Ian - 2025 XXL Freshman Freestyle, Interview and More

GOV'T NAME: Ian Smith
AGE: 20
REPPIN': St. Louis, Mo.
INSTAGRAM: @iaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnn
TIKTOK: @iaaaannnnnnn
NOTABLE RELEASES: Songs: “Magic Johnson,” “Fit Check” featuring
VonOff700, “Hate Me” with Yachty, “3.5,” “Pack It Up,”; EPs: Only for Awhile, Remembrance, Empty Suit; Mixtapes: Valedictorian, Goodbye Horses
LABEL: BuVision/Columbia
CURRENTLY WORKING ON: As-yet-titled EP dropping this summer.
WHO ELSE SHOULD BE PART OF THIS YEAR'S CLASS: “VonOff1700, for sure. There’s a lot of good things about Von. His personality is great. He’s a very personable dude. He’s really good at rapping. His cadence is like... You can certainly tell he’s from Chicago, but he just runs it every time. It’s just rap. It’s hard-a*s rap. I could tell he’s really putting a lot into it.”
INFLUENCED BY: “In terms of music, I would say definitely Future. I haven’t really heard a bad song from [Future]. His songwriting is just something that you really can’t help but admire. When I found out that he [co-]wrote ‘Drunk in Love’ for Beyoncé, I was just like, Damn. It’s what inspires me to think about what I could do next and where I could take everything years down the line.
With Chief Keef’s music, it connected with me pretty early growing up because I moved around a lot. At the time, it felt like it was the end of the world every time I had to move. I was like, No, my best friend of my entire life, I’m leaving. I’m never going to be able to come back to this. [Chief Keef’s music] was just loose, carefree. Just the attitude and spirit of it was something that I could always escape to. I would say those two are the biggest influences at this point.
I love Frank Ocean, too. Just being able to feel something, listening to every one of his songs. It’s poetic but not overly bad in-yourface. You can still connect with it.”
AS A FRESHMAN IN HIGH SCHOOL: “Freshman year was a way different one from the rest of them because I just moved from Orange County, California to this place called Frisco, Texas. It was a new area, and there’s not really anything out there besides cookie-cutter homes and farmland and stuff. So, I was like, Man, f**k this. Nobody here is going to be cooler than any of my friends in California. I’m the coolest kid here. But at the same time, I was just so shy and not prepared to reach out to anybody at this new, big high school I was at.
I was very much in my own world, especially with music. I dove super deep on everything there was to dive in on SoundCloud. And I was like, dressing all alternative and stuff. It was a funny year.”
TRUTH ON BEING AN XXL FRESHMAN: “This is like, to me, it feels like a very legendary thing in hip-hop. So, I’m honored, first of all, to be able to be here and do this. Just excited because I like a lot of the people who also showed up here. It’s a really beautiful thing to be a part of for me.
[The 2016 XXL Freshman Class] was massive for me because I listened to all of them. Really just SoundCloud stuff. I feel that’s a legendary one.
I had knowledge of everybody [in the 2016 class]. I’m thinking of the one cypher because I was familiar with everybody who rapped on that, but I had never imagined any of them in the same place, at the same time, doing the same thing. And it seems like that was a year where everybody was on the exact same page about it.
It was like ad-libs coming from people in the back. They were laughing and stuff. It just seemed like the best way to bring everyone together. I feel like sometimes rap can be pretty cliquey. It’s just like everyone dropped everything.
They all had super different swag going on, too. The fits were all very different. I remember that jacket [Lil Uzi Vert] was wearing. It was the jean vest with the big Pokémon character. That was the coolest thing ever, holy sh*t. It was just good energy there. I’m excited to see how this cypher goes. Mostly, just sort of interested in meeting everybody for the first time. I know a couple of folks here, but I’ve only seen everyone else on my phone and stuff.
I know I’ll be able to rap, and I know everybody else here can rap, but what the vibe is going to be. Are we going to be like, ‘OK, it’s my turn now,’ or is it going to be like, ‘Hey, we’re having fun with this’? I’m prepared for whatever, but it’s just an interesting thing to look forward to.
I’m focusing on the freestyle, but it’s also the cypher and the freestyle. That’s how I look at it. I feel like they go hand in hand. I’m excited for it. Thank you for having me.”—Bianca Torres