In the past five years that XXL has been picking Freshman classes, never once has making the list been easy. This year included. Similar to 2011, the hype around the Freshmen Class has continued to grow by leaps and bounds, surprising even us with its popularity. For this class the buzz began earlier than ever, four months before the cover was even shot. And it seemed like everyone had a list. From subdued music fans to diehard rap junkies, from Twitter stalkers to industry heavies and featherweight, folks wanted their list to be the XXL list.
