The 2022 XXL Freshman Cypher has arrived. The first round consists of Doechii, SoFaygo, KayCyy, and Saucy Santana, with a beat produced by Wheezy. Obviously, your mileage may vary, but the clear standout here is Saucy Santana, who approaches this year’s Cypher like he has something to prove, delivering a rapid-fire verse with a hand on his hip like he’s already tired of the inevitable Twitter comments.
Members of this year’s class included the above-mentioned names, as well as Babyface Ray, Babytron, Big30, Big Scarr, Cochise, Kali, KenTheMan, and Nardo Wick. It’ll be interesting to see how this group is divided up between the next two potential Cypher videos. Will the Detroiters Babytron and Babyface Ray be split up? What about the two Memphis upstarts, Big30 and Big Scarr? Meanwhile, standouts in the standalone freestyles included Doechii, Saucy Santana, and Nardo Wick, so that last name will certainly be one to watch out for when he shows off his skills alongside his classmates.
2022’s Freshmen have had a standout year so far, with Doechii delivering an explosive performance of her songs “Crazy” and “Persuasive” at the 2022 BET Awards and the Danny Brown-cosigned Saucy Santana securing a Beyonce sample on his song of the summer contender, “Booty.”
Watch the first 2022 XXL Freshman Cypher above.
