Yup, that’s @youngthug on @donaldglover’s #ThisIsAmerica: "I'm on his last album, it's crazy. He's really not making music after this."
The 2018 XXL Freshman Class has finally arrived. Now in its 11th year, the Freshman franchise has exploded into popularity over the past decade thanks to the internet, social media and, more importantly, the hip-hop fans. Every year, the XXLFreshman Class comes together the same way as when it first started. We talk to everyone we possibly can—industry tastemakers, rappers, our friends, fellow hip-hop heads, the guy working at the corner store, whoever—to get their input on who they think should be picked for the class. Then we argue it out as a staff and narrow down the list.
This year’s Freshman Class includes
The 10th Spot winner was Waynesboro, Pa.’s Lil Skies who unfortunately refused to attend the shoot after originally accepting the offer.
The actual Freshman issue of XXL magazine will hit stands everywhere on July 3. After that, fans can see all nine artists hit the stage to perform for the XXL Freshman show at New York City’s Terminal 5 on Wed., July 11. The Los Angeles XXL Freshman show will take place on Thurs., July 19 at The Novo.
The XXL Summer 2018 issue also includes a look back at last year's freshmen, an introduction to the indie labels and management companies that are the driving forces behind this year’s Freshman class, a deep dive into the future of SoundCloud and where it stands as artists depart for more profitable pastures, interviews with Wiz Khalifa, Denzel Curry, Shy Glizzy and more.
Most importantly, congratulations to the 2018 XXL Freshman Class: Ski Mask The Slump God, Lil Pump, Smokepurpp, J.I.D, Stefflon Don, BlocBoy JB, YBN Nahmir, Wifisfuneral and Trippie Redd. The class with clout.
Read More @ XXL.com
If providing Mother's Day gifts was a contest, G Herbo would probably take the trophy this year. The Chicago rapper took three of his ladies out to dinner to celebrate the special day last night (May 13), which included his mom, his longtime girlfriend Ariana Fletcher, who is also the mother to their newborn son, as well as her mom.
During dinner, the "Who Run It" spitter shared some life-changing gifts with the ladies, which included $20,000 in cash for his girlfriend that he hid in their son's car seat. Later, he asked all of the women about their ability to retire early, revealing that his mother retired four years ago thanks to Herbo, and his girlfriend hasn't worked since they started getting serious. Now, his girlfriend's mom will be able to join them by retiring this week, as she admitted that her last day will be tomorrow (May 15).
"Tuesday, May 15, 2018," she says. "No more work."
In a lengthy caption, the entertainer explains that he is making sure that he is the only one working so that everyone else can focus on the family.
"WE GOING HARD FR ROUND THESE PARTS NIGGA MY MAMA AINT HAD A JOB IN 4 YRS BEEN TOLD MY BITCH STOP WORKING @ THE CLUB AS SOON AS I STARTED LIKING HER FR," he writes. "THIS TUESDAY NIGGAA MY BABY MAMA’S MAMA AINT GOTTA WORK NOMO💯 FRFR ONLY WORK IS ME WORKING & EVERYBODY ELSE WORKING TO KEEP US TOGETHER."
It looks like no matter what turmoil G Herbo may face, he will always make sure to hold down the important women in his life.
-XXL Magazine
Check out the footage of G Herbo gifting his girlfriend and her mom their Mother's Day gifts in the videos below
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Kendrick Lamar's transcendent lyricism has him holding the torch as the leader of the new generation in hip-hop. The TDE rapper's certified double-platinum fourth album DAMN. postured itself at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 -- solidifying the cathartic LP as his highest-ranked yet.
Still, K-Dot has been delivering more than Shakespearean conscious raps and Compton-based visuals. After notching five Grammys, including a sweep in the major rap categories.
-Billboard.com
Here we have complied a list of K.Dot's greatest tracks, the Compton rapper has had a healthy amount projects for us to consider and browse through during our creation of this catalog. With it concluding in the list below
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Honorable Mentions: HiiiPower, DNA, Momma, Cartoons and Cereal, M.A.A.D City, Westside Right On Time
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Album: Untitled Unmastered (2016)
Album: To Pimp A Butterfly (2015)
This Pharrell Williams co-produced jazzy hip-hop infusion finds Lamar, despite all his bad trips and hard times, ready to face another day. With God on his side, he is confident everything will be "Alright." This was one of several songs on To Pimp a Butterfly that were inspired by Lamar's time in South Africa during 2014. He told MTV News: "When I got to Africa and saw other people's problems, their struggle was 10 times harder and was raised crazier than what I was. Going out there really inspired - I wrote a lot of records off the album just by visiting South Africa. That was the moment I knew, OK, I could either pimp this situation or fall victim to it. That was a turning point."
