XXL "Freshman" Class of 2013

http://mp3waxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/xxl-freshmen-2013-cover-news-article32713.jpg

Good group.

I like pretty much everyone I'm familiar with, gotta go w/ Angel Haze though

easily the most talented group i can remember

actually i'm lying, i guess i remember them being way worse

so much camo

$o many dollar $ign$

dollar $ign$ in my name like a ba$ketball, player

this shit is boring as all fuck, just like every year

i can't believe there's a dizzy wright now and he's not even the white one

A lot better than last year's at least.

What do I need to know about Travi$ Scott?

dizzy wrightscal

travis scott's stuff is pretty cool but his music is suuuuuuuuch a kanye homage that it's acutely painful

Thanks. So is there any reason why Chance is not on this (apart from incompetence)?

Chance doesn't seem like the most glaring omission, profile-wise, by a long shot

yeah i mean xxl is not actually trying to highlight rappers on the cusp of breaking out. it's just a jumble of names.

there doesn't ever seem to be much logic w/r/t where in their careers these rappers are

They are all at the point in their careers where someone like me, who doesn't listen to a whole lot of rap on a regular basis, knows who they are. They all must have achieved a certain amount of press/exposure in non-heads circles in the past few months for that to be the case.

like if you were gonna nom schoolboy q and absoul why not kendrick really

or was he on last year

well they range from people TWO albums (that got decent amounts of attention and chart positions) deep into their career (schoolboy q) to people who are basically one-hit wonders at this point (trinidad james) to people i've literally never heard of (logic)

This is basically like when someone wins the "best new artist" Grammy after they've released six albums (Shelby Lynne?). Crossing over, at least part of the way, is everything.

I don't know a damn thing about Logic, who is this guy?

One of Logic's main goals for his music is to make music with a positive message, telling people to follow their dreams, whatever it may be, all while walking with honor and peace.

He and Austin Mahone should get along well.

like if you were gonna nom schoolboy q and absoul why not kendrick really

― i petted a bodega cat today. (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, March 27, 2013 4:41 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

....

yeah i dont know why xxl wouldnt put kendrick in their list of young, underheralded emerging artihttp://www.xxlmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/HXXL_12_SEP_0C1A_uscan.72.jpg

congratulations you've figured out my point: what are schoolboy and ab-soul doing on there

Kendrick was on their freshmen cover two years ago.

with fellow breakout stars Cyhi da Prince and Fred the Godson

dap on your dn btw rev

feels like half this list has almost definitely already peaked and only a couple are really likely to climb much higher than they already have

Fred the Godson brought a lot of joy into our lives

the way Keef is shoehorned onto the cover is really hilarious to me

i can't believe i'm saying this but i'm honestly shocked Riff Raff isn't one of these

yeah he peaked so long ago that he shoulda been a shoe-in

"peaked"

"why not kendrick"

Nas at #4

wish i had the photoshop skills to put "peaked" "nas at #4" and "why not kendrick" on the hen fap pic signs

i mean... do you think Kirko Bangz HASN'T peaked already?

let's invoke godwin's law and use this space to talk about why macklemore isn't 5mic statu

I wrote Dizzy Wright off as a flowery '90s revivalist on the basis of a couple YouTube videos. But when the guy is rapping over Jahlil Beats-style street production he sounds pretty damn good to me. I'm into this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQZX3Av64-c

bEST eVER?

Angel Haze is obviously the chick... Trinidad has the headband, Action Bronson is the fat ginger... I don't know what anyone else looks like.

i like the dude who's like "this is my big moment in the spotlight...i'm gonna clasp both hands in front of my face so nobody will ever recognize me"

schoolboy being the slimy bucket hat-wearing weakest rapper in his crew makes me feel like he's the tony yayo of black hippy, weirds me out that he's second in line behind kendrick

Hands-in-front-of-the-face is possibly Joey Badass but who knows really.

At this point, every member of Black Hippy has been on a Freshmen cover.

i think after the young money train left the station xxl was just determined to cover all their bases w/ up and coming crews

travis scott's stuff is pretty cool but his music is suuuuuuuuch a kanye homage that it's acutely painful

― A$AP Rovi (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, March 27, 2013 4:11 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

solitary posts that effortlessly summarize the spirit of 2013 rap

this one is the most overt future bite i've ever heard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65JN4ICQsag

i like how at the end it lapses into an 808s rip off like he was holding his breath for the entire song but just had to gasp out for breath after 3 mins

Have we identified upper-right-hand-corner guy yet? Because he's my favorite

dizzy wright

dude with his hands covering his face is travis scott

lmao at "quintana"

drake really ushered in the era of constant shameless pastiche/synthesis of more established stars imo

I wish they'd photoshopped prison over that Chief Keef stamp

guilty lols

http://www.2dopeboyz.com/2013/03/26/travis-scott-performs-at-the-mtvu-woodie-awards-video/

travis scott's stage behavior is swagless

his fist pump is so goofy

Cash Out must be very ticked that Trinidad James and Kirko Bangz made the list and he did not

haha

LoveRance is pissed that he wasn't even mentioned in Evan's post

tbf loverance's song was basically created by iamsu who actually has a good reason to be mad at being left off

that wasn't the joke but thx serious cat

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Chief Keef, the discovery of Pusha T

the correct result, at least

LOL

Angel Haze is obviously the chick... Trinidad has the headband, Action Bronson is the fat ginger... I don't know what anyone else looks like.
― billstevejim, Thursday, March 28, 2013

yall cant be this serious about angel haze tho. really?

you dont have to like scary teen rappers or fat novelty chefs but damn ... schoolboy q & ab soul are way better than angel haze cmon

this is what happens when you let british people vote in rap polls

i petted a bodega bamz today.

Im not even a Keef stan but Citgo alone puts him in the top three along with Ab and Q.

you dont have to like scary teen rappers or fat novelty chefs but damn ... schoolboy q & ab soul are way better than angel haze cmon

no

if you can't hear what makes angel haze special then i don't even know

i cannot hear what makes angel haze special no

i feel like she overcompensates with hypertechnical rappety-raps

i do like 'werkin girls' for capturing a little spiritual sliver of classic timbo but even on that her rapping is distractingly technical & forsaking personality a bit more than i normally like

nb i also had this problem with yelawolf so ymmv

i like her better when she's not doing aggressive rappity-rap stuff

personality and subject matter is almost entirely what makes haze special! the fact that she can do the complex technical stuff is a bonus

same with yela when he was good