Max's Delayed Follow-Up To XXL's Freshmen Class of 2012: Where Are They Now, And Other Rhetorical Questions

First off, apologies for this post arriving so long after the last one: my head actually exploded after I realized that I had just recommend an Inspectah Deck album (Czarface) over a Ghostface Killah project (Wu-Block), and it took me a while to clean up, and also I may or may not have made myself a sandwich.  Which helps explain why today's write-up isn't about an album: rather, it's a follow-up to something I ran a year ago that was relatively well-received.



In 2012, semi-reputable rap rag XXL released their list of the ten artists they believed would be the next to blow: they referred to it as the Freshman Class of 2012.  It's something that they tend to do every year, and they usually stumble upon enough correct names that the list is fairly anticipated each year.  (Past graduates of this class include Lupe Fiasco, Kendrick Lamar, KiD CuDi, Big Sean, Big K.R.I.T., and Joell Ortiz, among other names you're most likely familiar with today.)  For the hell of it, I decided to write something about last year's list, which left me with a bad taste in my mouth, but I thought that revisiting these folks, Michael Apted's Up series-style, might prove to be a source of inspiration, although I'm undecided as to whether I plan on doing this again next year.

However, it does help me get my mind off of writing about actual albums, and I can use all of the breaks I can get at this point.

MGK (formerly MACHINE GUN KELLY)

What I wrote before:  "He may actually be worth paying attention to, but I have a feeling that his future collaborators will all be coldly calculated to appeal to every possible demographic in our chosen genre..."

Song I listened to this time: "D3MONS" (featuring DMX)

I chose this song because (a) I figured it would be a nice change of pace from his cameos on French Montana songs, and also (b) it has DMX on it, duh.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see on here: Kelly, who apparently underwent a name change into something more family-friendly during the past year, rhymes with speed and fury, but seems to have forgotten that his words can cause more damage if he were actually saying something of substance.  Then again, "D3MONS" was probably not the best choice for someone trying to cherry-pick what to write about for MGK, unlike "Invincible", his collaboration with Esther Dean that I wrote about last year. Now that song still actually sort-of works today.  It seems that signing with Puff Daddy has affected his work, but, if you really think about it carefully, it did the same thing to The Notorious B.I.G., too.

DANNY BROWN
What I wrote before:  "...I fear that most of the people...will be too terrified of Danny's image to actually seek out any of his not-really-shocking, oftentimes-hilarious music."

Song I listened to this time: "Grown Up"

Detroit's Danny Brown is still the only person on this list that I sort-of look forward to listening to whenever he makes one of his metric ton of cameo appearances on other projects.  The Party Supplies-produced "Grown Up" builds upon its Lou Reed "Walk On The Wild Side" foundation, but Danny doesn't take things in the traditional A Tribe Called Quest "Can I Kick It?"-direction: instead, he delivers a quick two verses describing his not-really-meteoric rise with the same level of humor and skill that made him so appealing to me on that Black Milk project or on The Man With The Iron Fists's "Tick, Tock" (alongside Pusha T, Raekwon, and Joell Ortiz, a guest list that was selected by a blind, racist grandmother throwing baseball caps into a crowd).  Pretty sure I don't have to give a shit about the rest of this list, because Danny Brown wins.  Sorry.

KID INK
What I wrote before:  "I'm probably too old to ever give a fuck about Kid Ink, so that motherfucker needs to get off my lawn..."

Song I listened to this time: "Bad Ass" (featuring Meek Mill & Wale)

I realize that I could have chosen nearly any other Kid Ink song, but I chose this one because I wanted to hear if he plays well with others, and also I found the track in my inbox, which saved me precious seconds of searching.  And man, did I make a bad choice, because this song is terrible: Meek Mill continues his inexplicable rise in the genre even though he has exactly two moves, shake and bake, and if you close your eyes and really listen, you can actually hear Wale pissing away his early mixtape promise.  But this paragraph is supposed to be about Kid Ink; the fact that it isn't says a goddamn lot about how much of an impact he and his generic piffle rap had on me this time around.

FUTURE

What I wrote before:  "This guy sucks.  Which means he'll become the belle of the ball, I know."

Song I listened to this time: "Turn On The Lights"

Nope, I still don't like the dude.  Regardless of his Dungeon Family connection, which I only recently discovered.  He wasn't bad on Pusha T's "Pain", though it's not like there was a lot for him to do on there.

ROSCOE DASH
What I wrote before:  "I can't imagine [him] being on the playlist of any of you two, but that's never stopped any rappers before."

