The magazine's 2011 freshman class, featuring the best emerging hip-hop talent as selected by its editors, is made up of Meek Mill, Big K.R.I.T., CyHi Da Prince, Lil Twist, Yelawolf, Fred the Godson, Mac Miller, YG, Lil B, Kendrick Lamar and Diggy Simmons.

And those that made the list represent a wide spectrum of rap talent across regions and styles. Meek Mill is from Philadelphia and recently signed to Rick Ross' Maybach Music Group, CyHi Da Prince hails from Atlanta and is signed to Def Jam (and also aligned with Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music), while Mac Miller is a white, Jewish rapper hailing from Pittsburgh. Interestingly, this is actually Yelawolf's second consecutive XXL cover: The Alabama MC appeared on the previous issue, along with Eminem and fellow Shady Records signees Joe Budden, Royce Da 5'9", Joell Ortiz and Crooked I of Slaughterhouse.

After the cover was posted, many fans, artists and critics took to Twitter — "XXL Freshman" became a trending topic — and other sites to congratulate those selected but also to debate about who should and shouldn't have made the list. While the final group is usually limited to only 10 acts, this year 11 were selected.