2021 XXL Freshman Cypher Recap

7.19.21

DDG, Lakeyah, Morray, Coi Leray 2021 XXL Freshman Cypher

The 2021 XXL Freshman Class has been revealed, and finally all of the cyphers have been released. XXL produces a mass amount of content with the artists through their Freshman induction (and production) day, and the release of the cyphers is kind of like the grand finale that everyone gets the most excited for. Each year a new DJ comes in to play a beat for three to four different groups from the current years roster. It is always a debate who had the best cypher verse.

Nick Mira is a music producer from the Internet Money collective, who was the DJ for this years cypher. Mira has been a part of some Juice WRLD’s greatest works, including Lucid Dreams and Bandit, as well as Lil Tecca’s Ransom, and many more. It made a lot of sense to include this young talent with a massive social following, which seemed to be the trend for the Freshman artists this year as well.

This year, the cyphers were split into three. The first to release included Lakeyah, DDG, Rod Wave and Coi Leray. DDG started off the cypher, and actually surprised me a bit. I was not sure if he had the talent to go off the way he did. He stumbled his words just once and played it off super well, while switching up the flow three time throughout his verse. His ending bar was enough to put him in the top five cypher verses of this year.

“ *** switch up for the dollas, I be trying to stay positive but the drama. It be constantly following on my momma. I guess that’s the side effects of the commas”

Lakeyah was next up, and I honestly had never heard her rap before and did not have a clue what to expect. To my surprise, I think she absolutely killed it, and had the best cypher verse from her crew. As a female artist hip-hop, she has a really pretty look, with aggressive bars that may surprise you. I guess this is what you may have thought when you first hear Nicki Minaj mention weapons in her bars. Lakeyah had punchline after punchline. She mentioned getting her money before the label QC, which is hysterical considering the Quality Control lawsuits going around for owing money to the Migos and Cardi B. She went on to talk about her money, designer clothes, and mentions the fact that she is doing all this underaged, by mentioned she still is not old enough to buy a bottle of alcohol. The only thing I can say about Lakeyah’s verse in terms of criticism, would be that you could definitely hear her trying to catch her breathe every now and again. She may not be used to putting all her energy into an aggressive freestyle like this, but that is something she will learn as she continues to perform like this. If you did not know Lakeyah or what she was about prior to this cypher, you certainly do now.

Morray is third in the cypher, and the Internet has been giving him his props, since it is apparent that he is freestyling. On top of him stating “Don’t gotta write it, I’d rather spit it” he kind of kept saying the same thing over and over and it was very apparent he was just going with the flow and not really saying anything with any substance. I was expecting Morray to come in and sing his freestyle, so I do respect what he did here. It just did not hit right for me. On top of this, I love when the artists shout out their cypher crew within their rhymes, and I am still trying to figure out why Morray shout out Coi Leray and DDG, but left out Lakeyah. Perhaps he did not know who she was, either.

Finally, was Coi Leray. It made perfect sense for her to be included in this cypher with Morray, the top hit maker of the class. Many are giving her a hard time, for the things that she had said in her freestyle, depicting herself to come up less fortunate than the daughter of Benzino. Well, they did not like her cypher verse either. If you ask me, I do think they are haters. Not everyone can freestyle, and she took this opportunity to put her own twist on it. It was exactly what I was expecting to come from Coi given her sound and style of music. The one thing that I was not expecting, was her saying that Lil Keed was her sneaky link. To me, that was absolutely hysterical, and gave her some cypher points in my books.

Toosii, Blxst

The second cypher to drop was Toosii and Blxst. It definitely made sense to put these two together, since their style is more edgy and connected to grassroots areas. Not just the streets in general, because you could put Pooh Shiesty there. But Toosii and Blxst are really well appreciated in their communities, but have not reached their full potentials just yet. I do think that both of them have what it takes to get to the next level. I thought being Freshman was a bit late for each of them, but I am hoping this move gives them the push they need to make it to that next level. Not to mention, this duo was also the best dressed by far. Freshman, but they’ve been around.

