Beating a Dead Horse, or Max Continues To Explore the 2012 XXL Freshman Class (Part XI)

For the eleventh year (nearly consecutively, I might add as I pat myself on the back), I’ve inexplicably been tracking the careers of the ten artists that made up XXL’s Freshman Class of 2012. The Freshman Class, for those of you who stopped caring after reading the name of that particular magazine, which still exists but for whom, really?, is a list of rappers that the publication believes to be, in the parlance once used within our chosen genre, “up next”, and given how hip hop, as with any musical genre, has been overtaken by younger generations of artists with little to no reverence for what came before them, each successive year’s roster has been filled with increasingly ridiculous names (both in level of talent and their actual stage names) that could only appeal to the young teenage audience who don’t even know what magazines are.

A Decade On, These Rappers Are Still Here: Max Continues To Explore the 2012 XXL Freshman Class, Part X

For ten years, I’ve inexplicably been tracking the careers of the ten artists that made up XXL’s Freshman Class of 2012. The Freshman Class, for those of you unaware, is a list of rappers that XXL believes to be on the way up at the time of their appearances on the magazine’s cover, but as their relevance has slipped significantly throughout the years, so have the preferences of the tastemakers at the publication, as each successive year’s list has been filled with increasingly ridiculous names (both in level of talent and their actual stage names) that could only appeal to the young teenage audience who wouldn’t know how to purchase a magazine if their lives depended on it anyway.

At least the 2012 list featured acts that wound up having various degrees of impact on our chosen genre. I can’t say the same for some the more recent submissions. I mean, Megan Thee Stallion, sure, fine, she’s out here making moves, but the 2013 list featured Trinidad James. Why though?

As always, here’s past Max explaining this particular side project for the newbies who have stumbled into HHID over the past year for whatever reason (the Patreon, RandoMax Radio, the Twitter feed, whatever I have links for in the sidebar):

“Ever since I made the horrible decision to maintain a 7-Up-esque series following the rappers chosen for [the XXL Freshman Class] in 2012, keeping tabs on each of the ten artists and their respective careers since gracing the magazine’s cover, I’ve found myself struggling to both:

(a) still care, in most cases, and

(b) find music representative of the growth one would assume each man (and one woman) had undertaken in order to organically prolong their professional lifespans.”

Do any of the featured artists still have something to say, ten years removed from their appearance on the XXL cover? Are any of them still making music worth listening to? And finally, is any of this enough to justify this series continuing past this entry? Read through to find out!

The Yearly Reminder That Macklemore Is Technically The Most Successful Artist From XXL's Freshman Class of 2012, or Max Continues To Explore the 2012 XXL Freshman Class, Part IX

For the ninth year in a row (sort of), we’re going to check in with the ten artists that made up XXL’s Freshman Class of 2012. Here’s past Max explaining this particular side project for the newbies who have stumbled into HHID over the past year for whatever reason (the Patreon, RandoMax Radio, the Twitter feed, whatnot):

“Ever since I made the horrible decision to maintain a 7-Up-esque series following the rappers chosen for [the XXL Freshman Class] in 2012, keeping tabs on each of the ten artists and their respective careers since gracing the magazine’s cover, I’ve found myself struggling to both:

(a) still care, in most cases, and

(b) find music representative of the growth one would assume each man (and one woman) had undertaken in order to organically prolong their professional lifespans.”

Has anything changed, at least significantly enough to make me change my mind about the viability of this project and/or the importance of my own mental health? Read through to find out!

We Need to Talk About Nas

 

This coming Friday marks the release of the twelfth solo full-length from Nasir “Nas” Jones, the ridiculously-titled King’s Disease. An album-length collaboration with the producer-slash-rapper Chauncey “Hit-Boy” Hollis, King’s Disease is Nasir’s latest attempt at trying to branch out both his sound and his audience while continuing to ignore the cries and pleas of his longtime fans. Indeed, while I am all for the concept of an artist growing and evolving, never becoming complacent or stagnant, I agree that Nas is quite skilled at hearing what his fans actually want from him and not just subverting those expectations, but blatantly dragging them along with the flimsiest thread of hope, as though he truly believes that his day ones would never abandon their rhyming hero, regardless of the distractions he throws in their path.

