XXL Freshman

Each year since its inception, the XXL Freshman Cypher has offered the members of each Freshman class an opportunity to justify their inclusion — or totally embarrass themselves. For this year’s first round of Cypher verses, including Coi Leray, DDG, Lakeyah, and Morray, it appears controversial pick Coi has opted for the latter, delivering an utterly baffling verse reminiscent of Playboi Carti’s squelched ad-lib-spitting style before giving up on rapping and reverting to her trademark twerking (perhaps to distract viewers from the laziness of her verse). You could say that Coi, who’s got a better pen than she lets on, half-assed the assignment.

In fact, plenty of fans have taken their thoughts to Twitter to say that and more. While Coi has received a truly bewildering amount of hate online for everything from her body to her fashion sense to her biggest hit yet (only on Twitter is success a bad thing), she’s always had a fair amount of defenders willing to go to bat against the body shamers and rap chauvinists who impugned her hit’s unconventional style — which is also a departure from her usually polished rhymes on tracks like “Huddy” and “Slide” with Gunna. Those defenders are hard-pressed to stand up to the trolls this time, though, as she blew her chance to take control of the narrative with an impressive verse — or at least a finished one.

For what it’s worth, the Cypher isn’t always an indication of future success and there’s nothing stopping Coi from returning her focus to witty wordplay. Her move makes a certain kind of sense, as she catered to the fans who most appreciated her most successful single yet, “No More Parties,” who might not have been tuning in for anything more than vibes. But for her part, Coi seems to be taking the criticism in stride. Unfortunately, this was also a rare chance at a second first impression in the minds of many fans, who she’ll have to work that much harder to impress in the future. For proof, just check out the responses below.