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Mixtape: Overly Dedicated (2010)
To this day The Heart Pt.2 is easily one of Kendrick's most heartfelt and lyrical masterpieces.The first track off Overly Dedicated finds Kendrick Lamar rapping over an extended version of The Roots' How I Got Over cut "A Piece of Light." Speaking with Rolling Stone, the Compton MC explained what led to this song:"I remember saying to myself, 'I just wanna show a spew of emotion on a record. I don't care how long the bars are, but people are literally gonna have to feel me.' I told myself that if I can't connect that way, then it ain't no point in me just putting a bunch of good words together. So that spaz-out toward the end, where I just choke up and lose my breath – I wanna keep all that."
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Album: Good Kid M.A.A.D City (2012)
Lamar explained the meaning of this Good Kid, M.A.A.d City cut to Complex magazine: "That's about temptation," he said. "After the ride of going on 'The Art of Peer Pressure,' you listen to that, and that was the mind state of thinking everything is about a dollar. That's where we were at the time. Everything was about money. We didn't care about nothing else truthfully."The track features Lamar's Top Dawg Entertainment labelmate Jay Rock whose verse is also about how the desire for success provides the motivation for hustling. "Honestly, he was like already done with the album [before I got on it]," said Jay Rock to Complex. "When I heard it that was one of my favorite records. Every time he played it, I'm like, 'Run it back.' He was keeping the album real personal, he didn't want that many features. Not even from us. When bro get in his zone, he gets in his zone. He's so into his craft. He don't do it intentionally."He just so happened to hit me," continued Jay Rock, "like, 'I want you to do a verse for 'Money Trees.' I was honored so I took my time with it, wrote it down, and finished it up. When he heard it he was like 'Man, you took it to the next level.'"
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Mixtape: Overly Dedicated (2010)
The eighth track on Kendrick’s mixtape “Overly Dedicated” is titled after a popular idiom, which translates to “what you don’t know can’t hurt you”. Kendrick raps the first verse without taking a single breath. This has become something of a trait for Kendrick as he has repeated this feat on “Look Out For Detox” and “Rigamortus”. Lamar goes all out on a hard hitting bass describing the gritty street life of Compton, and how h or the character his portraying performs a drive by. Its also worth noting that this is the song that got Kendrick noticed by Dr.Dre
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Album: DAMN. (2017)
This slow-burning track is a layered opus that features several revelations pertaining to Kendrick Lamar's personal life. The song is a portrait of an artist terrified of his mom, losing his life and failing in his career.The song is split into three verses, which find the Compton MC learning to cope with fear at ages 7, 17 and 27. Before the first verse there is a recording of a call from Lamar's bible-fearing cousin Carl Duckworth who refers to the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. This voicemail is only on the streaming version of the song.
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Album: To Pimp A Butterfly (2015)
Probably one if not the most prolific sing Kendrick has ever released. The grand closing to an absolute classic Mortal Man is a 12- minute long question that only the fans can answer. When shit hits the fan or you still a fan? Reportedly inspired by a trip Lamar took to Nelson Mandela's cell on Robben Island during a visit to South Africa in 2014, this song finds the Compton native hoping that he continues the legacy of the South African icon. Lamar explained to MTV News: "We're so confined with hatred and want to point out people's flaws that we don't see the big picture in what they're doing. And it's been done with leaders way before my time. They did it to Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior, feel me? So who am I? I'm just a man, that's why we call it 'Mortal Man.'"
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Album: DAMN. (2017)
Kendrick Lamar concludes his DAMN.album with a true tale of a chance encounter back in 1984 between the rapper's father Kenny "Ducky" Duckworth and his label boss Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith before the two men knew each other. He recounts how the future Top Dawg Entertainment CEO nearly killed Lamar's dad when he was planning on robbing the KFC drive-thru spot that "Ducky" worked at. The story telling on this track is impecable, being able to paint mental images of Top Dawg's earlier gang life mixed the adventurtre of his parents coming across country to begin a new life for him, and the fact that all of this happened in such a way amkes this more then a song. Its a glimpse into how karma works...... and how funny god can be.
