Tuesday, October 18, 2011

GQ October 2011 Issue - Devin Friedman on Hip Hop Artist Rick Ross & Other Features

One tremendous and several other solid as well features from the latest issue of GQ Magazine.



Piece that stood out the most was that on hip hop star Rick Ross by Devin Friedman. It's an entertaining recount of the author's time spent hanging out with Ross and his entourage, but also featured some really good writing... with below being from Friedman's profile.

Where Rick Ross really separates himself is that he inhabits the cliché completely while also seeming to know it's a cliché. You can like him if you think you're hard, and you can like him if you think being hard is ridiculous. Because Rick Ross is always both inside and outside a joke he's making about hip-hop music. I mean, look at him in the Lil Wayne "John" video. The man is sitting in a wheelchair that has big silver spinner rims on it. But at the same time he looks so freakin' boss in that burgundy velour suit."

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Couple of other pieces of note from this issue...

Cover feature was an interview with Leonardo Dicaprio and Clint Eastwood leading up to the release of J. Egdar (with trailer linked) on the former FBI head. Currently GQ is only posting an excerpt of the interview, but Eastwood as the Director and Dicaprio as movie's star both come across as people having interesting views on solid movies and the folly of chasing box-office success.

Additional feature story from GQ this month was The Man Who Sailed His House by Michael Paterniti. It's a lengthy piece on someone found at sea floating on his roof days after the Japan tsunami... and is as amazing a tale as the description would indicate. Actually, reading it made me think of the even more amazing story of Louis Zamperini told in Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken (which I reviewed here), but it's certainly a good piece on it's own merits from Paterniti.

Final piece to mention here didn't necessarily stand out for it's writing (wasn't meant to be about the prose, I'm sure), but for the topic written on. Josh Dean did a interesting short piece on the need to walk as a way to overcoming health problems brought about by the largely sedentary jobs most of us hold.