The Danny Brown Annual Appreciation Post (a/k/a Max Continues to Explore the 2012 XXL Freshmen Class, Part VIII)

This is the eighth year I’ve decided to do this, but I still can’t come up with another way to introduce 2019’s entry, so here I am, plagiarizing myself once again for your amusement.

“Ever since I made the horrible decision to maintain a 7-Up-esque series following the rappers chosen for [the XXL Freshman Class] in 2012, keeping tabs on each of the ten artists and their respective careers since gracing the magazine’s cover, I’ve found myself struggling to both (a) still care, in most cases, and (b) find music representative of the growth one would assume each man (and one woman) had undertaken in order to organically prolong their professional lifespans.” 

Look, Max Just Wrote 30+ Album Reviews in a Row, Let Him Follow Up With XXL's Freshman Class of 2012 If He Wants (Part VII)

Seven years into this series, I’m running out of ways to introduce the newest entry, so allow me to briefly dip into my past to straight-up infringe upon my own copyright:

“Ever since I made the horrible decision to maintain a 7-Up-esque series following the rappers chosen for [the XXL Freshman Class] in 2012, keeping tabs on each of the ten artists and their respective careers since gracing the magazine’s cover, I’ve found myself struggling to both (a) still care, in most cases, and (b) find music representative of the growth one would assume each man (and one woman) had undertaken in order to organically prolong their professional lifespans.”

Max Continues To Waste Time Exploring XXL's 2012 Freshman Class: Part VI

As of this writing, XXL’s 2018 Freshman Class list hasn’t yet been fully released, but if history serves, it’ll consist of a bunch of rappers whose names I’ll have seen before, but whose music will be lost on me.  Ever since I made the horrible decision to maintain a 7-Up-esque series following the rappers chosen for this accolade in 2012, keeping tabs on each of the ten artists and their respective careers since gracing the magazine’s cover, I’ve found myself struggling to both (a) still care, in most cases, and (b) find music representative of the growth one would assume each man (and one woman) had undertaken in order to organically prolong their professional lifespans.

What follows are my thoughts on each of the ten recipients of this prize based on music released in the calendar year 2017 only. I realized that last year’s entry was actually my then-unpublished thoughts on their 2016 output, so what I guess I’m saying is that there will likely be another entry in this dumbass exercise before 2018 takes itself out, so I hope you’re looking forward to reading that, because I am not.

Let’s get this look at where the 2012 class is now over with.

Something Different: Night Drive - Position I (EP) (September 3, 2013)

Night Drive is a modern-day synth-pop duo that understudies for New Wave giants The Human League, with a twist of Duran Duran and maybe some Depeche Mode during those three minutes scattered throughout the group’s career where they experienced some form of joy. It’s made up of Rodney Connell and Brandon Duhon, hailing from Austin and Houston, Texas, respectively, and their music is marketed as “inspired by sci-fi cinematic landscapes… that explores the darker currents of abstract emotion”. While that sounds like a bunch of bullshit buzzwords thrown together at the last minute by a publicist that really needed to submit some copy to a local alternative newspaper in order to promote an upcoming club show, it is fairly accurate, mining similar territory as acts such as Digitalism or Crystal Castles, whom I've had to stop listening to because of Ethan Kath’s (allegedly) rapey ways.I'm telling you, separating the art from the artists is getting more and more difficult in the current culture.

Well, 2017 Sure Was Terrible

2017 was a motherfucker, as we all know.

Max Continues to Avoid Album Reviews by Commenting On Selections From Billboard's Hot 100 Chart (Week Ending September 23, 2017)

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Wait, Max Finally Posted Something New, And It's Another Article Following XXL's 2012 Freshmen Class?

(So here's the thing: my hiatus is still a thing that is happening. Sorry, but it is what it is. However, the past year-and-a-half have seen some false starts, such as this article I started last fall that I never bothered to finish. I've chosen to clean and press it in an effort to actually get some page views, maybe?, but when you view the song selections, keep in mind that this is something out of my nonexistent vault, and that I obviously realize that, say, Future has dropped eighteen more albums' worth of material since the time I originally took pen to paper. And so.)

This year (again, remember, I wrote this in 2016), XXL's annual Freshman Class list contains no less than two artists I have honestly never even heard of (even as I write this annotation), one that I have but don't give much of a shit about, one comedian-turned-rapper, and several rappers who all sound the same to me, and yet are each probably going to have their superstar moments, because life is unfair and hip hop is terrible. It actually made me miss the relative simplicity of the class of 2012, whom I've been following each year of their careers since making the cover of a magazine that nobody gives a fuck about anymore: at least some of those guys (and the lone token woman) rap. 