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Album: Good Kid M.A.A.D City (2012)
Taking the cake for for Lamar's best story-telling is Sing About Me. The Bill WIthers sampled song has a relaxing bass heavy beat. This is one of the deepest, most personal tracks on Good Kid, M.A.A.d City. "Just life, in general, is the meaning behind it," Lamar explained to The Boombox. "It's a certain situation that I had to go through; I had to bump my head a few times to know what I had to do to get back right." "It's probably one of the deepest songs on [the album] that I've written," he added. "It's real short though, probably only a minute or two. When people listen to the album a few more times, and go back ad forth, they really understand the setting and the actual position that it has in the album and why it's in that track listing."
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Album: Section 80 (2011)
Now we know its not Kendrick's most impactful song, or even a heart wrenching story. This song exemplifies what Kendrick is at his core. A hungry hardcore lyrical juggernaut that can rip any beat or rapper at anytime or place. With an upbeat drum pattern coupled with the blaring trumpets the instrumental was made for Lamar to dig into. Death can be so beautiful at times. Boasting bars as mad as Marilyn Manson, one grim rapper emerges to hold hip hop ransom. Hailing from Compton, Los Angeles, one of America’s most neglected graveyards, Kendrick yields his sickle (ballpoint pen) to pry open the caskets of lyricism, musicianship, and tradition. The emcee, once known as K. Dot, hence displays an air of irony in his verses, murdering the fraudulent with the same weapon used for shedding light on realness.
Young Thug, aka SEX!!, plays a substantial role on Childish Gambino’s recently released single “This Is America” by contributing ad-libs and singing on the outro. During an appearance on Spotify’s Scrolling in the Deep series, the Atlanta rapper revealed how the collaboration came together and confirmed that Gambino’s upcoming album will be his last.
While describing a now deleted photo taken with Gambino, Thug said the two linked up through their mutual friend Reese LAFLARE:
[Childish Gambino] got in touch with Reese LaFlare. I think they cool, friends or whatever. He told him to come to the [studio]. He said he has a song for me for his last album… I tweeted one time, I was like, ‘I bet I be on Gambino’s last album.’ I’m on his last album, it’s crazy. He’s really not making music after this. In this picture… I was really frustrated that he wasn’t making music no more but I was trying to be cool."
Elsewhere in the interview, Thug revealed he and Future have each other’s names tattooed on their bodies. “That’s how we feel,” he said about his former foe. “It’s forever.”
It’s worth noting, however, that Thug said he wasn’t going to put out any new music this year back in February. Since making that statement, he released an EP titled Hear No Evil and guested on Swae Lee’s “Offshore,” Playboi Carti’s “Choppa Won’t Miss,” and several tracks on DJ Esco’s mixtape KOLORBLIND.
Gambino unveiled “This Is America” in conjunction with pulling double duty as the host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live last weekend. The combination of symbolism-filled lyrics and its provocative music video have made it a hit. Not only did the track become the fastest song to reach one million pageviews in Genius history, it’s projected to hit No. 1) on next week’s Billboard Hot 100 chart and dethrone Drake’s “Nice For What” in the process.
Last June, Gambino announced that his next album would be his last. In January, he signed a new record and label deal with RCA Records in partnership with his agency/label Wolf + Rothstein. At the time, Complex reported that a new album might not be out until 2019 due to his busy schedule as an actor, but perhaps those plans may have changed.
Read More Here: https://genius.com/a/young-thug-confirms-that-the-next-childish-gambino-album-will-be-the-last
So how do you think Bino's last album will sound. Let us know in the comments below.
Jermaine Lamar Cole is a different breed. Ever since he signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation imprint in 2009, Cole has been solidifying his status as a new-school leader and a future legend in the game. Before releasing his debut album Cole World: The Sideline Story, Jermaine dropped two classic mixtapes, The Warm Up, and Friday Night Lights. Cuts from the critically acclaimed mixtapes like “Lights Please,” “Too Deep For the Intro,” and “In the Morning,” helped launch Cole’s career from the relatively unknown town of Fayetteville, North Carolina. Cole was born in Germany as a military kid and was relocated to America by his mother after his father evaporated. At age 12, Cole was already flexing his skills on the mic, but being discovered in North Carolina didn’t seem like a realistic goal for the young wordsmith. After graduating high-school at the top of his class, Cole received a scholarship to St. John’s University in New York and relocated to the Big Apple to pursue both his degree and a career in rap music.
