Saw this and I couldn’t help but smirk. Last year, XXL’s cover of the freshmen 15 sparked so much controversy about who was on it and who was left out. Articles like those are so good at getting people revved because they’re marked as “the future”, at least for the year, and that’s always bound to get the pretentious and hype-monsters alike to stand up in uproar to deflate or praise the music that’s listed.

So in their own stroke of genius, Honey Magazine decided to beat competitors to the bunch and release their 2009 list. They’re going to get so many hits for this, but don’t get me wrong– I’m not hating on it. Huge co-signs to some, like Theophilus London, Muffy, Nikki Jean (she and her band Nouveau Riche have been so seriously slept on…wake up, Philly!), Melo-X, Dom Kennedy, Mayer Hawthorne and Jade.

I understand the need for diversity but I could do without the dirty South cat, Pill. I’m probably a little biased because southern beats don’t always land on my good side. Sorry, folks. The chick Jazzy is a little disposable too. She sounds like a straight RIP out of Keri Hilson’s book. There goes the originality factor. As for second chances, I’ll do some research and see if I resurface with a changed opinion. Can’t say I don’t try.

Some of the artists I hadn’t even heard of before, but the article definitely opened up some opportunity to satiate that ear of mine. They compare this dude Rob Roy to Andre 3000, a claim I take SERIOUSLY considering he’s one of my favorite emcees ever. The track they put up doesn’t give me much to respect the statement either *shrug*.

To avoid this sounding like a crique, head over to Honey and check it out, I think they did a pretty decent job of creating a rivalrous list for 2009. Watch out for them, like it or not.

-SamSun