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13 year old Brooklyn rising star Lil Kye releases “Take That Chance”. The song and music video is a tribute to his late mom rest In peace. Follow Lil Kye on social media for more music & visuals.

When the rising rap talent of the mid-2000s—from Lupe Fiasco to Plies to Papoose—graced the 2007 cover of XXL Magazine, no one foresaw the “Leaders of the New School” tagline evolving into one of hip-hop’s most important institutions. Yet that was the foundation from which XXL‘s annual tradition, the Freshman Class, was built. Sixteen years and 16 Freshman magazine covers later, XXL has knighted plenty of promising rookies poised to become staples of the culture, word to Vince.

At this point, you can set your watch to it. Every year in June, XXL unveils a new class of hip-hop neophytes that we’ve stamped as names you need to know (plus, one fan-voted pick per year). Right now, the 10th spot is being voted on for the 2024 XXL Freshman Class.

While celebrating hip-hop’s future, it’s only natural to dwell on the past to look at how far the franchise has come and which Freshman covers predate the latest. The 2009 cover is literally stacked, as the artists are divided into three dope ensemble shots laid atop each other to open the mag. In 2011, the class theme went literal, with the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Mac Miller portrayed in a school setting. By 2013, classes were being compared to those of the past (we wondered aloud and on the cover line if Travis Scott, ScHoolboy Q and Logic‘s class was G.O.A.T. level). Chance The Rapper sported overalls with no shirt in 2014. The 2016 and 2017 classes were color coordinated, with the former crew making like a Diddy all-white party and the latter artists rocking all-black on a set drenched in red.

In 2020, the likes of Polo G, Rod Wave, NLE Choppa, Lil Tjay and Mulatto appeared on the cover. Out-of-this-world artists for the 2021 XXL Freshman Class included 42 Dugg, Coi Leray, Pooh Shiesty, Flo Milli and Rubi Rose, among others. For 2022, Nardo Wick, Doechii, Saucy Santana, Babyface Ray and SoFaygo were a few of the rappers who broke the mold. The 2023 class was comprised of spitters like GloRilla, Central Cee, Finesse2Tymes and 10th spot winner DC The Don, to name a few. Sticking to the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” photographer Travis Shinn, who’s been the Freshman Class photographer for years now, hooked up the flicks for ever class.

Take a look at all of the XXL Freshman covers over the years below.

See Every XXL Freshman Class Over the Years

Kanye West is undeniably one of the most influential musicians ever, but after claiming to have invented every style of music, even some of his rap peers have become skeptical.

Ye Claims He Invented Every Style of Music

On March 15, Ye and Ty Dolla $ign sat down for an interview with radio host Big Boy to discuss their new Vultures 1 album. At one point, Ye stated that every style of music from the last two decades was created by him.

“I done invented every style of music of the past 20 years,” Kanye boasted below. “I created Weeknd genre, [Travis Scott], Drake. I’ma go ahead and say it, with all love, Future and [Young] Thug also because the Auto-Tune album, 808s [and Heartbreak].”

The comments inevitably led to a broader conversation online about Kanye’s wide-ranging influence on music. While his impact is undeniable, a few people took issue with a braggadocious flex as big as this.

“NOT ALL GENRES NOT EVERY STYLE,” Boosie Badazz argued on X, formerly known as Twitter, on March 16. “NOT BOOSIE MUSIC.”

Additionally, Ye’s Kids See Ghost collaborator Kid Cudi cryptically pushed back at his colleague’s assertion, citing a Wikipedia entry in which Ye said Cudder inspired the sound of his 808s & Heartbreak.

Read More: Kanye West Says Ice Spice’s Team Won’t Clear Verse for “New Body”

Did Kanye West Invent Music Styles?

So the question remains: Did Kanye West invent every musical style? Online, fans began debating Ye’s influence on musical “genres”—but Ye never said genre. On a literal level, the answer is obviously, no. Kanye did not invent dubstep, Afrobeats, drill, Latin trap and any number of genres that have popped up since he stepped onto the scene 20 years ago. However, he did change rap’s relationship to commercial music as a whole.

Ye’s 2004 debut album The College Dropout shifted hip-hop production towards a choppier, more sample-based sound that would later go on to be the norm in rap. He also became known for his “Chipmunk Soul” approach of pitching everything up, a technique that would become tried-and-true for rappers like Drake, J. Cole and Chance The Rapper. One year later, on Late Registration, Ye’s experimentation with R&B and G-Funk then changed rap’s accessibility to the Billboard charts, as “Gold Digger” dominated the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 10 consecutive weeks.

By 2007, Ye sought to close the gap between his commercial sound and “stadium status,” as he later flexed on Graduation‘s “Big Brother.” His flips of Daft Punk on “Stronger,” and enlisting certified pop stars like Coldplay’s Chris Martin on “Homecoming” closed that gap easily. The EDM underbelly of Graduation would go on to shape the sound of popular music and inspire a slew of other artists to include more electronic music in their work.

From Childish Gambino and Wale to The Weeknd, the list of inspired singers and songwriters just from those first three albums alone could go on and on. Not to mention, Ye’s beloved magnum opus My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was still a good three years away, and Yeezus’ boundary-breaking industrial rock dabblings hadn’t hit the airwaves yet.

But Ye was right in honing in on 808s & Heartbreak in his Big Boy interview, his somber auto-tuned pop album that took everyone by surprise in 2008. While auto-tune up until that point had mostly been used as a tool to create party music, a la T-Pain, Ye used the alterations in his voice to tap into his grief. It’s hard to name one rapper today who doesn’t at some point rely on auto-tune to croon to a distant lover, or reflect on their trauma.

Yes, Ye really is one of the most important musicians in human history, and his molding of popular music, (and possibly even gospel music with Jesus Is King in 2019), is undisputed. With that being said, it’s way cooler to just let history speak for itself, and it seems reductive to put all that praise on himself considering artists like Travis Scott, Daft Punk and Kid Cudi worked so closely with him to make some of his best work. Overall though, this all just makes it harder to watch Ye’s anti-Semitic and racist antics dilute his legacy.

Read More: Kanye West Sues YesJulz for $8 Million

Watch Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s interview with Big Boy below.

Watch Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s Interview

See 50 of the Greatest Hip-Hop Album Covers