Meet The 2010 XXL Freshmen: “A New Breed Of Hustlers”

Due to his classic hip hop style, flow, and lyrical content, Fashawn has received a number of comparisons to a young Nasir Jones. These comparisons became even more rampant after the Fresno California native released his debut album, Boy Meets World, which featured album artwork similar to Nas’ Illmatic.

The success of Boy Meets World helped Fashawn grace the cover of XXL Magazine this spring as one of 2010’s artists to watch. Most recently, he re-worked Nas’ classic Illmatic, giving it a West Coast feel in Ode To Illmatic.

After being kicked out of college and discharged from the military, Freddie Gibbs found his home in gangsta rap. The Gary, Indiana native uses his lyrics to vividly portray stories of his home town's crime infested streets. This talent was quickly noticed by Interscope, who signed Gibbs to a record deal within his first year of rapping. Despite showing him early love, Interscope kept Freddie Gibbs' music shelved for years.

Now that Freddie Gibbs has been released from that contract, he's already dropped two of 2009's best mixtapes in The Miseducation of Freddie Gibbs and Midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuisk and is prepping for 2010's Str8 Killa, No Filla release. It's only a matter of time before the labels come knocking on Gibbs' door.

After hearing J.Cole’s self-produced track, “Lights Please,” Jay-z signed the North Carolina artist to his Roc Nation label. This record deal put a lot of attention on the young emcee, who quickly released one of 2009’s best projects in The Warm Up mixtape. Now, unlike a number of popular southern hip hop artists who release material regularly to stay relevant, J.Cole has managed to keep his buzz alive for a little over a year since releasing that tape. His impressive lyricism even landed him a guest spot on Jay-z’s The Blueprint 3 album, opening the door to nation-wide exposure. J.Cole’s debut album is set to be released in late 2010.

Nipsey’s music is often a reflection of his surrounding environment, as he gives us a view into the harsh realities of the LA street life. Before his hip hop career, Nipsey was involved with South Central's Rolling Sixties Crips, and even owned his own clothing store.

Nipsey Hussle's motto of “All Money In, No Money Out,” stresses the labor, regardless of the fruits of one’s labor. This hustle mentality coupled with an impressive amount of co-signs and comparisons to fellow L.A. emcee Snoop Dogg, has brought Nipsey's music to the public eye.

Pill’s music is refreshing, as he paints a portrait of the streets in a very natural and real way, effectively shaming all the artists who pretend to be from his part of town. The XXL Magazine Freshman turned heads with his debut video for "Trap Goin' Ham," directed by Motion Family, as it graphically portrayed the poverty taking place in Pink City, five minutes away from a police precinct and seven minutes away from the state capital.

So far all of Pill's releases have been named after the various locations in which he grew up. 4180: The Prescription refers back to the Kimberly Court Projects on 4180 Cant Street and 4075: The Refill refers to the address of Pill’s aunt’s house. His next release, hosted by DJ Drama, should be a major turning point in his career as he's sure to be exposed to a wide fan base. Gangsta Grillz 1140: The Overdose is set to drop on June 1st.

Despite having a smash single in "Say Yeah," Wiz Khalifa spent 2 years sitting on the shelf at Warner Bros. Records. However, after leaving his major label situation during the summer of 2009, the XXL Freshman’s career really started to take off.

Due to an impressive amount of grass roots marketing, orchestrated by his current management team at Rostrum Records, Wiz's most recent project, Kush and Orange Juice, became a trending topic on Twitter and the talk of major music publications upon its release. Wiz Khalifa's once hard-to-pronounce name is now becoming more common place in hip hop discussions.

On July 30th, Wiz announced that he signed a record deal with Atlantic Records.