The Downfall of XXL Freshman List

The Freshman XXL is become more irrelevant by the year. What once brought new artists into the spotlight, is now just recapping on who is the most popular or trending artist online when the list is put together. The list seems to have lost it's sense of purpose and core value over the past few years as they've failed to evolve with the times.
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[@ayceeonethirty6141]

You didn't even mention how awful the beats they choose can be. I'll always love that X just made em turn the thing off wholesale. Great video though bro

[@chef0335]

True, that could be an entire video on its own! Thanks for watching 🖤

[@ShyNorth]

It’s too political now. Whether they need to put a certain amount of girls, an lgbtq artist, and an artist from each of the top hip hop cities. Labels also are pretty much buying spots for their artists. No longer is it about the leaders of the new wave

[@chef0335]

This is on point! 💯

[@GoriProd.]

I can’t believe no one has commented on this master piece you would think while you are watching it that it’s made by someone with 100 k subscribers or more but it isn’t it’s made by a underrated KZbinr who is about to blow up. Fire video really enjoyed it 👍👍👍🔥🔥🔥

[@chef0335]

Thanks for the kind words, I really appreciate you! More to come 🖤

[@GoriProd.]

@@chef0335 bet I’m ready

[@unrevoked7137]

its only been an hour lil bro

[@GoriProd.]

@@unrevoked7137 ye but the quality is so good you would think someone would say something

[@grapeswithcapes8314]

I like the album solution

[@chef0335]

Thank you! Maybe one day they’ll try that out

[@mattomoose7484]

@grapeswithcapes Fr bro imagine how sick it would be

[@gx1tar1er]

2016 XXL Freshman will be remembered because it's so legendary.

[@247Jay]

be honest should i put the mic downn

[@batmanscock]

1 . big artist declining the list 2 . constantly trying to be "diverse" no matter how pathetic it seems. 3. Constantly picking unknown mfs to be on the list 4. Letting allegations or legal situations keep people off the list 5. Poor management of the list and trying to recreate 2016 . I feel like these are all the things that ruined the list.

[@chef0335]

Valid list, good breakdown

[@yehhhhhh234]

Bro ur suggestion on a year a xxl tape is dope bro

[@chef0335]

Thanks bro! 🖤 I’d love to see it actually happen

[@Stevenlampkin02234]

They should do a xxl senior list for the vets in raps

[@chef0335]

That is such a good idea. I feel like this would be an absolute hit

[@gerald479]

factssss. everything you said was on point bro great video!

[@chef0335]

Appreciate that! Thank you for watching bro 🖤

[@fawkeye23]

This video crazy fam love the production behind it editing was a1

[@chef0335]

Thank you! Really appreciate that dude

[@basedcommentor]

I definitely think A decrease in quality is a contributing factor but not a main factor. Current TRAP is kids music at this point. I don't know a single grown ass man that's bumpin Uzi, Carti, Trippie, Opium, Faygo, Travis, Yeat etc. Trap is the new Kidz Bop, I mostly see kids listening to Trap. The shift in Hiphop's culture and sound is the main reason I think XL fails. The youth do not know what XXL is and don't care what it is from what I've experienced. Grown ass people don't care about the latest 17,18, 19 year old kid rappers. They need to shift their marketing more towards teens imo

[@gx1tar1er]

I notice this also reflected on the popularity of rap. 2016-2018 was the peak of rap & the peak of Soundcloud Rap era. Also you saw so many new well known faces in rap at the time.

[@247Jay]

be honest should i put the mic downn

[@gullahface]

Peak popularity maybe

[@ProdDans999]

Fire bro 🔥🔥💔

[@chef0335]

Thank you man! Always appreciate you 🖤

[@stringer2295]

i honestly think it was caused by the current artists declining in talent

[@batmanscock]

Thats not it lol, i mean your not wrong but its not the main reason

[@slattslattslatt]

​@@batmanscock It kinda is actually. Modern day rappers are literal trash lmfao

[@batmanscock]

​@@slattslattslattthat is your opinion and its completely subjective lol

[@stringer2295]

@@batmanscock subjective and true. What classic album can you name from one of these new mumble niggas?

[@slattslattslatt]

@@batmanscock It's objective. Music quality has gone down. Name one recent rapper that has a perfect album

[@SunnyExMusic]

My one issue with these “xxl has declined” discussions is that people start at 2016, WHEN 2015 was way better. I think the decline started with 2016 😊

[@DonTheking]

2016 was the last good year for the XXL freshman lists

[@GregBartlesbyProductions]

To be honest I thought the only solid cypher in years was BabyTron. No beat, his voice and cadence made the flow.