And with that, let's look at where the 2012 class is now, five years removed from their first taste of fame. Have any of them exploded? Imploded? Sure, whatever, who cares; this is just an excuse for me to make fun of artists that I hate while promoting the one that I actually like on here. As usual, insert the standard disclaimer about how I don't know if the series will proceed beyond this year here.

So I'm Still Doing This: Max Checks In With XXL's 2012 Freshman Class

XXL dropped their annual Freshman Class list later than usual this year, and as such, I have followed suit with my ongoing series, which looks at the class of 2012 and what they have or haven't yet accomplished.  At least that's the excuse I'm running with: I debated internally for quite some time as to whether I should even bother, and when I finally decided to do it, laziness took a hold of me, so I suppose now's as good a time as ever to check in on the ten artists featured that particular year.

Insert your standard disclaimer about how I don't know if the series will proceed beyond this year here.

Let's Look At Each Other's Playlists Instead Of Me Having To Write A Review

As I try fruitlessly to get some actual reviews together from California-based artists, I figured now would be a good time to try to spark up another conversation between the two readers.  I'm a big believer of a person's musical taste speaking volumes of who they are, and if one were to take my iPod and put it on shuffle, one would see that I'm kind of all over the goddamn place.  I love how each song seamlessly flows into one another, even when coming from entirely different genres, as though curated by the best deejay ever.  Which, obviously, I kind of am when it comes to the music on my player, as are you all.

So, to lead into the weekend, I want you to grab your phones or your iPods, go to your music, hit 'shuffle', and write down the first ten tracks that come up in the comments below.  I think it'll be interesting to see where everyone stands.  No explanations are necessary: just jot down the first ten songs that pop up.  I've written mine below, and no, before you ask, there are no hints of future posts here: I still try to listen to music for fun, too, you know.

Masters Of Illusion - "Masters Of Illusion"

Joy Division - "Transmission"

Boot Camp Clik - "Had It Up 2 Here"

Holy Ghost! - "It Gets Dark"

Wu-Block - "Pull Tha Cars Out"

Fever Ray - "Keep The Streets Empty For Me"

The Smiths - "Asleep"

Action Bronson - "Falconry"

J-Zone - "I'm Fucking Up The Money"

Nas - "The Black Bond"

No surprise that my list is fairly East Coast-centric, which is another reason why I was trying the whole "California rappers only" experiment in the first place.  I could probably keep this going, but that's not the point, and this blog is self-serving enough.  Leave your playlists in the comments below, and maybe we'll all discover something new or new to us.

-Max

Ghostwriters Pushed To The Forefront: Should It Even Matter?

Recently, our chosen genre suffered through yet another battle between two established artists.  I say "suffered" because it was all a giant waste of everyone's time, and was far too one-sided for anybody to ever take remotely seriously.  I'm speaking, of course, of Drake versus Meek Mill.

From everything that I've gathered, the constantly-shouting Meek, whose rhymes must be scribbled down in all caps, was pissed that Aubrey didn't even bother to send out a tweet or some shit advising his followers that Meek's Dreams Worth More Than Money had dropped.  This was an album that featured Drake in a guest role, so Meek felt that it was doing both men a disservice to not promote it, as though Aubrey didn't have his own shit to push.  (As much as you two may not be fans of his, you can't deny that Drake has been awfully consistent with releasing new material for the majority of his career.)  Instead of speaking to him in person, or even through a DM, Meek felt it made the most sense to call the man out on social media, accusing him of not writing his own rhymes, which, while no Canibus versus LL Cool J, isn't a bad way to kick off a beef.

And then Meek just...stopped.  He was most likely convinced to do so by his girlfriend, and Drake's labelmate, Nicki Minaj, so the only follow-up we ever received were some stray shots in interviews, along with the lame-as-fuck "Wanna Know", which shouldn't even qualify as a dis track, since Meek's so out-of-pocket that the track lacks any sort of focus.  Meanwhile, Drake unleashed two hastily-recorded (or were they?) responses, "Charged Up" and "Back To Back", and not-so-graciously accepted the victory, all without ever dropping Meek's name in song.

