Ten Years On: How the 2016 XXL Freshman Class Still Shapes Hip‑Hop

It is telling that a decade later we still talk about a single magazine cover as a cultural turning point. XXL‘s 2016 Freshman Class did more than break careers — it announced a new, malleable sound and look for mainstream rap, and XXL is spending the summer mapping that aftershock.

Ten years later, the new wave that changed hip-hop is still making its mark on the culture. The 2016 XXL Freshman Class stands as one of the most influential groups of artists ever assembled, marking a pivotal moment in rap’s evolution.

To mark the 10th anniversary, XXL has partnered with Rémy Martin to roll out a slate of archival and new material: a documentary on the class’ cultural influence, a series of videos with DJ Drama interviewing members about the cover’s impact and legacy, and a continuously updated landing page that will collect the programming over the next two months.

That programming is intentionally retrospective, but it isn’t inert. The Rémy Martin-powered anniversary experience is framed as an invitation to revisit the class that helped reshape modern hip-hop, to relive career-defining moments, and to trace lines from 2016’s aesthetics and sound to the streaming-era rap we hear now.

Who was in the class

The list reads now like a who’s who of the last decade: Lil Uzi Vert, 21 Savage, Kodak Black, Lil Yachty, Denzel Curry, G Herbo, Anderson .Paak, Lil Dicky, Dave East and Desiigner. Each brought a distinct voice and set of priorities — from Uzi and Kodak’s era-defining singles to Anderson .Paak’s genre-hopping musicianship — and collectively they signaled a broadening of what rap could be.

Elsewhere in XXL’s rollout, DJ Drama’s interviews will try to parse that moment with the people who lived it, on camera. The magazine says those conversations will look at the cover’s impact and the artists’ lasting legacies — a natural next step after a decade of shifting tides.

Until-now outcomes

In ten years the members have amassed the sort of résumé that makes the word legacy feel earned: Billboard No. 1s, platinum and diamond plaques, Grammy wins, sold-out world tours and cultural moments that outlived their original charts. 21 Savage, for example, transformed into one of rap’s most respected street voices and earned a Grammy. Anderson .Paak went from frequent collaborator to Grammy-winning superstar and one-half of Silk Sonic with Bruno Mars.

Other trajectories are more idiosyncratic. Lil Uzi Vert and Kodak Black supplied the decade with anthems and fervent fanbases; Lil Yachty pivoted into a broader creative and commercial persona; Denzel Curry advanced his reputation for sharp, lyric-forward records; G Herbo translated drill-rooted urgency into hard-hitting albums; Dave East balanced street rap with forays into acting; Desiigner scored one of the decade’s biggest hits and experimented with his sound; and Lil Dicky built an unconventional lane that bridged music, comedy and television.

Those bullet points read like milestones, but they also point back to something less quantifiable: a shift in mainstream taste. The 2016 class landed as streaming upended the industry and audiences rewarded individuality as much as conformity. That openness created space for the disparate careers on display now.

XXL will keep adding pieces to the anniversary hub over the coming weeks, collecting video conversations and the new documentary that aims to look beyond the hype and toward cultural influence. For anyone tracing rap’s recent evolution, the project is a tidy reminder that a single issue can sometimes do more than report a moment — it can announce one.

This editorial is presented by Rémy Martin.