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Video: 2012 XXL Freshmen Cypher

Posted on March 20th, 2012
by
Karen


The cypher may be one of the most pure ways to judge an emcee. With nothing but a simple beat playing in accompaniment and your vocals turned all the way up, there’s nowhere to hide. It’s just you and your lyrics out there, bobbing and weaving.

The annual XXL Freshmen cover doesn’t quite generate the same kind of buzz it once did in its heyday. 2009 was the last year it seems the internets agreed on its legitimacy, when Wale, B.o.B., Asher Roth and others adorned its cover. But its a sacred tradition, and XXL has a duty to keep churning these covers out, if nothing more than to be fodder for the hip-hop masses. But the following cyphers featuring the emcees separates the soon to be the stars from the middle of the pack rappers, and this year’s edition is no different. Hopsin, MGK and Danny Brown are at their best, making the pack easy to separate. MGK (with his spit fire rhymes), Danny Brown (with his high pitched bravado) and Hopsin (with his ghoulish rhyme schemes) steal the show here, while Roscoe Dash and Future’s verses leave you wondering what they are doing on the same stage in the first place.

These covers will keep coming out, and the internet will continue to voice its opinions. But there’s nowhere to run in the cypher.

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