It’s finally here! For the past four years i’ve spent the weeks after New Years Eve anxiously waiting for XXL Magazines freshman issue to come out. I had my predictions this year, and only a few of them came true. Let’s break this down real quick:

The Good: These are the artists that I think actually deserve their spot on one of the most respected lists in hip-hop.

• Mac Miller – All personal bias aside (know and love the dude) I think Mac Miller has worked hard to earn his spot on the cover of XXL this year. Not only do I respect the hell out of his work ethic and think that all of the work he puts out (from The Jukebox to K.I.D.S) has been incredible, I also respect the fact that he’s had to prove himself in the rap game being that he’s much younger, and much whiter than everyone else. Mazel Tov Malcolm.
• Yelawolf – This hillbilly has super swag. From the first time I heard “Box Chevy pt 3″ or “I Wish ft. Raekwon” i’ve fully supported everything this Alabama native has released. He’s got a unique flow and he provides true talent – no gimmicks.
• CyHi The Prynce – Anyone with a Kanye West cosign is cool with me. CyHi has proven himself worthy of the “Freshman” title all year long with features on tracks like “I Wish” mentioned above, “Christmas In Harlem”, and of course my favorite “Ray Ban Vision”.
• Big K.R.I.T – Wow, wasn’t expecting this one. That being said, i’m pretty happy about it. K.R.I.T Wuz Here was a masterpiece of a mixtape, and he showed off his versatility when he pulled off a dope track with Frat Rap’s own Chris Webby.
• Meek Mill – I’ll be honest, up until about three months ago I hadn’t heard of Meek Mill, but since then i’ve been hooked. This dude knows what he’s doing. I wasn’t necessarily expecting to see him on the cover of XXL, but none the less he’s a real artist and he’ll do great things with the extra attention this feature will bring.

The Bad: These are the artists who I personally don’t think deserved/earned their spot on the list

• Lil B – Seriously? Lil B?! I don’t understand 99.9% of the things this guy says, like I literally can’t decipher the words coming out of his mouth. Do people really consider that noise to be music? Who are you? Why are you so dumb? Why the hell are you on the cover of my XXL? This has to be some kind of weird publicity stunt, I can think of about 50 people that would be better.
• Diggy Simmons – Sure he’s adorable or whatever, yeah, his dad is the Rev which is awesome, but does that make him a good rapper? No… not really. He’s got a decent amount of talent, but with the exception of Willow Smith (that’s my bitch) I have a really hard time respecting people that didn’t have to do any work to achieve success. Diggy is one of those people, and he doesn’t even deny it. Daddy can only get you so far.
• Lil Twist – Do I really even need to justify why he’s here? I think not.

The Who? I like to think that i’m pretty knowledgable with current hip hop & rap music, but these are the artists on the list who i’ve honestly never even heard of. If any of you know who these people are/like their music, feel free to hit me up at blbolton11@gmail.com and drop some knowledge.

• Kendrick Lamar
• Fred The Godson
• YG

Lastly,  I won’t go into too much detail because this is already unnecessarily long and I doubt anyone besides my dad is still reading (hi dad), is a list of some of the new artists that I would have liked to see on this years list instead of some of the “bad” and the “who” artists that i’ve listed above. Feel free to sound off in the comments section and let me know what you guys think/any other artists you thought should have made the list -

• Curren$y
• Machine Gun Kelly
• XV
• Nipsey Hussle

* Our lovely commenters have informed me that Nipsey & Currensy have already made the list, oops. In that case, add Smoke DZA and Tyler The Creator to my list, absolute bosses.