On Wednesday, XXL unveiled the 2021 Freshman Class, a self-proclaimed "Out of this World" group that included Pooh Shiesty, Coi Leray, 42 Dugg, Rubi Rose, DDG, Blxst, Flo Milli, Lakeyah, Murray, Iann Dior, and Toosii. While the cover didn't exactly break the internet, it did prompt plenty of hilarious, confused, and disappointed reactions on Twitter.
So far, many Hip-Hop fans have been critical of the artists featured on the latest XXL Freshman Cover, and several others have also gone the "what if?" route and argued that other artists deserved to make the cut this year. One of the names that were brought up in the discussion was King Von, who definitely would have been a strong candidate for the Freshman Cover had he not been tragically killed in Atlanta last November.
To some people — like rising artist Fredo Bang — Von's passing shouldn't have prevented him from making the 2021 XXL Freshman list. After a quick post-and-delete in which he claimed artists had resorted to paying for XXL spots, the "Top" rapper hit Twitter again to give his props to the late King Von.
"Its More Crazy that @KingVonFrmdaWic anit make the list & had one of the biggest albums last year," Fredo Bang says.
In the past, we've seen artists like Chief Keef get an honorary spot due to being in jail, but XXL has yet to give a posthumous Freshman title to an artist, regardless if they were deserving of the spot prior to their passing. After the untimely deaths of Pop Smoke and King Von, do you think that XXL should start giving posthumous Freshman nods?