XXL Freshmen 2015 is coming and the freshman hopefuls are gearing up to possibly make this year’s class. With the 10th Spot voting happening now, we have to let the potentials tell us ...

The cyphers are about presence, attitude and that undeniable spark that makes the audience pay attention. For many of these artists, this is their first national spotlight moment, where they can grab ...

Where did the original idea for the Freshman List come from? We’ve been doing it, I think, for seven classes now. Over the time we’ve seen the shift from people liking certain rappers and being very ...

As traditions go, XXL‘s annual “Freshman Class” issue is neither all that time-honored or worthwhile. The magazine’s been putting rappers it calls freshmen on its cover since 2008, but hasn’t exactly ...

Who’s the biggest and best Freshman of all time? You get to decide. Words: Peter A. Berry, C. Vernon Coleman II, Kyle Eustice and Grant Rindner Editor’s Note: This story appears in the Summer 2025 ...

Earlier this year, 2015 XXL Freshman OG Maco dropped 15, an 11-track EP that helped cement him as a dynamic, versatile voice in hip-hop. Since "U Guessed It" introduced him to national ...