XXL’s Freshman 11…my thoughts and suggestions for you!

Don’t break your keyboards kido’s. So, XXL announced their oh so important Freshman list of new rappers to check for a couple days ago…and I hear the ‘nets going ape shit. Before you break your keyboard because emcee backpack haver didn’t make the list…or, YOU didn’t make the list, you have to consider a few things.

1. This is supposed to be people to check for due to the chance they’ll be making moves- This isn’t XXL saying these are the rappers making the best music. These are the rappers they think are making the best/most moves. If you are sitting at home and spitting “hot fire” to yourself…or, you and all 4 of your friends downloaded some cats mixtape 10 times, bringing his total downloads to 53…don’t expect you or YOUR favorite new artist to make this list.

2. This is done to get you to talk- Someone I respect highly in this media shit once said “people like lists”..and this is true. My view of why people like lists is they like to see their favorites listed, complain about the order of the list, or complain about their favorites not making the list. All of these three reasons makes people talk, creates buzz, and draws attention to those making the list. Which is exactly what XXL wants.

What to do if you favorite new artists didn’t make the list

Ummm….stop bitching and support your favorite new artist even more. I cant’ understand why YG, Fred the Godson, or Lil Twist made the list over Dom Kennedy. What did they release last year? However, instead of repeatedly whining over twitter while tagging Dom in tweets begging for attention, (that’s so homo) I’ll continue to support the projects he drops…and show up when he does shows. Nothing more you can do, so stop being so damn emo.

What to do if you didn’t make the list

Get off your ass, and grind. If nobody is hearing your music…give it away, get your cities support. Get support from the blogs. Hassle everyone until they give you some buzz. Work on your craft…get better. If you don’t feel like doing that…you can always pay off/suck off XXL staff. I’m sure that’s worked before…I mean, are we truthfully expected to believe the likes of  Khia or Ke$ha got their media coverage any other way?