Following the release of his smash single, “All My Life” featuring Lil Wayne, Jay Rock was handpicked by XXL as part of their annual cover for Top 10 Freshmen. The highly publicized list has proven to be a great asset to new artists, and in some cases, has made entire careers. Looking back at the prestigious cover, Jay Rock touched on what it was like to be a part of the Top 10 Freshman, and what he believes it did for his career.

On having been chosen for the coveted issue of XXL, Jay Rock feels like it was a big break, and admits his surprise reaction:

“It helped my career out a lot. I didn’t even expect that. I didn’t expect, XXL called my people Top Dawg Entertainment and wanted me to be a part of that. It was a good thing. A lot of people were like, ‘Oh, okay, we see Jay Rock.’ Everybody was like, ‘It was long overdue man’, everybody knew I was out there doing my thing for a minute. Not just me man, all the other artists that was on the cover too man, was doing their thing. It meant a lot to me to be there.”

Never letting himself fall into the criticisms of a list like Top 10 Freshmen, Jay keeps a good outlook on his participation:

“I look at it as a blessing man. I don’t believe in all that, I try to think positive on whatever I do. I try not to feed into the negatives. I been surrounded by negativity all my life, so I gotta do something different man, you know, it’s how I think. I thought it was a good look.”

Moving on from a XXL Freshman, Jay Rock now looks to the future as he prepares for the release of his debut album, Follow Me Home, due out July 26.

Stay tuned for more from Jay Rock.