2Rare joins the 2023 XXL Freshman Class off the back of a gold record

In July 2023, XXL named 2Rare — born Naseem Rafeeq Young in North Philadelphia — to its annual Freshman Class, the magazine's yearly read on which new rappers are about to break wide. He told the magazine the recognition “solidifies you as a hot artist,” timed just ahead of his debut project.

The record that got him there was a feature: NLE Choppa's “Do It Again,” released in March 2022, gave 2Rare his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to RIAA gold certification. Second Estate Records signed him that October. His own “Q-Pid,” with Lil Durk, and the viral “Rare's Room” carried the momentum through into 2023.

The sound is built to move with the dancing: his fans, the Rare Steppas, turned his clips into a recognizable routine, and he has leaned into it on record since, from “RATATAAAAA” with French Montana to “C4” with Skilla Baby and Rob49. “Gotta be rare, you gotta be diverse, you gotta be different,” is how he put it to XXL — the same idea behind the name.