Every year after XXL reveals their freshmen class, they release a freestyle from each of the up and comers. They started with Compton emcee Kendrick Lamar , followed by Alabama’s Yelawolf , NJ/NY’s own Diggy Simmons, Lil B out of the Bay, Philly’s Meek Mill, Mac Miller hailing from Pittsburgh,  the BX’s “fat boy†Fred the Godson, Mr. “Toot It and Boot It†YG out of Cali and we’re in the final 3 now. Yesterday was ATLien and GOOD Music’s Cyhi Da Prynce and today we have Young Money’s young gunna…Lil Twist from Dallas. @MarisaMendez
The XXL Freshman Cover 2011
Check out the cover of XXL‘s 4th annual freshman issue! The cover features: Lil Twist, CyHi Da Prynce, Big K.R.I.T., Meek Mill, Diggy Simmons, Kendrick Lamar, Yelawolf, Fred The Godson, Mac Miller, Lil B, and YG. The Freshman 2011 issue will hit newsstands next month. @ItsLukieBaby Previously: No Vado on the XXL Freshman 2011 cover?
(Video) Big Sean Gives His Pick for 2011 “Freshmen”
Big Sean, an alum of XXL’s 2010 Hip-Hop Freshmen class, gives his opinions on who he thinks should cover the mag for this year’s class. With him being one of the more successful picks from the 2010 bunch, he definitely has some room to offer such opinions (where as some of his classmates…….mm, not so much! Ha!) I’d have to say my (@marisamendez) picks for this year are Vado, French Montana, Lore’l, CyHi Da Prynce and Teyana Taylor (does she count as “hip-hop”??). Everyone else I’d say (Cory Gunz, Wiz, Tyga…) have all appeared on previous covers! Hit the jump to hear Sean’s picks. We want to know yours as well! Leave comments!!
Stats Gathered to Predict Top 5 Breakthrough Artists for 2011
Many of you are probably familiar with Shazam…that awesome app on your smartphone where you can record a clip of music and it will tell you who the artist is and what the title of the song is. As you can imagine, they have plenty of insight on what music people are interested in, so every year-end they collect data from the millions who use the service to identify songs they’re hearing to predict the breakthrough acts of next year. Hit the jump to see what 5 artists they named…4 out of which are hip-hop artists! @MarisaMendez
(Video) Cory Gunz Performs At Generation Next
Last night Cory Gunz performed at Southpaw in BK for Generation Next, along with CyHi Da Prynce, Skyzoo and more and of course Hot 97’s own Peter Rosenberg hosted the event. Check out footage from Young Money’s next in line. @MarisaMendez
(Videos) Kanye West’s Surprise Show, Featuring Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, Teyana Taylor and More!
Last night Yeezy held a last-minute concert at the Bowery in NYC and of course he pulled out all the stops. He brought out all the homies…Nicki Minaj, Teyana Taylor, Rick Ross, Pusha T, Swizz Beatz, John Legend, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and CyHi da Prynce, amongst them. More info and footage after the jump.
