Joining DJ Khaled and motivational speaker Tony Robbins, Mariah Carey graces the second Complex cover of the month. In one of the cover story highlights, MiMi opened up about her time with Prince.

“The late, great Prince, he was one of the best people I’ve met,” Carey says in her new Complex cover story. “Aside from his genius, his artistry, he actually helped me through a lot of [business] situations with his knowledge. He always had a plan. He was ahead of everybody on the whole Internet thing. Ahead of everybody with putting his music on the Internet. He didn’t care about the big system and I was always like, in the back of my mind, at any time Prince could write a No. 1 song because he’s that talented but he chooses to do what he wants. I respect that.”

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If My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was “maximal” and Watch the Throne was “opulent,” then “messy” seems to be the most fitting way to describe Kanye West’s new album.

The Life of Pablo, Ye’s seventh solo LP, is euphoric at its highest point (“Ultralight Beam”) and jarring at its lowest; “Now if I fuck this model/And she just bleached her asshole/And I get bleach on my T-shirt/I’ma feel like an asshole,” raps Kanye on “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1,” bringing Kid Cudi’s soaring intro crashing down to Earth.

Overall, the album feels like a post-apocalyptic palace: extravagant sonic architecture built out of scavenged materials from the trap, soul and gospel wastelands. Yet somehow, it still stands tall.

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Miss Info recently teamed up with Reebok and The FADER for their #CoastToCoast series to take a mini tour of NYC with rising artist Kiesza. Despite hailing from Calgary, the “Hideaway” singer knows her way around the city as she shows Info her favorite park, lunch spot and vintage clothes store. Forget what that dude said, those dungarees are fire!

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(Grantland‘s amazing Illmatic infographic. Click here to enlarge)

Tomorrow officially marks the 20th anniversary of Nas’ classic/iconic/timeless (insert every synonym here) debut album, but really, April as a whole has been a celebration of Illmatic — and rightly so. The Queensbridge poet has dropped the Illmatic XX reissue, debuted his Time Is Illmatic documentary and performed his album in full at Coachella alongside fellow New York legends Jay Z and Diddy.

The rap internets have been pretty busy, too, and on the eve of this very special occasion, we decided to compile the best features, interviews and even infographics (see above) from around the web to help you celebrate 20 years of Illmatic right.

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I’ve never been good at acknowledging the passing of time. We’ve never celebrated an anniversary here at MissInfo.TV. I’ve never felt comfortable doing week-long, self-congratulatory birthday tours. I have no idea how long I’ve worked at Hot 97. And I’m terrible at corroborating albums and release years. Is it a fear of change or a symptom of a disorganized mind? Yes, yup. But as a result, yesterday can feel like ancient history, and what I felt 20 years ago… is a room right next door.

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In the second phase of the STD project, De La Soul will release a limited edition vinyl set of “Smell The Da.I.S.Y.” in stores 4/18. The vinyl set will be a all instrumental version of the “Smell The Da.I.S.Y.” project, and we are giving away a copy to one lucky reader. Just reply in the comments with your favorite De La Soul song and your favorite non-rap website.

“The reason we choose to release a all instrumental version of “Smell The Da.I.S.Y.” is to give people the experience of a J Dilla beat tape that we were so lucky to recieve. These beat tapes were the springboard that generated creation and generated inspiration for us.”

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