From the very first Freshman class in 2007 to this 12 months’s 18th anniversary, each artist inducted during the last decade-and-a-half shares one factor in frequent: this milestone second of their careers helped function a catalyst for his or her stardom.

During the last 18 years, XXL has proudly and confidently assumed the duty of predicting the subsequent rap stars to take over hip-hop. Each day, new artists burst onto the scene with the makings of the subsequent J. Cole or Kendrick Lamar, two former XXL Freshmen from the 2010 and 2011 lessons, respectively. Yearly, a bunch of artists, whether or not it’s 10, 11 or 12 (and one 12 months even 9), grace the quilt after showcasing the qualities of a hitmaker, turning into a long-standing artist, possessing respectable rapping abilities and extra. No two artists are the identical. Since 2007, XXL has highlighted and supplied a platform for these buzzing skills, who ultimately grow to be hip-hop figures in their very own proper.

The query of what makes a Freshman is commonly requested, however when assessing the 194 artists who proudly maintain the coveted title, every rhymer or rap-adjacent artist affords one thing totally different and distinctive to themselves, in addition to the music neighborhood as a complete. And if you happen to handpicked a high quality out of a hat, whether or not it is cerebral lyricism, dynamism, grit, eclectic bars after which some, there’s a person within the Freshman household that provides simply that, after which some.

For the 18th anniversary of Freshman, XXL takes a glance again at what every class of artists have supplied from their induction 12 months to now.