It’s that magical time of year again. The 1% we referred to in the Designer story gets to feature their opinion on the XXL Freshman Class cover!

To start, congratulations to all the artist this year that made it whether you feel they deserved it or not.

Now for all my young people with old souls, you may not understand the cover, but what people must understand is that this is the new generation, the new wave, the new artist that are considered “nice.” Let’s not forget at one point, Hurricane Chris had everybody screaming Aye Bay Bay, Trinidad James had gold in everybody’s chain and Diggy Simmons was on 2011 XXL freshman cover.

How does the XXL Freshmen Cover become the notorious and talked about Freshmen cover? According to the editors of XXL, music, radio, sales, and mix tapes play a big role in choosing the Freshmen Class. Like many  Hip Hop heads online, I agree with several artists on this cover. Do I feel some necessarily didn’t deserve to be a part of the freshman class? Yes, but that is something I’m content with because I understand the fan base of the current generation or “the new wave.” Fans go super hard for their favorite artists, spending racks on merchandise, VIP ticket on tours, and some go as far as mimicking their artists fashion style . Years ago, only select artists received that star treatment. Back then, once you reached Star Status you made it. Now, we have artists with a mere 200 Soundcloud followers signing fans clothes and managing to sell out VIP tickets at small venues because their fan base is just that supportive.

Nothing wrong with the new era at all. In fact, I’m all for it because I know great music is no longer justified by a fan base. However, I just wish others understood that as well, so next year when you see the new XXL Freshmen cover don’t comment “Trash” on Twitter. Analyze the reasons why those rappers were chosen and support the rappers you believe the recognition.

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