XXL Freshmen 11'

well XXL's Freshmen Class of 2011 has officially leaked.
a lot of folk are buzzing, but lets break down this list of artists.


1) Yelawolf
2) Kendrick Lamar
3) Big K.R.I.T
4) Diggy Simmons
5) Lil B *The Based God*
6) Mac Miller
7) CyHi The Prince
8) Lil Twist
9) Fred The Godson
10) Meek Mill
11) YG

the italicized names are the ones that are in question for me personally.
but in respects to each artist i wont judge till i hear their music

so in case these names seem unfamiliar here some of these artists accolades and achievements


Yelawolf
dropped his "Trunk Muzik" mixtape which had a huge buzz, a feature from Raekwon, a remix with Juelz Santana
Yela did a 16 in BET's Cypher and was recently signed to Eminem's Shady Records label.

Kendrick Lamar
in my opinion is the realest hip hop artist on the rise & active right now, born in chicago but a Compton California resident. His "Kendrick Lamar LP" is one of the best projects i've heard in a long time. He incorporates so many real life experiences and is a very relatable artist amidst an era of swagger million dollar life rappers. He recently caught the attention of Dr. Dre and the two have been working together.

Big K.R.I.T
A Mississippi rapper that gained a lot of popularity with his "Krit Wuz Here" album, aside from being a southern spitter he's also a producer, he's worked with former Young Money artist Curren$y & the very popular Wiz Khalifa. He seems to be a very humble soul, could fall under the category of "weed rap".

Diggy Simmons
The son of Reverend Run of Run DMC Diggy shocked the world with his remix to Nas' classic Made You Look. He's done several remixes to past songs, I believe he dropped a mixtape, appearances on 106 & Park, a commercial for AT&T.

Lil B *The Based God* SWAG.

Mac Miller dropped a dope mixtape entitled "K.I.D.S" Kicking Incredibly Dope Shit. Signed to Rostrum Records same label Wiz Khalifa is affiliated with, fresh out of highschool he's already collaborating with the likes of Statik Selektah & Consequence.

CyHi The Prince One of my favorite artists at the moment. Originally signed to Akon's label Konvict Music he attracted the attention of Kanye West with his feature on Yelawolf's track "I Wish (Remix)" Dropping two killer tapes, "The Prince Of Jacks" hosted by DJ Green Lantern & "Royal Flush" he's been featured on Kanye's latest album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" an ATLien with a lot of charisma and is now signed to Kanye's G.O.O.D Music label.

Lil Twist
A teenage rapper, texas native, signed to Lil Wayne's Young Money label. He was featured on two songs for the "We Are Young Money" album. He's performed with Lil Wayne nationwide for the "I Am Music Tour".

Fred The Godson
a pretty killer punchline rapper, with a Busta Rhymes co-sign.

Meek Mill
A Philadelphia MC, has a single with Young Chris of the Young Gunz former Roc A Fella group.

YG
current radio 1 hit wonder.


Honorary Mentions/Substitute Candidates
Shawn Chrystopher
Dom Kennedy
XV
OFWGKTA
Brandun Deshay
Vado
Tyga
Los

did some youtubing, Fred The Godson & Meek Mill have my approval of being in the freshmen class
but quite frankly, the people aren't very familiar with them.
to me they Fred falls under the category of a DJ Khaled thousand rapper feature, not really a marketable solo artist.
Meek Mill is very talented and appears to be very hungry but as far as his buzz from 10 - 11 there really isn't much notable for him or Fred like there is for the other members of 11'. YG is a complete one hit wonder, he's a soulja boy. I never knew who did the toot it and boot it track till this cover leaked. he's garbage on a hundred thousand grazillion. Lil Twist had more going for him before Lil Wayne went to jail rather than after. Although I'm not a fan Tyga was more deserving of that Young Money purchased spot on the XXL Freshmen 11' being grammy nominated for "Deuces ft. Chris Brown" is a good look. I do like that Lil Twist & Diggy Simmons are in the list for the fact they are young MC's it adds diversity to it. I'm not much of a fan of Diggy, to me he falls under that same category as Willow Smith, purchased talent. A good replacement would be OFWGKTA for the young spot, but obviously they don't get down like that.

overall i like the diversity of the list
but we all know that there's other people more deserving of those spots.

XV should have been on last year's list instead of OJ Da Juiceman
its been a year.
he's not a freshman anymore.
you can't win rookie of the year on your second go around.