Spotlight

Official Street Radio Spotlight: Fashawn, Boy Meets World (Mixtapes)

Doc Holliday February 16, 2011 Doc Holliday Blog, Mixtapes 8 Comments

Of course, the artist I probably wanted to see the most tonight at Cipher Sessions West Coast Edition @ SOB’s isn’t going to be there now…fuck. I guess the 4th time will have to be the charm like with Yelawolf. Nonetheless, I will still use this opportunity to start breaking down the XXL 2010 Freshmen…Doc Holliday style…yeah muthafuckas. Still not sure about calling these shits breakdowns, but that’s what i’m going to go with for now. I really just shamelessly jacked portions of the great piece the good folks at The Smoking Section did and then added my own Jack Handey like thoughts, complete with a bunch of music. I figure why re-invent the wheel. The great piece The Smoking Section did on the entire 2010 Freshmen Class can be found here though. The funny thing is when I first heard the names of the 2010 Freshmen Class I scoffed in the direction of most of them. While I had been keeping my ears to streets and my head in the clouds or up my ass depending on the day, I knew very few of these guys and I definitely didn’t know Fashawn. It seems I wasn’t alone. As just the other day I saw a couple people commented and throwing barbs at the 2010 Class. I would have done the same thing…until I actually listened to their music…what a pesky notion. With the exception of OJ Da Juiceman the whole class is actually pretty talented in their own rite and unique, I will give XXL a mulligan for OJ…hmm sounds like a mixtape. The guy that is probably the biggest household name of the bunch, Wiz Khalifa, isn’t even the best if you ask me too. I would probably give that honor to Fashawn or Freddie Gibbs. Two of which I actually saw perform along with almost the rest of the class and if I wasn’t so impatient I probably would have met Freddie Gibbs too…I did talk to his manager though…nice little white guy…I bet he screams when he lifts weights…on some Napoleon complex type shit. I did have the great pleasure of interviewing Fashawn which can be found here and I couldn’t have been more impressive. If people actually took the time to listen to his music or any of the other members of the Freshmen Class…except OJ…they would probably be impressed as well. As I found out it’s not easy picking something as convoluted as “Freshmen”, especially when most of these guys have been rapping for years. While your man may rap and he may spit hot fire, it doesn’t mean these guys and Fashawn don’t…because they all definitely do. On to the breakdown…Doc Holliday style.

You May Have Seen Him…: Breathing life through Hip-Hop from Fresno.

Reminds You Of: Pre-Illmatic Nas…no seriously check out Ode To Illmatic.

Strengths: No one will ever accuse this Cali agent of not having skills.

Weakness: Shaking the dirt of the underground.

Best-Case Scenario: While he probably has been floating under your radar undetected, Fashawn’s placement on the list still gives hope that MCs can thrive in an industry without a glitzy club single to market. Hip-Hop’s basic essentials are beats, rhymes and life and The Phenom has plenty of each. With strides like this, the MC shall once more rule the galaxy.

Doc’s Thought’s: Ok we’re going to get right to the nitty gritty Nacho Libre style, back when I had started listening to music from some of XXL 2010 Freshman Class there would have been no question J. Cole was my favorite of the group. Some time later I have no idea, but Fashawn is near the top, especially after I had the chance to interview him…for my very first interview at that. Which can be found here. J. Cole and Wiz Khalifa may be a bit more marketable and have more crossover appeal, but I don’t give a fuck about shit like that. As far as straight spitting, content, versatility, and lyrical prowess there’s not many better in the Freshmen class or in the game period than Fashawn…and he’s still only 22…Freddie Gibbs is up there too. Fashawn may have put out one of the best albums of last year in Boy Meets World that almost no one knows about. XXL recently asked who has the chance of putting out the next classic album and Fashawn definitely has to be in consideration for that honor as well. Grizzly City 3 was a little different than I expected, but still very good. It’s a perfect representation of the versatility and skill that Fashawn possesses, he can almost make just about any type of song. I think he’s best when attacking tracks with the tenacity of a young Nas, though. However, the thing that really surprised me the most about Fashawn is his music knowledge and appreciation of music, which is nothing short of impressive. You can always tell the artists that really have studied music history from the type of music they make. It’s just something that really impressed me, especially from someone younger than me at that. Even though I know a lot about all types music these days and different types of music, that was NOT the case when I was 22. So really in another 5 years when he’s my age he could easily be on the top of the game and help bring back the days when you didn’t need a glitzy club single to blow up. He could help bring back those old days when hip-hop’s basic essentials like beats and rhymes ruled above all, because like The Smoking Section said Fashawn has plenty of those. Either way I think we’ll continue to see big things from Fashawn, Higher Learning 2 and The Ecology coming soon.