XXL Freshman 2020 Cyphers and Freestyles

9.14.20

2020 XXL Freshman Class

Over the past few weeks XXL has been releasing the Freshman Freestyles from each of the artists who made this years cover. The cyphers were also released over a period of time, up until the release of the magazine itself. On Friday, the final cypher was released, so it is time to break down the greatest performances.

This year’s XXL Freshman Class included twelve up and coming hip-hop stars. The list included Polo G, Mulatto, Fivio Foreign, Lil TJay, Chika, NLE Choppa, Baby Keem, Calboy, Rod Wave, 24K GLDN, Jack Harlow and Lil Keed. Usually there are some gems in the freestyles, however I do not think I have heard a great cypher in years. Though, this year may just be the winner.

The cyphers are a group of artists freestyling in a group. Jetson Made is a record producer, songwriter and record executive who DJ and produced each of the cyphers this year. First up for the cypher, is a trio including Jack Harlow, Lil Keed and Polo G.

CYPHER I (Jack Harlow, Lil Keed, Polo G)

Jack Harlow is up first. He is wearing an Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirt from the early 2000s, designer jeans and some New Balance, of course. His flow is on par with any Jack Harlow hit song you have heard already. Harlow went in for about forty-five seconds, and he never missed the beat or fumbled his lyrics at all. I definitely think he wrote this previously, but it was alright. Classic Jack Harlow talking to the females above anything else, a bit interesting he was put with Lil Keed and Polo G over Baby Keem, Calboy, Rod Wave and Chika.

Lil Keed went second. This was the worst cypher of the entire class, and possibly of all time. This has to go back to the Kodak Black cypher year where everyone was fumbling their lyrics and just making noises. Keed started with his crazy autotune vocals and chanting “Slat,” so Slime fans were likely excited. Well, he instantly forgot what he was going to say on his second bar, then went in rambling nonsense for just a few seconds before shouting out adlibs to bring in Polo G to close them out.

Jetson Made cuts to beat off for Polo G. We’ve seen Eminem go without the beat on the cypher, but he is one in many. I appreciate an A Capella freestyle, but I would like to save that for the freestyle, and participate in the cypher that Jetson Made put together for everyone. There is something about an artist who can freestyle over a beat that was not made specifically for them. Polo G is definitely the top of this year’s Freshman Class, and I do think his skills will bring him the farthest. This is just something where he may have been trying to show out a bit too hard, and I think it would have went a long way if he conquered free styling on and off beat.

Polo G’s content was deep and gruesome, of course. He spoke on growing up and being in the streets, and shares how he broke the barriers of his families tough upbringing to becoming the first millionaire of his family. While graphic and raw, it is obviously the realest we have heard so far. He closes out his verse by saying “damn a new disease dropped causing mass hysteria, there’s always some bullsh** welcome to America.” This really hits home with everything that has been going on this year, of course. Though I critiqued not rapping on beat, I do give Polo G the props for this one, for sure. He spoke his truth, hit on real times of the world and showcased he can rap and not just sing pretty on a track.

Freestyles (Jack Harlow, Lil Keed, Polo G)

The freestyles a true test. We know Polo G can freestyle without a beat, but can the rest? I was pretty impressed with Jack Harlow’s freestyle. It was just over a minute long, and told a whole story about the protests. From asking when the change will begin, from police murdering the innocent and leaving families broken, to questioning whether kids went to the protests to protest, or to purposely riot and loot. The storytelling and execution of this freestyle was excellent. I definitely think Jack Harlow started his career by free styling for his friends on campus and realizing he had something interesting about him.

Lil Keed’s freestyle was probably worse than the cypher. Could it be worse? He definitely thought he was getting somewhere then slipped up again after ten seconds of rapping about how he doesn’t mess with the haters. Lil Keed is around and succeeding because his sound is so on par with the rest of Young Thug’s Slime crew. I honestly like the projects that Keed has put out, free styling is just not what he was meant to do.

