Ok guys before we start, I have to share some tragic news.
Soulja Boy recently unfollowed everyone on twitter after he got released from jail, and
that includes me.
I understand but deep down it hurts.
Regardless I’m gonna push through, because today I have to make a video ranking the 2019
XXL Freshman freestyles from Worst to Best in my opinion.
I’ll be taking a few factors into consideration, but the main thing I’m focusing on with
this ranking is just my overall enjoyment and engagement with these freestyles.
So with that being said, this is CDTVProductions, I’m not gonna stop harassing you about notifications
until you turn them on, and let’s get into this ranking.
N/A - Gunna
Well you’ve already royally failed at that by not even doing a XXL freestyle.
That automatically makes your spot the most forgettable one on this list, this is the
first time I’ve seen Gunna actively choose not to feature on something.
N/A - Tierra Whack
Another one?
What is the point of being on the list if you’re not gonna freestyle, i was excited
for yours Tierra and now there isn’t even one goddamn I’m gon-
N/A - Blueface
Ok let’s just get into the actual ranking, what the hell happened this year with the
freestyles...
8- YK Osiris
Will someone please tell this man why they changed??
This was the only one from 2019 that I talked about in my Worst XXL Freestyles So Far video,
so you already know it has to be at the bottom out of the people who actually did freestyles.
You do get points for actually doing one though.
This one mainly fails for me in the delivery aspect, I appreciate YK doing something not
too many people have done and singing his entire freestyle, but the whole execution
felt like he was trying way too hard.
This might sound like an odd way to describe it, but the way he was singing felt more like
he was tryna get into a girl’s bed and come off as a heartthrob than he was tryna impress
XXL viewers.
And then that goddamn snap and wink at the end like he killed it.
So uncomfortable.
Easily the worst one for me.
7 - Lil Mosey
Speaking of the Worst XXL Freestyles video I made, I saw a lot of people in the comments
say that this one should’ve been included, but honestly I don’t think Mosey’s was
quite on that level of absolutely awful.
In my opinion the worst thing about this one is just that it’s horrendously boring.
Based off of his music, he could’ve gave us at least some semblance of light melodic
rapping, but instead he goes for a monotone, almost casual talking delivery that makes
it sound like the XXL studio is the last place he wants to be.
Can you not give us some energy for like 50 seconds?
But outside of that there’s no bars that stand out as really bad and no deliveries
that make me cringe like there was with YK, so that’s why I feel this one is marginally
more bearable.
It’s certainly not good, but I don’t think it’ll go down as one of the worst ever.
6 - DaBaby
DaBaby definitely had one of the more disappointing freestyles for me, because realistically he
should be able to carry a short accapella easily with that natural likability he has
to his rapping.
But instead he went for an intimidating stone cold killer vibe with it, and personally I
just think it really sapped away what makes him a little different and entertaining.
He wasn’t quite as boring as Mosey’s, but all in all, his freestyle is hard to engage
with.
I did like some of his bars though, “mess with my people and we’ll be at your door
like a placemat” was a nice bit of wordplay and a few of the lines do sound quite intense,
but that’s all I really have to say about it.
I do wanna commend him for having the longest freestyle in a year that mostly had pretty
short ones, but having a long one doesn’t really mean anything if it’s not that captivating.
5 - Rico Nasty
Every freestyle after and including this one are ones that I do enjoy quite a bit.
Rico’s freestyle definitely had the best presentation in my opinion, she had a unique
look that accurately reflects the vibe her music gives off and she was pretty expressive
with the way she moved when she was rapping.
I know that sounds like a random point, but your freestyle is definitely gonna be better
if you look like you’re actually into what you’re rapping about, and Rico does.
That expressiveness translated through to her delivery as well, as she was one of the
few Freshmen that actually played around with her vocal delivery and switched it up a few
times.
There were a few nice lines on here, nothing that I thought was mind blowing, but they
were nice enough and it seemed like Rico put a nice bit of effort into the freestyle, and
I can definitely appreciate that.
4 - Comethazine
Yes Comethazine may have an incredibly short freestyle, and I’m sure a lot of people
would rank him lower for that, but I honestly was so entertained by it.
He made use of that 40 seconds nicely.
The song STAND from his newest project, which has no beat for the whole song, shows that
Comethazine’s voice is aggressive enough and has enough character to it to make an
accapella work, and this freestyle is the same.
And I think this does what the XXL Freestyles should do- it shows you exactly what to expect
from his music.
It’s short, to the point, focuses primarily on violence, but still comes off sort of animated
so that it’s not too dark or bleak, and he even drops his ‘bewm’ ad lib at the
end which you will hear a lot in his songs.
Then there’s that one bar about the reason for his aggression being the fact that his
friend died while he was still young and that was actually pretty impactful among the more
standard lyrics.
Sure it’s not the deepest or most bar heavy verse here, but I thoroughly enjoyed what
he did.
3 - Megan Thee Stallion
I quite enjoyed Megan’s music going into this freestyle, and I do think she gave us
a pretty solid one.
Also hers was the second to drop, so it was relieving to have someone putting some force
behind their bars after the uninteresting DaBaby freestyle which dropped first.
Her delivery was pretty strong, she let people know where she was from, and what they can
expect from a lot of her music.
And that ‘drive the boat/drive the throat’ bar was actually pretty funny, I don’t know
many other people that can twist a Kodak Black meme into a bar about riding someone’s face.
The flow to it was really slick as well, so Megan had no problem carrying this minute
long freestyle easily.
I’ve seen people hating on her ever since she started coming up but I genuinely she’s
one of the better female rappers in the mainstream, and she proved it by having one of the best
freestyles from this XXL class.
2 - YBN Cordae
So originally I felt that Meg outperformed Cordae,
but slowly over time this one has grown on me more and more.
After the initial ‘man that was shorter than I expected from Cordae’ feeling wore
off, I could really appreciate the bars and structure he put into his verse despite the
short length.
Because he definitely had the most tightly constructed verse, rather than just being
random bars placed back to back with a bit of clever wordplay throughout it which some
of these freestyles were, Cordae had each bar running nicely on to the next one to essentially
tell us that he’s motivated to continue winning, being grateful for how far he’s
come but never too comfortable with where he’s at.
It’s fairly good at being an introduction to Cordae’s music, and I enjoyed the bits
of wordplay and the references he packed into his short verse.
Now if only I could just get my twin to give the people a Lost Boy reaction...
1 - Roddy Ricch
When the list was announced I did not expect Roddy Ricch to be the one who had my favourite
freestyle out of this whole class, but he killed it.
First of all it’s one that stands out straight away from every other XXL freestyle as Roddy
made a beat out of what he had on him; his hands and his jewelry.
That simple but effective move, instantly made it the most interesting one here.
And the way he melodically rapped over it was kinda mesmerizing honestly, he managed
to make a freestyle that was legitimately catchy and could easily get stuck in your
head as if it was a full blown song.
The lyrical content was also solid, with Roddy going for a reminiscent vibe, reflecting on
what he used to do to try and get rich fast and the dangers that come with that criminal
lifestyle, and the way he sing-rapped these lyrics helped add to the emotion.
There’s not really anything that I dislike about this one, and the fact it surprised
me just made it even better.
If you watched my ranking video of the 2019 Freshman, you’ll know that I felt Roddy
was alright but he didn’t really stand out to me based off his Feed Tha Streets 2 project.
However after hearing this I’m willing to go through all his other stuff and reassess
how I feel, because I can’t get enough of his freestyle.
And that’s why there’s no doubt in my mind that Roddy Ricch had the best XXL freestyle
of 2019.
(Outro)