Song I listened to this time:  "Show Out"

Dude has grown into the new generation's Soulja Boy, which is a problem, because Soulja Boy is still pretending to rap these days, and also Roscoe Dash is awful.  However, at least he's rapping as though he has a pulse, which shouldn't be a prerequisite for recording a rap song, but you'd be surprised.  Not a fan.

HOPSIN
What I wrote before:  "Kind of sounds like a more mainstream Tyler, The Creator, artificial shock value and all, except without the annoying press backing him up."

Song I listened to this time: "Ill Mind Of Hopsin 5"

So yeah, that Tyler, The Creator comparison still holds up.  But this former That's So Raven cast member commits the ultimate sin in hip hop: he's boring.  This song in particular is the equivalent of talking without really saying anything: Hopsin and his colored contact lenses complains and talks a bunch of shit, but fails to bring anything to the table that may help the cause.  Hell, at the very beginning he even claims to hate rap, which I could take as a comment along the lines of "Max loves hip hop so much that he gets so fucking disappointed when he knows that it could be so much better", but instead, I'll just say that rap probably hates Hopsin, too.  Can't believe I'm actually siding with Tyler on something, but here we are.

MACKLEMORE

What I wrote before:  "He isn't without skill, though his flow was kind of dull...I'll have to hear more of his work before I can pass judgment."

Song I listened to this time:  "Thrift Shop" (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz)

The inspiration for today's post, Seattle-based Macklemore has easily become the most successful artist on this list thanks to the runaway success of "Thrift Shop".  Although I think of it as little more than a novelty song, it's a novelty song I kind of dig, as Ryan Lewis's beat is catchy enough for Macklemore to ride with, and I also love that dude who sings the hook.  For what it's worth, I think the song is funny, and it offers quick glimpses at the guy's actual skill behind the mic, but he has a very punchable face, which could be a problem for me.  I still haven't listened to the rest of his album The Heist, but I probably will eventually (*cough* white rapper month, the sequel *cough* leave your comments requesting it now *cough*), and for now, this will do.  Besides, my wife thinks this song is funny.  Never thought that, of all three white rappers on this list, Macklemore, an indie artist, would become the most mainstream, but hey, when stars align and shit.

DON TRIP
What I wrote before:  "...would I want to ever listen to an entire album from this guy?  It's hard to say."   

Song I listened to this time: "I'm A Mess" (featuring Wale & Starlito)

Dude has completely lost me.  When did it become okay to sound so goddamn apathetic on a record?  Probably around the time rappers started swapping out talent for swagger, I guess.  Bleh.

IGGY AZALEA
What I wrote before:  "Every since the advent of Kreayshawn and her weed carrier V-Nasty, female white rappers have been the hipster accessory of choice...Iggy Azalea, ridiculous name and all, doesn't change my mind."  

Song I listened to this time:  "Murda Bizness" (featuring T.I.)

A better reflection of what Iggy is going for than whatever the fuck I last wrote about for her.  "Murda Bizness", a collaboration with her label boss T.I., finds her in full-on trap mode, as the Australia-born artist forces the not-really-a-word "hunnids" out, unnaturally, from between her lips with a mixture of disdain and cockiness, all while bragging about spending a shit-ton of money that there is no possible fucking way that she could possibly have accumulated at this point in her career.  And yet, this wasn't entirely terrible: when she isn't forcing the issue, she at least sounds like she could rap.  I also thought that the child pageant-version of the video to this track was fucking hilarious.  At least she's already lasted longer than Kreayshawn within our chosen genre: only time will tell if she sticks around long enough to properly battle Harlem's Azaelia Banks in a bare-knuckle street brawl available on pay-per-view.

FRENCH MONTANA
What I wrote before:  "...a perfect fit for Puff Daddy's Bad Boy empire, much more so than Machine Gun Kelly." 

Song I listened to this time: "Ocho Cinco" (featuring MGK, Los, Red Cafe, & Diddy)

The fact that I chose a French Montana song that features eleventy-billion other rappers is par for the course: Frenchy has made a name for himself as a cameo-friendly artist who makes a living appearing on everyone else's projects, so much so that I wouldn't be surprised to hear that his actual Bad Boy debut has been pushed back to 2027.  "Ocho Cinco" is about a bunch of nothing and also blowjobs, but Frenchy has done better work elsewhere: his brief contribution to Rick Ross's "Stay Schemin'" stirred the Interweb into a frenzy because of a lyric that everyone in the world misconstrued due to French's thick accent (are people still saying "fanute" at this point?).  I can't imagine him doing anything that could ever be considered as quality work, but he may have a few more decent cameos in him, which could make him this generation's DMX.  And with that comment, I've come full circle and will stop writing...now.

-Max