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TRUTH ON BEING AN XXL FRESHMAN: “I was excited to hear the news. I’m a real strong-minded person when it comes to my religion. I’m really in tune with God. So, it was a TikTok that I saw and it was like, ‘God said that you’re going to get a call this week that’s going to change your life, and it’s going to be so much good news, and it’s a blessing.’ So, I took that in.

Two days later, I wake up to that call. It was 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. I was still asleep, and somebody kept calling me. So, I picked up the phone with both my eyes closed, answered, and my manager, Fred, was like, ‘Congratulations.’ I’m like, ‘For what?’ And he was like, ‘You made XXL.’ I was like, ‘OK, I’ll call you back when I get up.’ It just didn’t feel real until now. It feel real now that I’m in it, that I’m doing it. This is really not my time, this is all God’s timing, man. This is a blessing, so it’ll all make sense in the end.

I really used to watch the XXL Freshmen. I used to get excited for when the list would get teased, you feel me? Trying to see who would be the XXL Freshman. I saw my first video in 2016, the one with 21 Savage, Lil Yachty and all them because that’s the time that I really came up listening to music. 2015, 2016 are when I started digging into that sound. So, every year after that, I stayed in tune with XXL, and I watched. And 2020 was probably the last time I was really involved in it, really in tune. So yeah, just seeing the growth from the artist after XXL is what made me fall in love with it.

The character that’s in my music [is what makes me stand out]. Even if somebody never saw me outside of my music or never saw me, they could hear my character in my music. They could hear my personality. They could hear that I ain’t trying to be too serious because I’m not too serious of a person. I just be playing around. I just be having fun. I’m just genuine. I can only speak for myself. I’m just authentic. I’m in my own skin, you feel me?

[My favorite part of Freshman so far is] just mingling, I ain’t gon’ lie. Because a lot of the rappers, I never met before until [the shoot]. I met Lazer Dim 700. I met Loe Shimmy for the first time.

[When my fans see me on the cover of XXL magazine], I hope they just as happy as me. I feel like they’re going to be surprised, though, because I was surprised. I didn’t think I was going to be here. I’m thankful. I’m blessed. Let’s see what happens next. A chance is all somebody needs to turn nothing into something, you feel me? It’s the opportunities that you take that make you who you are.”