Modest isn’t the word to describe Lupe Fiasco in his upcoming XXL interview. The rapper, who graces the cover, is talking about his new album, his label problems and his mic skills, but it’s the latter that could open him up to a few jabs from some of the game’s more lyrical MCs.

For rappers though, boasting about being the best is probably the best way to become just that. “I can actually make the argument, seriously, that, Yo, I’m better than all y’all,” he says. According to Lupe, however, he isn’t the only one that’s entitled to say it. “You have people who can say that. Jay-Z can say that. Eminem can say that. Canibus can say that—if we are going line for line. If you want to relate me to the newer cats, let’s go. Let’s go line for line and bar for bar. If it’s all about spitting and metaphors and MCing and lyrics and entendres, I will eat 99 percent of you dudes up.”

Lupe’s Lasers album debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200 Album charts in its first week of release. But instead of celebrating its success, Lupe talks about how the numbers will affect his dealings with the label, since they weren’t always creatively on the same page. “I wasn’t completely overwhelmed, because now I have to go into the business meetings,” he said. “Now I’m waiting for, ‘If you didn’t say you hated the album in that interview, we would have done 300,000.”

The May issue of XXL Magazine hits stands nationwide on April 26.

(Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images)