I should have mentioned, the freestyles are all A Capella, so this is Polo G’s second time going without a beat. This one does sound much different than his cypher, however, because he does use his singing tone of voice we are used to hearing in the freestyle. It is interesting, that he has such an interesting, pretty singing voice, but talks about some real scary life business. Polo G’s freestyle talks about loosing his friends, getting into trouble and making his mom upset, to then becoming a king. Again, definitely one of the top guys of the Freshman Class, and overall new artists whom may have missed out on the cover this time. Polo G definitely shines through.

CYPHER II (NLE Choppa, Rod Wave, Chika, Lil TJay)

NLE Choppa starts off the second cypher. He is wearing the most beautiful jacket I have ever seen in my entire life. It is mid-calf length, a black base with a gray upper and really ornate designs throughout that look like a Church or spiritual building. It is really incredible. NLE Choppa is someone you would think is scary, he does not speak super well, but when it comes to his performing, his musical talents and his brand, he is really on point. I stand by NLE being a new and better NBA Youngboy. He did fumble the words at one quick part of his verse, but he played it off quite well. There was a lot of different content in his verse, overall, not bad.

One of the artists whom I was most interested in hearing his cypher is Rod Wave. He is a singing artist, so it is always fun to see what they bring to the table when they are asked to rap a bit more than sing. Rod Wave was cool because although the music he releases are singing vocals, he sounded like he was actually rapping, but with a nice tone of voice. The content was okay. He tried to tell a story, and everyone felt it. It was just a bit light. I do not think he lost the beat at all, but he was a bit slow. May have been a bit too fast paced for him, but he did his thing.

Chika is actually an amazing freestyle artist. When I first heard about her making the freshman cover, I looked up all of her radio freestyle performances, that were all pretty dope. One thing you will notice about Chika by looking at her social pages, is how much of a character she really is. Chika is holding her dog through her entire cypher performance, and the dog is asleep the entire time. It is very cute and very funny, as well.

I think Chika is the first one to switch up her flow in her cypher, and she did it a couple times. Her sound can go from preachy, to singing, to straight bars. She is quite talented, and the content is all really great. I think Chika is the most underrated, most “who is that” of the class, and I hope to see more of her in the future.

Lil TJay is the finale of this group. I feel like this beat was made for him. The flow was on point for TJay, where this could have actually been a song on his album. There was little to no content in this verse. I do think TJay got slipped up and covered it well by repeating the same thing a few times like it was a song. This cypher was definitely his to take, but it was not great for me.

Freestyles (NLE Choppa, Rod Wave, Chika, Lil TJay)

In each of the artist’s XXL Freshman Freestyle page, comes a bio and mini interview from them. I knew NLE Choppa was young, but I am shocked to see that he is just seventeen years old. Just crazy to hear a young kid rap about the things he raps about, that he has actually experienced in real life. His freestyle is a minute and half long, and he is rattling off bars at lightening speed. It is kind of scary. I would call it just okay. The content is decent, the flow and delivery is kind of wack. But hey, he is a song artist.

Rod Wave’s freestyle I feel was similar to his cypher. He freestyles while using the melody his voice has in his music. If I had a dollar for every time he mentioned his mother or when he was broke, I would be rich. The storytelling is there, it is just nothing new or exciting. Sure, it is cool to see a different side of Rod Wave, where he is more so rapping than singing, but it is clear where his skills are, and I also think that is what people go to listen to him for. Rod Wave fans will probably ride for this freestyle, though.

Chika did something different with her freestyle, and I love it. Storytelling is always a factor, but in the cypher we saw her sing, rap and tell a deep life story. With her freestyle, she kept it short and sweet. She talks about meeting a girl at the party and pulling her over the guys. Chika’s music and her personality are both so extremely relatable, because she talks about real life struggles, but also knows how to laugh at herself and enjoy what is going on. I would have liked Chika to go a bit longer with her freestyle, but it was pretty cool.

Lil TJay is just a little cocky because he is a pretty boy with vocals for the ladies. He brags about his legal issues and the money he has. Though, he gets a bit excited and fumbles his flow a couple of times. The freestyle is okay. It is the new generation of hip-hop. To me, nothing too special or exciting.

CYPHER III (Mulatto, 24K Goldn, Fivio Foreign, Calboy)

I really think that Mulatto had one of the best cypher verses of all time. She has been killing it on all platforms lately, really repping the ‘Queen of the South’ self-proclaimed title. The XXL Freshman class is to show off the new talent. If you did not know who Mulatto was before the cover, listen to her cypher and you will know everything you need to know about her.