Drake undeniably won the battle, even though we all now know of the existence of someone named Quentin Miller (Drake's apparent ghostwriter), but we, as listeners, lost the overall war: because of Aubrey's rather large fan base, mostly made up of younger folks who most likely don't know shit about shit and are quick to put on that cape for Wheelchair Jimmy, the idea that a rapper "has" to write his or her own rhymes has been called into question.  The issue itself is nothing new: hip hop heads have only given free passes to artists who are better known for their production work than their prowess with the pen (see: Dr. Dre, Pete Rock, Puff Daddy, Kanye West), or for those whose entire appeal is more style and less substance (see: the late Ol' Dirty Bastard, for instance).  Some of your favorite rappers have even made a decent side business out of writing for others.  But for the first time in a long while, having someone ghostwrite your lyrics for you appears to be an acceptable practice.  True, other musical genres have done this shit forever: when was the last time you ever heard Diane Warren actually sing a song?   But hip hop was supposed to be one of the last refuges for the "realness", a trait that is now called into question if it's perfectly acceptable for everyone to just hire the best and most "real" dude they know to come up with some good shit.

No matter how I feel about this matter, Drake will emerge unscathed, but I want to know what you two think of the idea of ghostwriters becoming more prevalent within our chosen genre.  Are you for it or severely against it?  Does it hurt any artists you've previously been huge fans of when you discover that someone else has written their ideas for them, or do you feel, like Aubrey himself seems to, that "need[ing], sometimes, individuals to spark an idea so that I can take off running,” (according to his recent interview with FADER) only helps the writing process?  Let's talk.

-Max

N.W.A. Rules the Box Office. Who Woulda Thunk It?

                    No stupid-ass memes here   

A biopic of hip hop supergroup N.W.A. just rang up nearly sixty million dollars in its opening weekend.  None of that came from my wallet, though: I had prior engagements I had to deal with.  I understand Straight Outta Compton mostly plays as an Ice Cube origin story that also brings up his writing the screenplay to Friday (which, like Straight Outta Compton, was also directed by F. Gary Gray, thereby completing the circle of life), reducing MC Ren's role to that of "the other guy, no, the other other guy", and most likely skipping past N.W.A. & The Posse entirely, thereby erasing Arabian Prince from our timeline, but honestly, the movie does look pretty good, and I'll catch it in theaters as soon as I can.

Nobody really saw this coming, since none of the main characters are played by name-brand actors: the closest we get is Paul Giamatti as Jerry Heller, who I hope is playing the man similar to how he portrayed Pig Vomit in Private Parts but probably isn't. But the main players and their producers (read: Cube and Dr. Dre) have been hitting the publicity scene pretty hard the last few weeks.  Hell, Dre even released an album, an actual rap album, out of fucking nowhere just to promote the flick (and anyone who tells you otherwise is just lying to themselves).

As is to be expected, Straight Outta Compton's massive haul has movie studios looking through dollar-sign irises, and the race is on for the next big hip hop movie, revisionist-historic or otherwise.  Last week, it was reported that Master P is going to take another crack at bringing his life story to a direct-to-video bin near you, but his flick is going to be produced independently: if he doesn't drive a tank or at least an actual ice cream truck at some point during the goddamn trailer, then he'll just be wasting everyone's time.

Here are some of my ideas for hip hop events I'd like to see recreated on the big screen:

- the story of 2Pac leading right up to his signing his life away to Death Row Records, or, conversely, a 2Pac story that takes place solely within the time he was signed to Death Row Records, with a montage sequence featuring him writing and recording three hundred fucking versions of the same fucking song just to get away from Suge Knight as quickly as possible

- the story of Kool Keith, featuring the man reinventing himself every twenty minutes or so (I'd actually pay money to see this)

- the story of that time Erick Sermon was caught banging some other dude's girl and jumped out of that window

- the story of Kurtis Blow starring Kanye West as he looked during the 808's & Heartbreak rollout

How about you two?  Are there any events in hip hop history that you'd like to see represented on the big screen?  Leave some feedback below.  Also, if you could let me know if Straight Outta Compton is worth paying money to watch, that woul dbe cool.

