When books are written about Hip Hop, the origins are always covered. Then you will get the 90’s, with discussion about the violence that unfortunately riddled that decade. Then that is pretty much it. But for those of us of a certain age, there is a particular era that resonates with us, that is our era. And it is an era that has had a huge influence on the current one.

That is the blog era.

I remember regularly checking 2DopeBoyz, NahRight, IllRoots, DJBooth, TheSmokingSection, MauriceGarland, fiending for new music. The blog era was the bridge between the record store and streaming. And 3 of the biggest stars of this era, Drake, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, made their names on the blog. Joe Budden adapted from being a mixtape rapper to embracing the internet, and now we see how successful that has been for him.

These blogs would feature lots of new music, but one name that was ubiquitous was XV. He was everywhere, on features, releasing freestyles, at SXSW, on all the blogs. And he had some major features, from Kendrick to Cole, Mac Miller to Killer Mike, Wiz Khalifa to Talib Kweli. And of course a Bun B feature, because as Bun B joked on the late Hype Men podcast (R.I.P.) Bun was on 3 out of 5 new releases. And you should have seen the outrage in comment sections when he didn’t get on the XXL Freshman list, especially in 2009 when the list featured other like-minded artists like Mickey Factz and Charles Hamilton.

In an era where rappers started embracing their own identity again, XV wore his influences on his sleeve. Much can be said about the popularity of geek culture increasing over the past few years, I mean I still remember someone mocking me for buying the X-Men movie VHS (“are you a kid?” I was 12), and now Avengers is the biggest release of the year. So to hear rappers speaking about these topics, rappers being the epitome of cool, really bridged the gap for people like me. I remember putting my friend Rommel on to XV, he was a rapper talking about our interests, he had Goku, Doc Brown and Kanye on his mixtape. He had songs named Smallville, Jedi Knight and Mirror’s Edge. He was the era’s rapper.

With every mixtape release, XV gained popularity. His mixtape download numbers grew and grew, and this was all building anticipation for his major label debut album, The Kid with the Green Backpack. The album was set to be released on Warner Brothers and was to be executive produced by Just Blaze.

The formula of that day and age was to release free music, create a fanbase, do some touring, then release your album. It made it hard for artists to directly monetise off the release, a process which has been refined in this day and age as the lines blur between mixtapes, EPs and albums, but in the 2000s, this roll out had worked for 50 and Wayne. And the blogs and sites like DatPiff were the outlet for the music.

In this era, no one could tell me XV was not one of the next to blow. And as we started to see more and more of these artists make the jump from the blog to the big stage, I knew XV would be the next one. But as these free releases continued, the anticipation started to fade a little bit. The last mixtape that XV released that still had a pretty big impact was Popular Culture in 2012. After that, there were sporadic releases, but it didn’t feel the same. Music was evolving and the importance of the blogs unfortunately was waning a little. The way people consumed music was changing, something which record labels weren’t necessarily ready for at the time. In an interview with DJBooth, XV said it himself:

I’m doing Squarian Radio Vol. 1-5 (2015) just so I can do a playlist. I knew playlists would be the new thing. I felt it coming. I just knew people weren’t caring about albums anymore.

There have been rumblings of an XV return, but many times they haven’t come to much. But this past week, I saw XV posted on Instagram, announcing the release of a new EP “Day Ones.” The next day he posted information about an album release party on June 21st. Immediately I sent it to my friend Rommel, as we shared our anticipation for the return of XV.

How will the world react to an XV album in 2019? Those of us who grew up with the blog era as part of our formative years, there is definitely a sense of nostalgia. Can XV become the next one to blow in this day and age like we thought he would? Can he reach the echelons of Drake, Cole, Kendrick? Anything is possible. But it isn’t really necessary anymore.

XV has now disconnected from The Matrix of the major label system, and is able to do what he likes. We are now in an era that promotes a DIY culture. You can directly post music for your fanbase, put it on streaming services, and put the work in yourself. XV always had a level of this, after all a vast majority of his back catalogue was made by his in house producer Seven. XV had an understanding of his sound and his image, and now in 2019, he can turn that up to the maximum.

On this new EP he has production from Seven, Win Money, Big Germ, Gee Kue, Win Money and !llMind, with the sole feature being Yonas.

The first song I Need Color, produced by Seven opens about XV’s world view. He is speaking to his peers

I discovered, that black and white is all y’all see, and I need colour.

On closing track Giving Up Song, he seemingly laments on his career, with lines like “God why I gotta take the scenic route?”

XV might not be in the position he thought he might be in 2019, but that doesn’t mean it is over. We have seen time and time again, people have a second wind in hip hop, whether it be through new music or other ventures. And at a time when Game of Thrones and Avengers are cultural juggernauts, a rapper like XV can come in and make those informed references, catching the ear of those smart to it, while still making catchy music for those that aren’t.