Revisiting The ’09 XXL Freshmen 10 – Their Success & Where Are They Now?

Charles Hamilton

Harlem’s own, Charles Hamilton pursued music with an incredible tenacity leading up to his signing with Interscope Records in 2009. Constantly releasing new music, Charles figured the more music he put out the better his chances of success… and it worked. His seven figure deal with Interscope made him a sure mainstay when this XXL cover was released. Videos freestyling with Kanye West and The Game only increased the hype. Pharrell mentions and then inclusion as a member of the All City Chess Club only seemed to solidify his presence in the next generation of music.

Then his single “Brooklyn Girls” was released. A local track wasn’t going to help him win over the national mainstream audience, but it wasn’t a bad look, particularly because they quickly came with a visual. Then came the drama. A beef with Rhymefest, another beef with Soulja Boy. An announcement that he wanted to release his debut album, The Perfect Life for free. He also revealed that J Dilla would be listed as the album’s executive producer, even though Dilla had passed and the two had never worked together. Shortly thereafter Interscope Records dropped him from the label.

The Perfect Life was leaked but the project never got a proper release.

Where Are They Now?
It was revealed last year that Charles suffered from bipolar disorder and was finally getting the treatment that he needed. It put everything that happened in the past in perspective. He released a new song, “New York Raining” ft. Rita Ora, which was featured on the show Empire. Hamilton was also featured on the show’s deluxe soundtrack for season 2. He’s currently signed to Universal Republic and his next project Hamilton, Charles is set to be released early 2017. A documentary about his life is set to be released around the same time as the album. In the mean time Charles still releases lots of free music on his blog. You’d be lucky to catch him djing at a local club as well.

Asher Roth
Signed to SRC/Universal Motown Records Asher Roth had a pretty solid debut with his album Asleep In The Bread Aisle. In fact at the time with the buzz of single “I Love College” Asher looked to have the most potential among this class early on. But his second album never surfaced. He did release a free EP with producer Nottz titled, the Rawth EP, but that didn’t get much attention. Comparisons to Eminem and mixed album reviews didn’t help his cause, but it was really the fall of SRC Records that ended his mainstream run. That and the fact that he never released a hit comparable to his debut single, just made him forgettable.

Where Are They Now?
The Morrisville, PA native released his sophomore album RetroHash in 2014. It sold 6,100 copies it’s first week. His upcoming album, tentatively titled Red Hot Revival was supposed to be released a couple years ago. The first single “Laundry” was released. The project never dropped though.

Most recently Asher teamed up with Chuck Inglish of The Cool Kids to release the single, “Can’t Jump”.

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