neighbor and shrug their shoulders at seemingly glaring differences. This is not to say that hysterical and famous rapper Nicki Minaj is the same as burgeoning rock/synth maniacs Yeasayer, but that they share an electricity. And, at the tail end of winter, we were happy to be able to report on a plethora of phenomenal jam creators. Nicki Minaj is the hottest shit since sliced bread, emerged headstrong out of Lil Wayne’s Young Money, with a fiendish desire for more cheese and a coronation as the alien queen of hip-hop. Yeasayer we’ve loved since their first album, which we not jokingly thought often sounded like Rusted Root. Odd Blood, their stunning, enormous sophomore release is much more than a step forward, it’s like they went from baby steps to 360 slam dunks overnight. Both Yeasayer and Nicki Minaj have roots in New York, as does Gil Scott-Heron, who, after emerging from Riker’s Island, has spent four years with XL label head Richard Russell making I’m New Here, his first album in a long time. It’s a showstopper, and to celebrate his return, we went up to Harlem to speak with the legend. We think everyone else, from both covers on in, is a legend in the making—from Marina and the Diamonds to Joy Orbison. We suppose only time will tell, but time, as it is said, is on our side.

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