The XXL Freshman 2024 Class has been revealed! The magazine’s yearly ranking of emerging Hip-Hop stars, has been released almost every year since 2008.
This year, the list includes a diverse group of proven hitmakers, all with several big looks already. The XXL Freshman 2024 class includes BigXthaPlug, That Mexican OT, Lay Bankz, BossMan Dlow, Rich Amiri, Scar Lip, Hunxho, 4batz, Maiya The Don, Cash Cobain, and Skilla Baby.
Meet The XXL Freshman 2024 Heavy Hitters!
Cash Cobain
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Bronx born and raised, but currently residing in Queens, Cash Cobain cemented himself as a produced on the New York drill rap scene before making people take notice with his unique flow. The grind quickly paid off and he was collaborating with artists like Drake, A Boogie, King Combs and Don Tolliver.
Cobain signed to Giant Music, despite rapid independent success. He recently announced that he would be supporting Ice Spice on her Y2K tour!, which kicks off this July. She also joined him on the “Fisherrr (Remix),” which they dropped back in Spring.
His biggest song at the moment is “Rump Punch.”
Lay Bankz
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After signing a record contract with Artist Partner Group (APG) in 2022, she released the singles “Left Cheek (Doo Doo Blick)”, “Na Na Na” and “Ick” the following year. The Philly native has linked up with Ciara, Journey Montana, and Jason Derulo, among others, along the way of this cover.
Back in May 2024, Lay Bankz released her debut project, After 7. A quick 3 track EP was released right before the 2024 XXL Freshman cover was revealed, aptly titled, Freshman Grad.
Rich Amiri
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Born in Boston, Massachusetts, the melodic artist has been often compared to Future for the way he attacks tracks. His biggest hit is “One Call” with 7.5M views and counting on Youtube.
Hunxho
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Linked to Keyshia Cole, as a much younger love interest, Hunxho was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. He later moved to Georgia in his adolescence and was primarily raised in East Atlanta. He is signed to 300 Entertainment.
Hunxho initially rose to fame with the song “Let’s Get It” in 2021, which spawned a remix with 21 Savage.
BossMan Dlow
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Born in Port Salerno, Florida, Bossman Dlow built a buzz similarly to many trap artists that came before him: mixtapes and prison time for living his raps. After a prison stint in 2019 he started to take music seriously, and got help from an avenue most of his trap predecessors could not: TikTok.
Formerly known as Big Za, Bossman Dlow signed with Alamo Records, helmed by Gucci Mane’s former manager, Todd Moscowitz, which was just a match made in heaven. Dlow’s career has skyrocketed since the partnership.
As of now, his biggest song is “Mr Pot Scraper” with well over 29M views on Youtube as of this writing, accumulated in just 3 months. Since he’s caught the mainstream eye he has been maintaining over 1.5M views on each video release.
That Mexican OT
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Repping Bay City, Texas, That Mexican OT has seen a meteoric rise since his breakthrough 2023 single “Johnny Dang.” The song entered the Billboard Top 100 and led him to sign with Interscope Records. The assist from Houston legend, Paul Wall was the cherry on top!
As a child he faced the hard death of his mother in 2007, who lost her life at the hands of a drunk driver.
Despite a name that sounds like its referencing his initials, the OT in his moniker actually stands for That Mexican Outta Texas! His real name is actually Virgil René Gazca.
While he’s credited as a newer artist, he’s been releasing mixtapes since around 2020 and has released a couple full length albums as well, including the March 2024 release, Texas Technician, which featured big name artists like Moneybagg Yo, DaBaby, Slim Thug, Z-Ro, Fredo Bang and more.
Maiya The Don
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Maybe the most unheralded from this group, Maiya The Don’s bars speak for themselves. She’s currently unsigned, but that hasn’t stopped her from collaborating with big name artists and making waves independently.
She was born in Brooklyn, New York, came up in the musically inspiring city where she would battle rap with her brother. Using the name Maiya The Don, she initially used TikTok to produce beauty related content. In 2022, when she had approximately 500,000 followers, she shifted to making and releasing rap music.
Her debut album, Hot Commodity was released in September 2023, spawning the smash hit “Telfy.”
Scar Lip
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Her first pop off was in 2022 with the song “Glizzy Gobbler,” which went viral on TikTok. Shortly thereafter she signed a distribution deal with Epic Records after releasing her breakout single “This is New York.” Managed by Mona Scott Young of Love & Hip-Hop fame, ScarLip may be the most well known from this list, having had support from Swizz Beatz, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss and more. She’s even featured on the Bad Boys: Ride or Die Soundtrack on a solo track.
Still, to this point, she has not even released an EP, which is somewhat surprising considering how long she has been buzzing.
Skilla Baby
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Detroit, Michigan’s very own, Skilla Baby started his music career as a teenager. His biggest song that was released last January is named “Icky Vicky” and it has 18M views on Youtube.
He probably has something to say about us calling ScarLip the most popular artist above, considering the fact that he has already collaborated with Yung Miami, French Montana, Tee Grizzley, Moneybagg Yo and more. He’s also been at it since 2019 when he first broke out. He might have had the longest road to making the list, but his latest mixtape The Coldest turned heads.
Signed to Geffen Records in 2022, Skilla Baby has been consistent ever since, releasing solo projects, and collab albums. He also recently announced a joint tour with Rob49, Vultures Eat The Most Tour.
4Batz
4Batz was born in Dallas, Texas, and his unique videos and autotune has allowed his career to skyrocket after only a few months. His biggest song at the moment is “act ii: date @ 8 (remix)” featuring Drake. Kanye West also appeared on his u made me a st4r project, which was released in May of this year.
BigXthaplug
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Best known for his songs “Texas,” and “Mmhmm,” Dallas, Texas native, BigXthaPlug is all about the independent grind. He launched his own label in 2023 named 600 Entertainment, securing distribution from UnitedMasters. It’s been up ever since!
The XXL Freshman 2024 Class cover is just the confirmation he needed.
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