Honestly both of the verses in this cypher did surprise me a bit. I thought that Blxst would sing and Toosii would rap, and they kind of both did the opposite on me. I was not mad with Blxst and his verse, however. I think he did what he needed to do. My favorite bar that stood out the most to me was him saying:

“There is two placed I won’t go back, of course. That’s broke - and that’s forth.”

We are not going back and forth this year, my SoUle mates. I really got into it after this line. Not super long, but even just rapping his way through his verse showed more versatilIty that we had seen in the past. On top of just releasing a new project last Friday, he is really proving he deserves this spot.

Okay, now I was expecting Toosii to come through and really shut it down. I was pretty pumped for this one. I absolutely hated it the first time I listened to it. After playing through a handful of times, it grew on me that it could just be a song. But for one, this is not the place where you come and sing a song that is going to be on your next project. Also, I thought the vibe was a bit off. Even though he mentions he told Miss Parker that he has a homosexual cousin, the entire time, even prior to him mentioning this, I was sensing that it was actually Miss Parker who was the man. Toosii closed out his verse by saying: “we got something special going on, that nobody know.” This could very well be a reach, but if something more does come of this, it will go down in hip-hop history. Not to mention, the Dior bucket hat and transparent raincoat is everything.

Pooh Shiesty, Flo Milli, 42 Dugg, Rubi Rose

Last but certainly not least, is the cypher including Rubi Rose, Pooh Shiesty, 42 Dugg and Flo Milli. Rubi Rose started off the cypher and instantly grasped my attention. Many are saying she cannot be a rapper because of her image, but I am letting you know right now she is number one on the list this year in terms of best cypher verse. She definitely used her sex appeal for the content in her verse, but she sounded like she was rapping from the same neighborhood as her cypher mate Pooh Shiesty. The delivery was deep, it was cold, she did not miss a beat. It sounded like a freestyle, but could easily be placed into a song later down the line. Rubi had me on the floor when she said “my side *** blowing my phone, I told him to chill y’all both mine.” Rubi also dropped a new single last Friday, a day after the release of her cypher verse. I think she has a lot of new fans now, and previous fans are demanding an apology for any previous disrespect.

Pooh Shiesty is up next, and I am definitely looking forward to him and 42 Dugg being on the same cypher together, being my two favorite overall from the list. Each of them have super distinct and interesting sounds. I knew this may not be their strongest area of their craft, however, I am tuning in, deeply. Of course, Shiesty speaks on behalf of the crazy things he has experienced in the streets. It basically states being paranoid by shooting with his eyes opened, and that all his friends are locked away, even after telling the truth. Pooh Shiesty went in on two different flows, and definitely began to feel more comfortable the second wave. It is pretty upsetting to hear him say he is making his momma proud, and now he is locked up, but hopefully he’ll be home soon.

Flo Milli wrapped it up for the ladies and she definitely had the people talking, by using the line “put this p**** on his face” five times before getting into her bars. She definitely did her thing and proved that she can rap quickly and keep up with any beat. Her voice and content is definitely an acquired sound/taste, but she has been bubbling for a bit now, so it was about time she was given this moment.

Of course, the finale cypher goes to CMG’s own, 42 Dugg. Unfortunately, Dugg rapped for about thirty seconds, and did not say anything we had not already heard in his previous songs. He is definitely taking off in his music career and is on the right path. To be fair, I do not think any of the CMG guys could freestyle in a cypher, but they know how to make massive hit records.

So, overall if I could rank the cyphers, 1 being the best, and 10 being, not so great, this is what the outcome would look like.

1. Rubi Rose

2. Lakeyah

3. Blxst

4. DDG

5. Pooh Shiesty

6. Toosii

7. 42 Dugg

8. Flo Milli

9. Morray

10. Coi Leray