Ver nice. Check out the cover and grab the first leak “Point of View” after the jump.

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Donda’s Baby Boy graces the cover of the December/January issue of Complex magazine. For the cover story, Editor-in-Chief Noah Callahan-Bever provides a rare look inside Kanye’s “Fantasy Rap Camp” in Hawaii and the making of My Dark Twisted Fantasy.

The sun sets, and Q-Tip and Consequence arrive, straight from the plane. Kanye asks RZA if he’d voice the hook—”Champagne wishes and 30 white bitches/You know the shit is, fuckin’ ridic’lous”—and the Abbott steps into the booth and obliges, immediately transforming from sedate and stoned to amped and aggressive. It’s enough to make us all chuckle on his first take; wrapped around those words, his thick and bizarre drawl just sounds so perfectly…RZA. But Kanye notices something off in the delivery, and he presses the intercom button to talk to RZA: “Um, fam, it’s actually ‘thirty white bitches,’ not ‘dirty white bitches.’” RZA laughs. “I’ll do it again,” he says, “but to be real, the way I be saying words, you ain’t gon’ be able to tell the difference.” Ha! At Rap Camp, the shit is fuckin’ ridiculous.

The rest of the trip settles into a fairly routine pattern, if by “fairly routine” you mean “a succession of both magical and mundane moments starring the musicians who defined your adolescence alongside the most exciting artists of today.” Each morning begins with a 10 a.m. breakfast at Kanye’s Diamondhead residence. Pusha, Tip, RZA, Cudi, Cons, and Kanye’s crew slowly assemble to enjoy the absurdly tasty cooking of Kanye’s in-house chefs. If you’re smart, you order the French toast with the flambéed banana. An hour later, Kanye pulls up in his Porsche Panamera, fresh from the studio. That’s right, from the studio. During my five days in Hawaii, Kanye never slept at his house, or even in a bed. He would, er, power-nap in a studio chair or couch here and there in 90-minute intervals, working through the night. Engineers remained behind the boards 24 hours a day.

You can read Noah’s full story, as well as some testimonials from some of the album’s stars (Pusha, Pete Rock, Nicki, Bon Iver) here. There are also a good 40 or so never before seen candid photos from the studio sessions that you can peruse here. A couple samples:

Read Noah’s 2004 piece on Kanye (post-College Dropout) that inspired the line “it takes more than a magazine to kill my Vibe”.

Yeezy covers i-D Mag’s Back To The Future issue.

Spotted: UHTN

Still corny.

Previously: Curtis & Soulja Boy Cover XXL’s November Issue

M.Ford covers the Winter ’10 issue of KING.

The homie Andreas Hale did the Q&A:

KING: While reaching you, via Blackberry Messenger, to schedule this interview your status read “Busy Watching Porn.” Um, please explain. Do you really indulge in porn?

MELYSSA: [Laughs] I definitely do. I don’t really have a particular genre of porn and I’m not really a fetishist. Sometimes I want to see if there are some tricks to expand my sexual repertoire. It’s not like I started watching it yesterday. Boyfriends are like, “let’s watch some porn!” Rather than being disgusted by it, I’d say, “sure, let’s watch it.”

Hit the jump for some pics from the spread.

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Oh the irony. Tip covers Yellow Rat Bastard magazine. Folks who believe he’s a stool pigeon should have a field day with that one. Check out some footage from the shoot below and additional pics after the jump.

In related news, Clifford was found to have opiates in his system after his arrest in L.A. earlier this month, and it has been revealed that he was in possession of codeine and ecstasy as well as the weed he was initially reported to be holding at the time. Needless to say, U.S. District Judge Charles Pannel Jr. has ordered him into court to explain himself and there’s a good chance his probation could be violated.

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The magazine that celebrates hip-hop photography got T.I. to cover their 4th issue. On newsstands August 31st.

Spotted @ RR

Previously: RESPECT. Issue #3: Eminem | RESPECT. Issue #2: 50 Cent | RESPECT. Issue #1 Double Cover: Jay-Z & Tupac

Em explains the meaning behind the (doper of the two) glass house Recovery cover, on location from its photoshoot at Detroit’s Hart Plaza.

The NY Times’ ArtsBeat blog got a early preview of the video for “Power”, which was created in collaboration with artist Marco Brambilla, and it sounds like it’s going to be a doozy.

In a coming video for his single “Power” that was created by the artist Marco Brambilla, Mr. West is seen standing imposingly with a heavy chain around his neck. As Mr. West raps the camera slowly zooms out in one continuous, unedited take to reveal him in a classical structure, surrounded by female attendants who are partly or entirely nude; some kneel before him on all fours, others wear devil horns and still others are suspended upside down from the ceiling. The Sword of Damocles hangs precariously over Mr. West’s head, and behind him an unseen executioner is preparing to strike him with a blade. (ArtsBeat was allowed to watch a portion of this video but was not permitted to post it.)

Read more, including comments from Mr. Brambilla, at the link below. And remember, it’s not a music video it’s a “video work that’s been commissioned by Kanye to accompany the music”.

Link: A Preview of Kanye West’s ‘Power’: ‘Apocalyptic in a Very Personal Way’

Previously: Kanye Acapella Tour Stop #2: Twitter HQ

Big Boi poses with one of his prized pit bulls for Rolling Stone. Click the image to enlarge and read the article.