XXL has been gathering talented young rap artists together for their yearly Freshman Class for well over a decade now. The artists they pick have the chance to show off their skills and personality in a variety of different events. The most well-known and highly anticipated of the bunch are always the freestyles and cyphers. For the latter groups of rappers are put together to flex their skills over the same beat, most famously done in the 2016 Cypher featuring Denzel Curry, Lil Yachty, Lil Uzi Vert, 21 Savage, and Kodak Black.
But for the freestyle portion, artists are left all on their own with no beat to show off their skills. That's exactly what Ty Dolla $ign did in 2014 with his now notorious freestyle. He attempted to translate his singing abilities and tendency to get hot and heavy into a freestyle. The hilariously raunchy results have caused it to become a commonly referenced meme among fans. That's why it's so funny that Steve Lacy, who must be a big fan himself, recently recreated the hilarious video. Lacy does a pretty great job at capturing both the mannerisms and vocalizations of Ty in the original video, which had fans absolutely cracking up. Check out both videos side by side below.
Steve Lacy Recreating Ty Dolla $ign Freestyle
Steve Lacy has been basically silent musically since 2022. That's when he released his second studio album Gemini Rights. The project spawned Lacy's biggest hit to date, "Bad Habits." The song became a slow-burning smash success that eventually climbed all the way up to number 1 on the Hot 100. The track currently sits with over 1 billion streams just on Spotify alone.
What do you think of Ty Dolla $ign's iconically awkward 2014 XXL Freshman Freestyle? Do you think Steve Lacy did a good job at capturing what makes it so fascinating and hilarious to fans? Let us know in the comment section below.
[Via]