Hey guys, CDTVProductions here, and today we are gonna be Ranking the XXL freestyles
From Worst to Best, aka just begging for a copyright claim (because fair use doesn’t
exist apparently). But regardless, I’m gonna do it. I’ll also be doing this for the cyphers
after they drop in mid July, so stay tuned for that. So let’s enter opinion city, this
is CDTVProductions, you can follow me on Instagram under that name, and let’s rank the 2018
XXL Freestyles From Worst to Best.
9 - Lil Pump
This one was just an easy choice, and we all know why Pump is last. He did the laziest
thing he possibly could do, and just rapped the second verse of his most recent song,
titled ESSKEETIT. Not only that, but he rapped a less clear and more mumbled version of that
verse. Seriously, he stumbles quite a bit here. And we know that he recorded ESSKETIT
before the freestyles as the song dropped April 13th, whereas the freestyles are recorded
late April. I think it’s fair to bring this up, as there’s other artists on the Freshman
list who actually put work in and come up with a whole new verse purely for the freestyles.
It just comes across like they put no effort in. I thought Pump’s freestyle would at
least be funny and an original verse, but instead it was just kinda frustrating to watch.
8 - BlocBoy JB
So the main thing a lot of people took away from this freestyle is the fact that JB says
“double XL” in quite a funny way. But other than that, it really was just an incredibly
standard verse, nothing really stood out and it just wasn’t that entertaining to listen
to. The only bar I kinda enjoyed was “pull up on yo block like Bowser, spitting all this
fire”. Cause y’know Mario has those lil blocks, and Bowser literally spits fire. I
know, it’s not amazing but it’s my favourite bar on here. Everything else he says on here
isn’t original at all though, and that’s another reason why it’s ranked lower. Bars
about Uncle Ruckus not liking black people? It’s been done before a million times. A
bar about your dick being a pacifier cause it gets licked? Even KSI has used that bar.
Everything here was lacking inspiration to me, and I just don’t think it was that great.
7 - Smokepurpp
So as I was expecting with Purpp, there really was not much in the way of lyrical substance,
this is pretty much the most standard thing he could’ve rapped. The only good thing
about his freestyle was the flow honestly. It’s just nothing to write home about in
general. There’s also some parts where it obviously cuts here which is kind of annoying,
cause I’m pretty sure these are usually one take right? I don’t know if he forgot
his verse or if there was something he said that they had to cut, but it was just weird
to see. So yeah, my main takeaways from this were literally good flow, weird edits.
6 - Stefflon Don
T I N G. She says “ting” a lot. For real though, Stefflon did a fairly nice job here.
And call me crazy, but I think her being a female artist from the UK instantly makes
here freestyle sound unique, cause obviously that type of voice is not gonna sound the
same as everyone else’s. I don’t think I’d say there was anything super special
about the lyrical content or anything, but I did like her assertive and confident delivery.
She does use some Jamaican slang, which is always something that sounds so awkward to
me in a British accent, but nothing stood out to me as particularly bad about this one.
It was just fine in my opinion.
5 - Trippie Redd
People might not agree with this one, but if we’re being fair he has to be lower.
Just like Pump, Trippie kinda rapped a fair few bars we’ve already heard from him, and
as I’ve said, I don’t like that. A chunk of its from his Tim Westwood freestyle. By
the way, I should point out I don’t have an issue with writing them, because for me
Freestyles definitely can be written. But, what Trippie is spitting here is obviously
better than Pump, and he only recycles around 10 bars. The rest are from Can You Rap Like
Me 2, But that hasn’t even been released yet so it’s nowhere near as bad as Pump.
Overall it’s definitely a fairly nice freestyle, the rhyme scheme is a bit simple, but there’s
some decent wordplay. It’s mainly the recycling that scores it lower.
4 - YBN Nahmir
Now listening to Nahmir always confuses me, because people say he really hasn’t lived
the stuff he raps about, but Nahmir himself always says he keeps it real. I haven’t
really seen true evidence for either side so let me know what you think about in the
comments. But that aside, if what he’s saying is true here then it’s pretty hard hitting.
He covers subjects like struggling when he was younger (even though he had enough money
for an Xbox, GTA and an Elgato), but also covers stuff which I’m pretty sure is real
such as losing a close friend when he was younger. It was nice to see Nahmir actually
come in with some emotion, because not many other people did that on here, there wasn’t
many freestyles about personal experiences and struggles. And of course, there’s always
Nahmir’s unique voice which sounds great. This one was pretty nice.
3 - Ski Mask the Slump God
This freestyle was exactly what you would expect from Ski, but that’s not really a
bad thing. His excellent flowing skills are showcased really well on here, and his signature
vocal deliveries are present too. Yet again, this is from an unreleased song, so that does
slightly bring down my enjoyment of it, but the song hasn’t been publicly released yet
so that doesn’t bother me a whole lot. There’s a couple bars that he has already said before
on here, and I really didn’t need to hear for a second time that his weed smells like
a fart, but for the most part the lyrics are entertaining and Ski has packed his bars full
of pop culture references as he tends to do. I don’t know if I’d say it was amazing,
but out of what we got it’s definitely one of my top freestyles. Also final thing; no
one should ever, ever say XD Rawr in a rap song under any context. Fuck me, I got chills
just saying that.
2 - Wifisfuneral
So I’m sure you’re wondering why I put WiFi so high up, as his verse is also from
a song he made called Been 2 Hell & Back, and I put Pump so low for that particular
reason. But there’s one major difference here. WiFi said he wrote this verse for the
freestyle, and later included it in Been 2 Hell & Back, so I’m gonna give him the benefit
of the doubt and take his word for it. Wifi shows off his pretty fluid flow on this verse,
I really like how he can just pick up the pace for a bar or two, and immediately slow
it down right after. He does have a pretty damn nice flow. Lyrically it has a bit of
content too. It’s weird, because for a lot of these freestyles I don’t have a whole
lot to say, I feel like there’s only one that was amazing and we’re just about to
get to that, but I do think Wifi did a good job with this one.
1 - J.I.D
There honestly was no competition, JID is in first and by a huge margin. That’s not
to disrespect anyone else on the list, but JID clearly put the most effort in. I think
he really showcased here why he should be acknowledged, and I hope this freestyle turned
a lot of heads towards his music. A few people have complained about his voice, and if that’s
how they feel, that’s perfectly fine. But you can’t deny that lyrically, no one else
here held a candle to JID. I mean look at how much wordplay and meaning he crams into
just 5 or so bars here. Then there’s the beautiful 9 to 5 line. Top this all off with
the fact that he switches flows like a motherfucker on here, and it keeps it exciting the whole
way through. I feel like one specific part of his fast rapping flow was a bit messy,
specifically when he said “don’t got the juice like you say you do”. I don’t know
if it’s just me, but that particular line sounded like he stumbled a bit. But yeah,
I’m criticising that because there’s honestly not much else to criticise here. Hell of a
great verse, and undeniably the best one from
the 2018 class.
(Outro)