Xxl magazine selected its 2025 freshman class, picking 12 rising stars from a pool of 68 candidates This marks the 18th year of the magazine's annual spotlight on new rap talent At the front of this year's pack stand ray vaughn, gelo, and samara cyn The list includes chicago's babychiefdoit, who, at just 17, stands as the youngest pick on. Per xxl, the eligible pool of rappers for their annual freshman class included 68 people They selected 12 of those artists
Xxl looks back at every cover in the xxl freshman franchise, which launched in 2007. This xxl freshman class is headlined by newly turned rapper gelo (liangelo ball), ray vaughn of tde, and ian based in dallas.
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