Jon Connor’s Debut Album Is On the Way

The past year had been quiet for 2014 XXL Freshman Jon Connor, with only a handful of guest appearances to his name while he’s been holed up in the Aftermath Studios. But this month, the world finally found out what Connor and company have been working on, as Dr. Dre unleashed his third solo album, Compton: A Soundtrack, last Friday to the surprise and delight of hip-hop heads the world over. Connor, who signed to Dre and Aftermath in 2013, is featured on two cuts from the Compton LP, going toe to toe with Snoop Dogg on “One Shot One Kill” and collaborating with Jill Scott and Anderson .Paak on “For The Love of Money.” But that’s not all the MC has in store; Connor’s debut album for Aftermath is also on the way.

“Yo, it’s coming, the album is actually coming,” Connor told XXL during a phone conversation about his work on the Compton LP. “Actually, it’s more complete than y’all think.” But Connor was quick to cut say that the focus for now isn’t on his own work, but is on the project with Dre.

“It’s a beautiful thing, like I said, just to be a part of Dre’s record and then know what else we got coming,” Connor continued, hinting that many of the album’s collaborators have full-length projects on the way. “The whole team got music coming and it’s gonna be super crazy. But as of right now, man, people need to hear Compton, because that’s a piece of hip-hop history. So before I even get to talking about my album—there’ll be time for that—but right now I just want to let Dre and his legacy live right now. And that’s what it’s all about, this amazing piece of work that Dre put out, man.”

While fans keep checking their watches for Jon Connor’s debut album, check out his 2014 XXL Freshman freestyle below to see what the Flint MC can do.

And below is Jon Connor’s 2014 XXL Freshman cypher with Troy Ave, Lil Bibby and Jarren Benton below.