Album:The Warm Up
This is the track you show non-believers. “Dead Presidents 2” appeared on The Warm Up. It was a follow up to his first attempt at rapping over the Jay-Z classic, which he was told was not up to par. To be honest, Cole’s first attempt at the instrumental was lukewarm, and the sequel absolutely destroys it. Packed with punchlines and metaphors for centuries, Cole used the negative review of his first attempt as a fuel to write the most lyrically potent track on The Warm Up. For decades, rappers have tried their luck on the Jay-Z track that planted the seeds for the epic Nas beef that would occur years later. It’s a trial and a testament for up-and-coming lyricists to murder this instrumental, and Cole does it better than anyone ever has. Possibly even Jay himself...
Album:2014 Forest Hills Drive
The concept for this single off 2014 Forest Hills Drive is brilliant. Cole takes his fans back to his high-school days. Before cell phones and Tinder completely demolished the dating game, nervously written love notes and well thought out poems were the best way to grab a girl’s attention in school. Hormones ablaze, Cole finds himself being invited to his first sexual encounter. He attempts to play it cool, while he internally panics and runs home to learn how to put on a condom while watching porn for instructional purposes. The entire song plays like a nostalgic love story, and it’s hard not to think about your first while listening to “Wet Dreamz.” Cole’s manager would later confirm that the story was fictional after fans expressed discontent with conflicting rhymes about Jermaine’s virginity.
Album:The Warm Up
“Grown Simba” opens with an eerie choir that drops into an infectious instrumental with more bounce than hydraulics. A young Cole raps about his aspirations to reach the top of the game, a goal that he would accomplish soon after releasing The Warm Up. Jermaine confidently dismisses drug-dealing, pimping, and balling as distractions to his overall goal to be king. Just like a young Simba, Cole has little patience, and wishes to sit on the throne at the first opportunity he gets. The hunger in his lyrics is apparent, and showcases Cole’s fluidity and intelligence on the mic before he gained mainstream success.
Album: 2014 Forest Hills Drive
“G.O.M.D.” is an interesting mix between arrogant braggadocio and genuine concern for the state of love. Cole enters “G.O.M.D.” as a narcissist, claiming that he’s ready to slaughter any competitor, adding that he strikes fear into his peers. By the second verse, Cole breaks down and reveals that he would rather go back to being Jermaine instead of living the life of a famous rapper. Torn between fame and love, Cole questions his childhood, where he never experienced true love until he meets an undisclosed woman. “G.O.M.D.” quickly veers off on a tangent about a tumultuous relationship that seems unrelated, until Cole brings it full circle and highlights ignorance as an enemy to love. The music video features Jermaine playing a house slave that frees the field slaves and stages a rebellion with the help of his slave master’s woman. Cole World.
Album: KOD
The reoccurring theme of K.O.D. is the pain that makes people escape into addictive behavior. On "The Cut Off" Cole raps about an addiction of helping others. Cole laments that people constantly take advantage of him and use him. The fact that somebody he called a friend took his kindness for weakness, means that he's forced to remove them from his circle.The opposing character in the song who raps the first verse and chorus is Kill Edward. J Cole's alter ego is an addict that uses drugs and alcohol as his coping mechanism. He tries to manipulate the rapper, who wants to help him but Cole wises up to Kill Edward and ejects him from his life.Kill Edward was inspired by Cole's stepfather, Edward, who walked out on the family in 2003.
Album: Born Sinner
Before Cole was going platinum with no features, he placed his friend and competitor Kendrick Lamar on the chorus of "Forbidden Fruit." Cole samples “Electric Relaxation” by A Tribe Called Quest, and reimagines the title as a Bible reference. Adam’s seduction by Eve, and their fall from grace, is the main theme of "Forbidden Fruit." Cole touches on his own sexual endeavors, as well as taking shots at other celebrities, like Mr. Cee who was caught soliciting sex from a cross-dressing man. Cole also throws a competitive jab at Kanye West, alluding to the fact that his fame had reached the heights of the Chicago MC. That’s boss.
Emotional depth has always been Cole’s strength. The ability to tell stories that are replete with emotional conflict come easy to Jermaine, and “Lost Ones” might be one of the best examples of this fact. In the first verse, Cole raps from the perspective of a man who finds out his girl is pregnant. The man is suggesting an abortion, and claims that he doesn’t want to bring a life into this world without the means for proper support. After he states his case, Cole switches perspectives to the woman. Pregnant and infuriated with her man’s proposition, she compares her lover to his father, a dead-beat daddy. After a poignant second verse, Cole retreats to a position of neutral storytelling for his last verse. Possibly the realest song Cole ever wrote, even the chorus of “Lost Ones” stirs up feelings of distress.
