XXL released its first of the annual cyphers from its Freshman Class today, and it's going to be hard for any of the other artists from this year's list to top this one. XXL paired up two of the most promising rappers from their list to rap together, J.I.D. and Ski Mask the Slump God, who unsurprisingly had the two best freestyles out of the 9 artists they selected.
J.I.D. raps like he has something to prove here, and if this is your first time hearing the Atlanta artist you are sure to be hooked. There are very few in hip-hop today that can rap like he can, and the amount of words he fits in his minute and rhymes together is just amazing. It really has everything – dizzying wordplay, meaningful content, clever punchlines, and a captivating voice to tie it all together. When Ski Mask the Slump God comes in after him, he decides to cut the beat and rap acapella. While his flows are fun as always, it would've been cool to hear him adapt them to the beat, and it is hard for him to follow-up after J.I.D. laid down one of the best verses in XXL cypher history.
J.I.D. is gearing up to release DiCaprio 2, following his spectacular album last year that landed in our top 5 Top 20 Hip-hop/R&B Albums of 2017. Ski Mask released a new mixtape on SoundCloud a couple months ago and continues to give fans new music. Look out for both of these to continue to grow this year and have a huge 2019. Enjoy!