Rico Nasty’s Pitch for 2018 XXL Freshman

Before the 2018 XXL Freshman class will be revealed this summer, the Freshman hopefuls are here to show and prove why they deserve a spot in this year’s class. The 10th Spot voting has officially launched, which means hip-hop's rising newcomers are vying for a spot on the 2018 XXL Freshman cover.

The DMV has a new front runner with Rico Nasty. The New York-bred, Maryland-raised rapper has created a new lane in hip-hop with her sugar trap-based music, or "happy-savage" sound as she called it during her XXL interview for The Break last year. Rico broke onto the rap scene with "iCarly" and "Hey Arnold" in 2016, with the latter later remixed by Lil Yachty; in 2017, the two of them linked again for "Mamacita," a single on The Fate of the Furious album.

She's since followed up with her successful mixtape, Tales of Tacobella, which spawned "Poppin," Rico's biggest track to date. In 2018, the 20-year-old rhymer is still riding the high from her Sugar Trap 2 tape—released in October—and is currently prepping a new project, which you may hear during her performance at Rolling Loud Miami on May 11.

Now that you've heard her 2018 XXL Freshman pitch below, it's time to vote. The 2018 XXL Freshman 10th Spot will run for one week. This is where the public gets the chance to vote an artist into the XXL Freshman Class. Go here to make your vote count for your favorite artist.

Once you've voted, head over to XXL’s YouTube page to take a look back at the 2017 XXL Freshman Class, which featured A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Aminé, Kap G, Kamaiyah, Kyle, Madeintyo, Playboi Carti, PnB Rock, Ugly God and 10th spot winner XXXTentacion.

And watch all the 2018 XXL Freshman pitch videos that have been released on XXL's YouTube page here.

See Every XXL Freshman Cover Over the Years