-Max 

Max's Significantly Delayed Reaction To XXL's Freshmen Class Of 2012: What A Difference Two Years Can Make

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OutKast - Runonsentence (EP) (February 30, 1995)

After the release and subsequent success of their debut album, Southernplayalisticadillacmusik, the rap duo OutKast, made up of Andre 3000 and Big Boi, found themselves in the midst of a gathering in the lofty residence of the head of their label, L.A. Reid.  While chomping down on celery sticks and spaghetti tacos, Dre and Big Boi were ushered away from the rest of the party to take part in one of their host's secretive poker games, rumored to have taken no less than nine days to finally complete.  Not much is known about how said game actually ended, but within the next few months, L.A. Reid posed nude for Good Housekeeping while OutKast quietly released an import-only EP entitled Runonsentence, available primarily in the Thailand and Laotian markets, although exactly three copies ended up inadvertently being shipped to a mom-and-pop record shoppe in Montana that also doubled as a soda fountain and sold some of the finest milkshakes in the country before it tragically burned down in the great ice storm of 2006.

Diversionary Tactics: Max's Commentary On The Billboard Hot Rap Singles Charts (Week Ending March 23, 2013)

The last time I wrote specifically about the Hot Rap Singles chart featured in Billboard magazine was nearly five freaking years ago, when the artists written about included Lil Wayne, Shawty Lo, Rick Ross, Flo Rida, and something called a Webbie.  So what better day than today to revisit the charts and see if anything has changed?  (SPOILER ALERT: Lil Wayne is still a fixture.)

Yes, in my quest to do everything except attempting to complete my self-imposed project, I apparently plan on reviving some long-dormant HHID tropes, starting with today's post (because my last article about XXL's list didn't really count).  Does this mean that I plan on bringing back the Drink Coaster write-ups?  Probably not, but if one is looking to see what is wrong (and, admittedly, what may be right) with today's artists, this might be a good place to start.

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.

Max's Delayed Reaction to XXL's "Freshmen Class of 2012"

So XXL, which may as well be The Source at this point, released its annual list of rookie rappers they believe are worth looking for, dubbed the "Freshmen Class of 2012".  I've never really paid much attention to these things, since all they seemed designed to do is to incite riots on all of the other hip hop blogs, but now's as good a time as any to discover if hip hop will actually die at the hands of the ten names present on the list.  Oh, and it may be a conversation starter, too.  I'll do anything to not review an actual album, apparently.

In true Max fashion, I'm not familiar with most of the names on here, so I thought it would be best that I actually listen to one of each artists's songs before I pass any judgment.  What follows is a quickie review on each of the ten artists based on my gut reactions to whatever the one song is that I chose.  Inevitably I will choose the wrong song, and the one I actually hear will not be representative of what the artist is capable of, but hey, that's what your role in the comments section will be.

MACHINE GUN KELLY

Song I listened to: "Invincible" (featuring Ester Dean)

The first of two new members of the Bad Boy roster to appear on this list is Machine Gun Kelly, the unimaginatively-named emcee who has gained quick fame thanks to the mixtape scene and a commercial for an HTC phone that featured his "Invincible", which is how I was familiar with this track before today.  (Some of you two who are into professional wrestling may be familiar with his work through those channels, but I don't watch that shit anymore, so I can't really vouch for that.)  The beat itself probably helps tremendously, as it fucking rocks, but MGK doesn't sound all that bad...until he starts to speed-rap, which turns everything he says into word soup, which I tend to avoid due to the high sodium content.  In a way, the guy reminds me of Yelawolf, except the instrumental on "Invincible" is much better than anything from Radioactive.  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: I imagine his eventual Bad Boy debut will feature the likes of Rick Ross, someone in the vein of Talib Kweli to grab the attention of the backpackers, probably Eminem, and about two-thirds of the artists on this very list.

DANNY BROWN

Song I listened to: "Black and Brown" (featuring Black Milk)

Okay, I'm cheating here, since I'm actually familiar with Detroit emcee Danny Brown's work.  On one hand, it's kind of interesting to see the skinny jean-wearing, asymmetrically-hairdo'd Fools Gold signee on a magazine cover that isn't for Complex or Paste (wait, that example makes no sense, since the print version of Paste has been defunct for quite a while now, so let's just say Fader or something), but I fear that most of the people who actually read the cover story will be too terrified of Danny's image to actually seek out any of his not-really-shocking, oftentimes-hilarious music.  If that describes you, I urge you to seek out my review for his collaborative EP with producer Black Milk, Black & Brown!, and its best track, "Black and Brown", which is also probably its most accessible. 

