Lil Uzi Vert

What exactly turned this promising 2016 XXL Freshman into a bona fide hitmaker? The rapper-singer is not particularly notable at either of those trades—his casual delivery makes no attempts at the battle-ready wordsmithery of XXL Classmates like Denzel Curry, and his nasal singing voice draws little attention to itself. But nonetheless, within those unassuming parameters, Uzi's hits like "XOLiF3" strike a universal emotional cord—one of pain and resilience—with precision that few others can match.