Any and all fans of rap and hip-hop know to keep their ear to the ground when the chatter of who will be on the XXL Freshman cover starts to kick up. It’s always great to see the potential future big names and stars of the hip-hop community. It may be even better if you’ve been a day one fan of one of the “underground” artists and are excited to see them get their limelight. I know that was me in many instances all though for some reason or another many of these artists didn’t get the popularity boost they deserved after the magazine premiere.  So allow me to introduce you to several artists who have all the talent, passion and skill to be worldwide headliners yet somehow aren’t on the stage that they should be performing on.

The 2014 class show cased Chance, Rich Homie Quan, Vic Mensa, Kevin Gates and several others. Many names out of that list have kept the lime light on them well through into 2017, yet Jarren Benton saw no serious popularity quite like the rest of them. The Funk Volume rapper came out following his two label mates Hopsin and Dizzy Wright who made the cover in the two previous years and I (a huge funk volume fan at the time) was more than ready for him to shoot off in 2014. For those who aren’t familiar with Jarren Benton, I recommend checking out the single Skitzo Because that was the first and only song I needed to know just how talented this individual was. He brings a never ending series of creative and easily flowing bars within his music and provides a real odd and weird style and aesthetic with it. Those who grew up Tech 9 fans will be more than happy to listen to him and his aesthetically perfect album My Grandma’s Basement. The Atlanta Rapper is now 35 years old and still reflecting on his peculiar thought process in his single "Dark Roads." Highly recommend everybody gives him a listen.

Next up, off the 2015 cover there was the phenomenal Tink, who easily had the best free style out of the 2015 class. If you’re unfamiliar with her I suggest two tracks then. First, her XXL cypher freestyle followed by her her sing titled “Million." There are very few artists out there that can produce such a skillful and raw rap talent and match with such an ethereal style singing voice. She tells real love stories with her music that can make you feel like we’re finally getting back to that '90s style of R&B. Her grade-A track list includes songs like "Bonnie and Clyde," "Don’t Tell Nobody" and "Treat Me Like I’m Somebody," all of which deserve to be radio hits and should be making huge streaming numbers on Spotify. Tink was 19 when she made the cover and at age 21, she’s more than primed to display her multifaceted skilled set to the world now.

The final artist to close out this list is Grammy award nominee Anderson .Paak. Yes I know if he has been offered a Grammy then he has a sometime-type of recognition but not as much as he deserves. Out of that 2016 class came Kodak Black, Lil Yachty, Desiigner and Lil Uzi Vert. Without a second thought, I know his artistic ability in his music videos and with his style of singing he should be doing equally if not better numbers on sales and streams than the artist previously listed. The single “Come Down” has a real smooth, funky and bopping beat on top of his vocals. His music should be part of the movement to really bring soul back to the front dance with the music that really makes you want to get up and dance. The single off of the album Malibu “The Season / Carry Me” provides a laid back sensation to the way it delivers its message about faith and appreciation for his hometown.  Anderson .Paak is clearly an artist we need to hear more from.

Many artists could’ve been chosen for this list but I believe these three are truly a step or stage below of where they should be on the scale of recognition. Part of my objective with this was to put more people on to artists that I thoroughly enjoy so I hope you all have the same experiences I’ve been having with them!