Revisiting The 10 XXL Freshmen of 2010 – Their Success & Where Are They Now?

Big Sean

Big Sean’s rise to fame began around 2005 when he found out Kanye West was at a local radio station and decided to head over to freestyle for the Hip-Hop legend and pass him his demo. Two years after the encounter Sean was signed to G.O.O.D. Music.

The same year he got signed he released his debut mixtape, Finally Famous: The Mixtape. The following year he released UKNOWBIGSEAN, another step towards the big leagues and in 2010 shortly after it was announced that he would be one of the 10 XXL Freshmen of 2010, Sean released Finally Famous: The Mixtape Vol. 3. That project solidified his spot as one of the big upcoming artists in the industry featuring Drake, Tyga, Bun B, Curren$y and several other major artists.

The following year Big Sean released his first Studio album with No I.D., amptly titled, Finally Famous. The album featured three hit singles “My Last”, “Marvin & Chardonnay”, and “Dance (A$$)”. Soon thereafter he was featured on the track “Mercy” from G.O.O.D Music’s compilation album, Cruel Summer and dropped his fourth mixtape, Detroit, which he considers an album, with features from J. Cole, Juicy J, French Montana, Kendrick Lamar, Royce Da 5’9, and Tyga.

Big Sean’s second studio album, Hall of Fame was released in August 2013 producing hit singles “Guap”, “Switch Up” featuring Common, and “Beware” with Jhene Aiko and Lil Wayne. In 2014 Big Sean would sign with Roc Nation and release “Paradise”, “I Don’t Fuck With You”, and “Jit/Juke” on September 19, 2014. It was not until February 24, 2015 that Big Sean came back to hit the music industry with his his third studio album Dark Sky Paradise, which became his first No. 1 studio album on the Billboard 200.

Where Are They Now?
Still enjoying the success of last year, Sean joined Rihanna on her international Anti Tour. Earlier this year he joined longtime collaborator Jhene Aiko to release an album under their new moniker Twenty88. The self-titled album featured the single “Selfish” and a video for the song, “Out of Love”.

Big Sean’s last album, I Decided was released in February 2017.

Sean took a bit of a hiatus in the last couple years following the release of his last album and his break-up with Jhene Aiko. In the Summer of 2019, Big Sean finally released a new single titled, “Overtime” and quickly followed it up with “Single Again,” which featuring Jhene Aiko and Ty Dolla $ign.

J. Cole

J. Cole came on the scene with some impressive mixtapes featuring stunning raps and also production from the Queens living, North Carolina bred Southern emcee with a New York flow. His 2007 effort The Come Up laid the foundation while 2009’s The Warm Up truly set him apart. A deal with Roc Nation followed. Then came his Friday Night Lights mixtape which really set him apart from the competition.

Before J. Cole’s album release in 2011 for Cole World: The Sideline Story he produced his first song with Kendrick Lamar called “HiiiPoWeR” on Kendrick’s Section.80, which later would spawn more collaborations between the two such as “Forbidden Fruit” on his Born Sinner album. Also within 2011, J Cole made an appearance on Rihanna’s tour in Barbados with Trey Songz on his hit single “Can’t Get Enough” and held a consistent release of music he called Any Given Sunday producing not only audibles but videos as well.

His sophomore album Born Sinner sold 297,000 copies in it’s first week. In 2014 he released Forest Hills Drive, an ode to his childhood block. It’s the first album to ever go platinum without a featured artist on it.

He followed that album up with 4 Your Eyez Only, which also had no features and KOD in 2018, which features the hit singles, “ATM” and “Kevin’s Heart.”

Where Are They Now?
Easily one of Hip-Hop’s top 3 artists right now, everything Cole touches seems to work. A rumored collaboration album with Kendrick Lamar may cement his career as a Hip-Hop legend and make the pair the undisputed kings of Rap, but it’s to be seen if the project ever sees the light of day. Recently he’s been focusing on his label, Dreamville Records and building the roster, another boss move that separates him from the other people on this XXL Freshman 10 cover.

Most recently J.Cole’s Dreamville label released Revenge of the Dreamers III. The album went number one when it was released.

J.Cole’s forthcoming album, his 6th, titled, The Fall Off, is scheduled to be released in the Fall of 2019. More details will be unveiled soon.

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