KID INK

Song I listened to:  "I Just Want It All"

This seems to be representative of the truly awful direction hip hop has taken as of late: I didn't think it was possible to hear someone sound like A$AP Rocky but sound more like a pussy, but here we are.  I'm probably too old to ever give a fuck about Kid Ink, so that motherfucker needs to get off my lawn, but just listen to "I Just Want It All" and tell me that it's good.  You'll be met with me spitting in your goddamn lying whore face, but at least your opinion will be heard.

FUTURE

Song I listened to:  "Tony Montana"

This guy sucks.  Which means he'll become the belle of the ball, I know.

ROSCOE DASH

Song I listened to:  "Good Good Night"

While researching Roscoe Dash, I discovered that he had a mild hit two years ago with a song that featured fucking Soulja Boy.  Although that embarrassment to the culture isn't really much of a factor anymore, Roscoe Dash seems to have slid directly into his wheelhouse, albeit in a more club-friendly, radio-ready way.  One thing I'm not noticing on this year's list is the concept of longevity: I can't see any of these artists lasting beyond a year or two, and I'm including Danny Brown on that list (he needs to impress me over non-Black Milk beats is all).  I can't imagine this song being on the playlist of any of you two, but that's never stopped any rappers before.

HOPSIN

Song I listened to:  "Sag My Pants"

Kind of sounds like a more mainstream Tyler, the Creator, artificial shock value and all, except without the annoying press backing him up.  I understand that he's actually been around for a while, having once been signed (and then dropped) by Ruthless Records, of all the labels on Earth, but I'm more impressed with the fact that he apparently once guest-starred on That's So Raven, which is a most hardcore thing to do, right up there with Fredro Starr on Moesha or MC Ren's frequent cameos on Gimme A Break.  He doesn't sound terrible behind the mic, and I appreciate the fact that he apparently directs his own shit, but there wasn't much on here that I found impressive.  Besides, attacking the likes of Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, and Lupe Fiasco is more my territory.

MACKLEMORE

Song I listened to:  "The Town"

If this is the type of song Macklemore specializes in, then he'll probably become a critical darling that I won't be able to suffer.  He isn't without skill, though his flow was kind of dull on "The Town".  I'll have to hear more of his work before I can pass judgment,

DON TRIP

Song I listened to:  "Letter To My Son" (featuring Cee-Lo)

I didn't realize this before, but I've actually caught snippets of this song on the radio.  Don Trip (man, these rap names are just getting lazier, aren't they?) deserves credit for sticking with the theme (albeit in a fairly cheesy manner), and snagging hip hop royalty Cee-Lo to sing on the chorus speaks for a matter of clout that a lot of today's artists simply don't have.  But would I want to ever listen to an entire album from this guy?  It's hard to say.  Still, that thing I wrote earlier about sticking to a theme?  That counts for a lot in our chosen genre, in which a short attention span is king.

IGGY AZALEA

Song I listened to:  "My World"

Every since the advent of Kreayshawn and her weed carrier V-Nasty, female white rappers have been the hipster accessory of choice, which is ironic, since most of them who aren't named Eternia suck.  Iggy Azalea, ridiculous name and all, doesn't change my mind.  It's kind of sad how pretty much every female rapper in existence feels the need to push their sexuality to the forefront in an effort to sell records; one of the other choices I found for Iggy was her single "Pu$$y", which is probably about the socioeconomic void filled by the feline population.  This song gave me a headache, but to Iggy's credit, any-fucking-body could have spit over this beat and it would have had the same result.

FRENCH MONTANA

Song I listened to:  "Shot Caller" (Featuring Charlie Rock)

The other new guy on Bad Boy Records closes out this list with a boring song (about calling shots or some shit, I don't know) and a boring flow that all gets overshadowed by the fantastic Harry Fraud beat that uses the same minute, classic sample (from the Thomas Bell Orchestra's "A Theme For LA's Team") that the Lords of the Underground rocked over on "Funky Child" way back in the day.  But that's praise for the producer, not the rapper who actually made XXL's list, so let me backtrack here.  French Montana has already popped up a couple of times on HHID, as a guest on both Pusha T's and Fat Joe's latest projects, and the latter makes sense, since Frenchy sounds like one of the worse members of Large Joesph's former Terror Squad clique.  Which makes him a perfect fit for Puff Daddy's Bad Boy empire, much more so than Machine Gun Kelly. 

-Max