It’s that time of year where everybody knows the hottest rapper out or feel themselves or somebody else has been left out. Yep! The 2015 Freshmen list is here! Not many surprises and if I can be honest, it almost looks like they “Cherry Picked” this years list. I get it though. It’s been a lot of foregone conclusions the past few years. Partially because the internet and the underground artist have formed a bond that no one can deny. If you are social media savvy, the majority of this list makes perfect since.

Now for my breakdown

DeJ Loaf: No Surprise. The “Try Me” record was too big for her to not be on the list. Didn’t really dig the mixtape, but you can’t deny that Dej Loaf has been a topic of conversation for about 12 straight months.

Fetty Wap: Definitely should be on the list. Trap Queen made Top 40 Radio and My Way is expected to do the same, especially after Drake got on it. 2 for 2 on Billboard, with his look, is no fluke. As I told one of my homeys. He’s not going anywhere.

GoldLink: Had NO CLUE who this was, but that’s partially what the list is about. New Artist and New Music. I plan to get familiar with SQUAAASH CLUB. Listened to “Sober Thoughts” and “When I Die”. It wasn’t the worst I heard, but I’m not a fan.

K Camp: K Camp should have been on the 2014 list. K Camp puts out bangers. If you don’t think he should be on this list, you’re hating.

OG Maco: BISH YOU GUESSED IT! Hey, the people made this and him popular. Blame all the vines and IG videos of y’all acting a fool to this song. I think the song is hilarious! I like the fact that we got a rapper not afraid to yell all over a track. He’s not as terrible lyrically as some people think he is.

Raury: Another artist who I had no idea who they were. I listened to “Cigarette Song” and honestly didn’t want to listen to anything else. It sounded it like urban folk music to me. I thought of Macy Gray, Tracy Chapman, Corinne Bailey Rae and see how I mentioned nothing hip-hop? As of right now, no clue why he’s on this list and somebody needs to point me to a rap song. Right now, this is who took Lil Herb in Chicago spot to me…..and they made a mistake.

Shy Glizzy: The “Awwsome” record was a pretty big deal out of nowhere. He got John Wall to be in the “John Wall” video. It’s still early for him but you can’t say he doesn’t deserve to be on the list. This list is actually designed for cats with his specific buzz.

Tink: Again, no surprise. I blame Timbaland and The Breakfast Club as to why I’m not overly impressed. They force fed us Tink as much as they could last year and now I’m waiting for something above the level of phenomenal and have yet to hear it. Tink is going to win whether we like it or not.

Vince Staples: Hands down the best rapper on this list. Vince should have been on the 2014 list just off of having one of the best verses of 2013 on Earl’s “Hive”. Vince is dope. I just hope he keeps it moving  and give us a great album by fall.

Kidd-Kidd “The winner of the fan-voted 10th Spot”: Before I read how he got in, I said “How the hell did Kidd-Kidd even get considered when he was on a runaway hit single in 2009 and been on world tours!? When the people speak, you got to just rock with it. I guess G-Unit Kidd-Kidd counts as a new artist. Lets just hope he gives us an album this time.

Seems like this year people and artist were madder than usual and that made me think two things.
1. It’s time to delete some artist
2. This list is what the world is coming to musically.

This list is full of cats who either were heavy in the grind to get noticed, caught the ear of the right powerful person in the industry or flat out put out a hit record in the last 12 months and worked it. You can’t really be mad at this list. Sure, there isn’t a lot of “great lyricist”, but you tell me the year when 10 great lyricist were picked? It’s a lot of unique sounds on this list. Unique, catchy sounds. You either love it or hate it. Again, always remember, these are the artist that the people literally made famous if nowhere else at least where they’re from.

To The Angered and I should be on the list cats: Invest in yourself the right way. You swear you’re the best in your city? Then you need to make sure everybody in your city that listens to rap knows who you are and knows that you rap. Dare to be unique. Stop copying Drill and The Migos sound. Stop using Drake formulas and content. Don’t “try to do a little something for everybody” do you, to the best of your ability and let something break through. The one thing I noticed about all the artist on this list is that the majority of them have pretty solid song structure and just enough originality.

Manolo Rose, Young Lito, Jidenna, Rae Sremmurd and Lil Herb didn’t make the list this year. Young Thug passed on last year from what urban legend states and there success won’t be largely affected by it.

The double edge sword in all of this is, you got to get undeniably hot where you are to get national attention, but you can’t only be concerned with recognition in your city if you are really trying to make this a full time career choice. A lot of rappers are too concerned with how they get treated and how great they think they are, but haven’t created enough noise to get 100 people to get in 1 venue and support a 10 minute set. Understand that everyone on a freshmen list can do at least that whether you dig their music or not. This is the music business. If you can’t generate an audience or a dollar, you’re not where you really think you are.