Album:2014 Forest Hills Drive
“No Role Modelz” features the most addicting instrumental of Cole’s career. The royal horns combined with Cole’s imposing flow creates an anthem for kings. As soon as Cole raps, “First thing’s first, rest in peace Uncle Phil, for real,” he captures the listener's attention with what is possiblythe illest shout-out since Kanye had Beyoncé’s back. Critics and fans have been divided on the overall message of the song, with some claiming that the lyrics are just as shallow as the song’s bridge proclaims Hollywood vixens are. Regardless, creating masterful polarizing music is a trait only the greatest artists exhibit, and this track is an example of Cole’s ability to craft classic records. Plus, Nia Long responded to Cole’s lyrics about her, claiming that “He’s not too young; he just doesn’t know it.” Nice.
On the intro track to J.Cole's 3rd Studio Album. Cole reminisces on the laid-back cut about some late friends as well as addressing his success and music industry politics. He ends the track by comparing himself to "the great Rakim" who was also born on January 28th - 17 years before the North Carolina rapper. He explains that the only rap gods were born on the titular date.
Album: KOD
On this track Cole jumps on very chill melodic track with a hard hitting bass. Here, J. Cole details his journey climbing up the "tax brackets. Cole doesn't believe that his dollars are going to the prime targeted areas that should be receiving the benefit of the taxes. He believes that taxpayers and minorities should have more stake in how their wealth is used. While answering a series of fan questions on Twitter, Cole revealed his favorite lyrics on KOD come from this track.
First, it confirms that these strange days have been blindingly golden for black pop culture. “Black Panther” just made history at the box office, Beyoncé just made history at Coachella, and on Monday, one of the leading candidates for Voice of His Generation made history by winning a medal that has only ever hung across the hearts of classical and jazz musicians. Hopefully, that newish museum down on the Mall still has some empty space on the walls.
Here’s what else it means: That rap music is the most significant pop idiom of our time. It’s the sound of 21st century American life — a black art form with a black-and-white-and-everyone-else audience. The music is an implicit conversation about the conjoined legacies of slavery, segregation, police brutality and other hideous injustices that our society doesn’t care to solve. In that sense, rap music is the sound of a broken nation struggling to understand itself.
[Is Kendrick Lamar the greatest of all time? (Don’t ask. Listen.)]
On “DAMN.,” his astonishing 2017 album, he surveys a smoking landscape and lets the disappointment bounce off his tongue: “It’s murder on my street, your street, back streets, Wall Street, corporate offices, banks, employees and bosses with homicidal thoughts.” In a profoundly disorienting American moment, here was a rap album that sounded clear-eyed and sure-footed. On Monday afternoon, it earned a 30-year-old from Compton his first Pulitzer.
Let’s not forget that “DAMN.” didn’t win album of the year at the 60th annual Grammy Awards in February — a depressing kind of shock, until you remember that the Recording Academy has only ever bestowed its most-coveted trophy to a rap album once.
The loss marked Lamar’s third consecutive snub for album of the year, and it was enough to make you wonder why an industry that profits so handsomely from black art so adamantly refuses to celebrate it.
Some awards mean more than others, though, and while prestige often tends to calcify our ideas about what constitutes greatness, the Pulitzer committee has stepped up to recognize the worthiness of Lamar’s work. In doing so, our shared definition of “great music” instantly becomes more flexible.
“Ultimately, for the hip-hop community, I would love for us to win them all,” Lamar told the New York Times about the nine prizes he had been nominated for that year. “Because we deserve that.”
Truth is, he deserved better. Monday was a fine start.
]]>Last year, Kamaiyah released her debut mixtape A Good Night in the Ghetto, which Pitchfork named the No. 47 Album of 2016. Revisit our Rising feature “Supa Dupa Fly: Kamaiyah Bosses Up.”
XXXTentacion’s career has been shrouded in scandal. He has two upcoming court dates in Miami-Dade County, where he is charged with aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation, false imprisonment, and witness-tampering. This past March, he was released from jail after nearly six months when he pleaded no contest to charges of armed home invasion robbery and aggravated battery with a firearm. He is currently serving six years of probation. At a recent concert in San Diego, he was knocked out on stage. A brawl then broke out, which led to one person getting stabbed.
For More Visit: www.xxl.com
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