freshman Archives - RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture

New Music: WELL$ – “Vices We All Share”

RESPECT. Staff — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 15:59:58 +0000

There’s a corp of talented emcees hailing from the state of North Carolina and Charlotte’s WELL$ is one of the leaders. Vying for the 10th spot on this year’s XXL Freshmen Cover, the 19-year-old delivers a new track that certainly will convince anyone that doesn’t think he is deserving of the nomination. Produced by the trio of PGMW, Lucho, and Alex Lomami, “Vices We All Share” spotlights the budding emcee’s sharp lyricism and vicious flow, which he utilizes to reflect on a week-long binge. Vulnerable and filled with emotion, this promotional cut should bring in a few new fans.

Stream and download “Vices We All Share” below.

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Video: Troy Ave XXL Freshman Freestyle

RESPECT. Staff — Tue, 20 May 2014 14:51:49 +0000

Another day, another freestyle. Decked out in gold chains, a bulletproof vest, BSB skully and a handful of money, Troy Ave represents for New York in his XXL Freshman Freestyle. Troy Ave has been working hard to make a name for himself and put New York back on the map. Get into his freestyle below.

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A Statistical Breakdown of XXL’s Freshman Cover

RESPECT. Staff — Thu, 08 May 2014 19:46:16 +0000

How does gracing XXL’s Freshman cover change the trajectory of an artist’s career? The Village Voice broke it down by the numbers. As it turns out, getting the look doesn’t guarantee getting an album out any time soon. There is only a 26% chance of an artist capitalizing and dropping an album in the same calendar year (Macklemore and Future being among the few who did). Furthermore, though the term “superstar” is quite objective, the Voice points out that there’s only a 13% chance of the freshmen hitting it big. Drake and Nicki Minaj famously turned down the cover and went on to reach huge heights.

As far as age goes, there’s a 26% chance all the freshmen are at least 30 years of age. This is once again true on the 2014 cover,with the likes of Jon Connor and Jarren Benton.

Also, if you’re a white rapper, good luck getting on the cover. Less than 10% of all “students” to ever be on the magazine were white, and the bulk of that came with the 2012 cover featuring MGK, Iggy Azalea, and Macklemore. Ironically enough, there’s a 43% chance of a white rapper featured on the cover actually blowing up. Though that percentage is obviously skewed given the fact that there have been significantly less white artists than black in the cover’s history, it’s nevertheless staggering.

You can check out the full numerical breakdowns over at the Village Voice now.

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