[@chef0335]

BabyTron killed it fs 🔥

[@derekmckenna3853]

Having xxl make an album and music videos is an excellent idea

[@chef0335]

Thank you!

[@martindunning2744]

2016 PEAK

[@chef0335]

Legendary year fr

[@hayate_soe260]

it just sucks they dont try to promote artists that care about the craft anymore.

[@chef0335]

I feel that. Nice pfp, samurai Champloo is goated

[@MultitaskingGuy]

6:02 every rapper should be able to freestyle. I tell everybody gets in the wrap the freestyle with the Homies.

[@brad6546]

Lol no the pitches literally don't matter. It was confirmed by lil skies in 2018 that the list is already picked out before the pitches even come out-sans the 10th spot. That's all the pitches control. They're literally just so XXL can get more traffic to their website.

[@chef0335]

Thanks for the clarification!

[@jovemtralha.8198]

Juice faria um estrago se pulasse na XXL, ele era o melhor no freestyle da sua geração! 👺🇧🇷

[@chef0335]

concordo! 🖤🇧🇷

[@MultitaskingGuy]

They don’t even freestyle on beats anymore. Hell they don’t even freestyle either

[@adamseers]

An XXL album is such a good idea and idk why they didn't do that in the first place

[@chef0335]

Fr! Thanks for watching bro

[@Tylerf962]

Haven’t cared about xxl since like 2018

[@chef0335]

Yeah it’s been pretty uneventful….

[@kartierglory]

At first I was like... Wtf is this kid talking about... Then after you bought up the different strategies I was like... Oh nah that's a great idea

[@chef0335]

Haha thank you! I’m glad that you stuck around and heard me out, it took a bit to flush out the idea. Thanks for watching 🖤

[@viralragekidd999]

Morray carried 2021

[@thickchip2694]

The last good onenwasb2020. Literally know like 2 people every year since

[@chef0335]

It seems like it’s been trending downward every year 📉

[@Ues2DC]

This is basically a roundabout way of saying these modern “rappers” are garbage and get by having zero skills but rather “personalities”. The record industry realizes long ago that hip hop is easy to make so just get people to accept trash and it’s muuuch easier to make $$ than actually having to find quality. The fact that you said trash like Lil Pump had “bangers” (lol) highlights this well.

[@chef0335]

This is a roundabout way of saying you’re no fun at parties 🥴

[@Ues2DC]

@@chef0335 I’m actually a lot of fun at parties. As long as I get to listen to good rappers and not trash.

[@chef0335]

@@Ues2DC to each his own! Music, like all art, is subjective but at the end of the day if you’re a hiphop fan in general we’d probably get along well in real life lol. Either way, I respect your opinion- thanks for playing along

[@Ues2DC]

@@chef0335 It’s all good man. We all have our opinions. As a longtime listener of the music not a fan of where it’s ended up mainstream wise. But as you indicated people are free to enjoy what they want.

[@slattslattslatt]

How are you both wrong and correct at the same time💀

[@rahimzaky]

Bro found the solution

[@chef0335]

Thanks fam 🫡

[@247Jay]

be honest should i put the mic downn

[@heaflatin9787]

Since Kendrick’s yr it has completely sucked

[@bigcatscorner]

Yup Chef again! 🫱🏼‍🫲🏽👨‍🍳

[@chef0335]

Thank you bro! 🐯📸 🎥

[@phoenixleeson-booth5390]

dont say its not because the quality of the music has gone down, it clearly has degraded year over year just a bunch of autotune and shit lyrics pushed by massive labels.

[@chef0335]

I think that’s pretty subjective…

[@slattslattslatt]

Autotune isn't an issue but yea the quality has gone down. It's just lazy artists now. There's no innovation from new rappers now. From 2007-2018 there were lots of rappers constantly pushing the genre to new heights. Now every new artist is literally a clone of eachother. The only good rappers left have been here for years already

[@batmanscock]

​@@slattslattslatttheres so much cap in your comment lol😂 i remember that time and everyone was copying each other then too lol

[@slattslattslatt]

@@batmanscock Not really. Everyone was taking influence from eachother and twisting it in their own way. Now everyone literally sounds the sams

[@batmanscock]

​@@slattslattslattthey sounded back then too lol everyone was trying to lil uzi , x, or future and literally copied lyrics from them.