Even with the XXL Freshmen Cyphers providing a place for each year’s honorees to flex and compete against their peers for fans’ attention and respect, the atmosphere is still designed for the rappers to have fun showing off. That’s why the competition can still be pretty friendly, as seen in the latest round of the 2019 Cyphers featuring Blueface, Rico Nasty, and YBN Cordae, which you can watch above.
Notably, the three MCs seem to get along pretty well despite the aggressive bars and punchlines, with Blueface and Cordae teaming up to hype up Rico’s high-velocity verse at the beginning of the video, even “hitting the whoa” in the background as she tears through her rhymes at a mile a minute. When YBN’s turn comes up, DJ Scheme switches up the beat to better accommodate his more measure rhyme pace, while Blueface can’t help but throw in a few emphatic “oohs” and ad-libs as Cordae chews through his raps.
Of course, the rapper everyone seems to be anticipating is Blueface, who’s joked in the past about being the “Best Lyricist” in hip-hop. And while his bars are a lot more simple than Cordae’s or Rico’s, he makes up for it with hilarious punchlines that even elicit a stank face from Cordae at the comparison of his ex’s saltiness and Lucas, the lime salt candy that got banned in the US. Additionally, his relaxed pace proves once and for all that Blue actually can rap to the beat when he wants to, which should quiet some of his more vociferous critics.
After a previous Cypher session that included DaBaby, Lil Mosey, Megan Thee Stallion, and YK Osiris, the remaining rappers who have yet to spit are Comethazine, Gunna, Roddy Ricch, and Tierra Whack.
Rico Nasty and YBN Cordae are Warner Music artists. .
