Usually I am a fan of XXL Freshman class because they have shined a light on up and coming artists who would one day take over the rap game, such as Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Wiz Khalifa, Lupe Fiasco, ScHoolboy Q, Kirko Bangz, Logic, Kevin Gates and, my personal favorite, Chance the Rapper. The list can go on and on, but dont get me wrong, there are a few from all the class that fell or that had a couple of hit songs. With the 2016 Freshman class, I am more disappointed; I am actually hurt that this class is absolutely the worst. I don't know who choose this class, but hopefully next year they can do better.
This class was filled with rappers who cannot rap and most of the time, just don't make any sense. I will admit that a couple of them that have songs that I like if i want to get a little ratchet: Kodak Black No Flockin and Lil Uzi Vert- Money Longer. Other than that I just can't get "jiggy with it." Especially after "The Cypher" was released...
And if you watch the second video, it's very obvious that Lil Dicky was the star out of the whole eight (not including the other two that are missing.) The rappers now are missing something that all of the others in the past have had and still have to this day: actual lyrics that have some type of meaning to them. The rappers now are giving rap and hip hop a bad name because they are ignorant and rap about drugs, sex, violence, killing. Now, they are to be the face of music, instead of the ones who actually deserve it.
Some might disagree with my statement, but it's a proven fact that they are bad (with the exception of Lil Dicky.) National Suntimes actually stated that "If Lil Dicky makes XXL's Freshman list, he will surely be the most polarizing rapper on the list." That was published on Feb 8, 2016 and shows you how accurate they were. In my opinion, Bryson Tiller, iLoveMakonnen, Tory Lanez, Post Malone, Skizzy Mars and Futuristic should have also been named. That is just to name a few that actually deserves to be apart of the freshman class some are long time over due, but hey what do I know I'm just a college student that listens to logical rappers. Hopefully in 2017, XXL can actually redeem themselves with a worthy class that is not trash.