For the past year, Migos has been the talk of the town. The scorching trio of lyricists is preparing for the release of CULTURE II, the heavily-anticipated follow-up to CULTURE on Jan. 26.

To celebrate their enduring success and longevity in the game, Rolling Stone graced the Musketeers with the first cover of 2018, and – spoiler alert – it’s fire. Amidst a haze of smoke puffed by both Offset and Takeoff, Quavo smiles triumphantly as he holds the cigar to the latter’s lips; if that image alone isn’t the best declaration of camaraderie so far this year, then I don’t know what is.

Legendary journalist Toure pens a cover story of epic proportions, shadowing the group’s late December shenanigans as they prepared for the release of their new album. In the lengthy story, the group touches on a number of culturally relevant (no pun intended) subjects including Offset’s relationship with Cardi B, their feelings towards Joe Budden, and the aesthetics of CULTURE II. 

Offset’s relationship with Cardi has been the subject of much scrutiny lately due to rumors of infidelity on his behalf taking the internet by storm. While there’s been no concrete evidence of cheating so far, Offset wants everyone to know that he truly wants to marry her. Toure asked him why he wants to marry her and his response shows the love and respect he has for her: “She is real solid, came from where I came from, did what I did. She’s herself, man. I seen her develop from the trenches all the way up, and I like how she did it,” he said.

For the better part of six months, Migos and Joe Budden have been locked in a battle of words, wits, and compilation album singles. Quavo spoke on their beef in the story with a resounding statement of dismissal. “I ain’t never had no beef with Joe Budden!” he relayed. “He’s just a man with bullshit opinions to piss the artists off. And on top of that, he used to be an artist, so he knows what to say to piss us off.”

When speaking on CULTURE II, the trio elaborated on what to expect from their new album: “It’s still trap. We got a little funkier. It’s not all the way funk. There’s still a Migos vibe,” says Takeoff.

Check out the full interview here.