“Growing up my favorite rapper was Gucci I feel like that says it all.”

Mulatto just put out a remix to Gucci’s infamous song Freaky Gurl, and you can really see the inspiration in Mulatto’s flow and delivery.

“Who else you know that came from a tv show, turned down a deal and still taking off.”

Mulatto actually won Lifetime television series The Rap Game in 2016. She chose to remain independent, and now is finally taking off.

I literally have chills throughout the rest of her verse. From calling out Fivio, her 6ix9ine diss, speaking on donations to the BLM movement and the fact that she went from watching the cyphers last year to absolutely killing her own this year. Hands down, the greatest cypher. Ever.

Next up, was the viewers choice, 24K Goldn. He honestly started off pretty hot and sounded dope. 24K gets the viewers choice, maybe because his pitch was so intellectual, or maybe because he is just a party kid. The energy is on 1,000, always. He brings up your girl Tik Toking to his music, which is absolutely hilarious. I also love that he included something fun about the other three members of his cypher within his verse. 24K is for the kids.

Fivio Foreign is probably my biggest disappoint in this whole thing. I love his music, and thought he was the one holding hip-hop together in this cover. The most old school hip-hop sounding out of the crowd, I mean. Fivio’s sound is similar to Pop Smoke’s, and he actually says he learned a lot from Pop Smoke. However, his freetsyling skills are not great. Do not get me wrong, it is a lot better than Lil Keed or Lil TJay’s. The content and delivery was just not as up to part as I had anticipated with the energy of his singles.

Calboy is another singing musician who closes out the final cypher. It is funny, because even though Calboy is for the ladies and has the best singing voice of the whole crew, he also has some of the most dark content of them all. Similar to Polo G or NLE Choppa, he did grow up in the streets and had to overcome some hardships to get to where he is now: A XXL Freshman, in a Fendi trench coat, and man is it beautiful. So Calboy took an interesting approach to the cypher, which to me sounded like he was trying to be a rapper more than his typical singing voice. Although there was a clear story he was trying to tell, I found the energy low and overall it was a bit boring for me. Not how I had anticipated closing out the group cypher, which was one of my favorites so far.

Freestyles (Mulatto, 24K Goldn, Fivio Foreign, Calboy)

Mulatto’s freestyle definitely felt like many female artists from the south. You can hear where she is from in her voice, and it goes well with the Queen of the South declaration. She tried to be feminine and aggressive at once, which I think it pretty cool. It seems that once you make it big, you have to take it just one way. While I definitely think Mulatto over a beat and making real songs is where she shines, I did enjoy her freestyle and the couple of punchlines she threw in there.

24K Goldn used his freestyle to make some kind of a song. It was almost two minutes long and mostly talked about money and designer things. I respect that he used this time to try to sing and song-write, giving us a different take on his style. However, I did not really like it and almost had to shut it off before the end.

One of the most different freestyles was Fivio Foreign’s. From the cypher, I already knew this was not really his strong suit. What was interesting, was that he almost positioned this like he was battle rapping someone. From his antics, hand motions, and content, it was like a direct conversation with someone questioning his XXL Freshman spot. Do not put him on URL though, yet again, it was not great.

Calboy’s freestyle was much better than his cypher. Though, it likely was not a freestyle, he had deep story to tell and used the vocal cords we all know and love. He killed it. I think that Calboy’s spot on the XXL Freshman Cover is a bit late, but well deserved nonetheless.

Freestyle (Baby Keem)

I would have loved to see Baby Keem in the cypher, as I believe he has the most to prove. He has one hit single out, and I am surprised his name is even known well enough to make the list from that one hit. However, he did have one of the most interesting freestyles. This freestyle very much reminded my of XXX Tentacion’s freestyle in 2017. He talks about his demons, not going outside, and his scary emotions. He does this with a hood on in a dark room, and just gives off creepy vibes. This is the complete opposite of his song Orange Soda, which is super upbeat and fun. Being in touch with your emotions is one thing, but I think we need to watch out for Baby Keem in more ways than just one.