Cardo Got Wings
The St. Paul, Minn. native discusses giving the “most known unknown” a platform and producing the beats for the 2025 XXL Freshman Class cyphers.
As told to Georgette Cline
“I feel like XXL Freshman is pushing the envelope, and for the producer community, for us to do these things, it gives us the outlook, too. For the people that’s behind the scenes that nobody may know of, the ‘most known unknown.’ People probably don’t even know who I am. They’re gonna probably be like, ‘Who’s Cardo Got Wings?’ And you have to really Google. You see my discography, and the things I’ve done, and then you kind of understand. So, you know, it’s important for me.
I always wanted to be a part of [XXL Freshman]. It’s something I’ve been a fan of since the beginning. It’s just something that I thought I’ll one day do, you know? Just something on my bucket list.
As a platform for these artists, [XXL Freshman] really showcases them to the world that may not know. XXL is worldwide, and some of these artists may not even touch parts of the country or this side of the world or in these other continents or whatnot. So, it’s like a real, huge deal for these rappers.
Ian, he got some feathers ruffled, you know, ’cause like with White rappers, how people have that stigma about White rappers, and we do protect our culture. It’s sacred, you know what I’m saying? So, I understand how everybody else feel looking on the outside. But you know, from what I seen, he kind of holds his own. He’s not trying to fit in with nobody, or trying to do this, what we do. He rap, and he, having been inspired by the rappers that come from our culture, you have to respect it. He’s hard.
Lazer Dim 700, one of the most unique, interesting kids with the most interesting
sounds coming out of Atlanta. He’s dope. At first, I didn’t understand the distorted 808s, the flows, you know? He’s one of them just unorthodox artists.
1900Rugrat, he comes from that background. He’s seen some things. You can tell he’s a genuine kid. He’s got a cool spirit. He’s like your White homeboy that grew up in the hood with you. His contribution to the rap culture is dope to see because he reps his own.
Loe Shimmy, that’s somebody I’ve known for some time. I got to witness his come up, still witnessing him coming up. He’s one of the most unique voices, and he has one of the craziest voices. And he’s smooth with it. He can sing, he’s very melodic and harmonizes.
Nino Paid is definitely fire. I just started looking into more of his music. And I see he’s from Baltimore. It’s just dope to see their music scene finally coming outta there.
BabyChiefDoit, he is like the bad, cool little brother, man. My son put me onto him. He dope at what he do. This is kind of crazy for me to even stretch this way, but how he rap, he’s like a more hood version of Eminem in a way. He’s animated, you know? And that’s what I like to see from artists, especially from him coming from Chicago and putting a different light on the city. It ain’t gotta be all serious all the time.
Gelo hard. You wouldn’t think the boy that play ball would be on it, but Gelo got it, man. I was surprised. ‘I’ma swerve on that corner…’ Nobody can hate on that. You can never hate on good music, ever. It’s dope to just see him a part of this lineup. And I wanna see more come from him as well.
Samara Cyn, oh, my God, I can’t even describe her style ’cause she’s unique with it.
She has the neo soul and she could turn up on your ass in a quick second. I just love her style. She’s here for a very long time. She can rap and she can sing, and she has a vision.
Eem Triplin, another unique kid ’cause his voice is just unique. It’s dope. His substance of his music. My daughter, she listens to Eem Triplin. So, I respect it, especially his message, too.
Ray Vaughn, fire coming out of Long Beach, Calif. Top Dawg. He’s a very competitive artist. It’s dope to see that coming from him and where he’s coming from outta the
West Coast. The West has been waiting for somebody to come outta there and do it more and put it on the forefront. He’s one of the artists doing it and he’s doing it well.
YTB Fatt, one of the most unique artists as well with his flow coming outta West Memphis. I just like his style. He’s dope. He talk like that uncle that be talking fast. He just cool with how he do it. I just love how he rap.
EBK Jaaybo, one of my favorite rappers, man. It’s like mob music, but it’s in its own form and fashion now how he’s coming with it. He’s like the Deebo of rap. Money’s on him, for sure. Free him by the way.
The beat process for the cyphers was just more so me thinking of where we at in the current state of music, sonically, and kind of try to put my ears there and see if people could be with the beat. And also, you gotta challenge artists as well, like you’re doing XXL Freshman. It’s like almost handpicked. You gotta be the best of the best.
[Besides Freshman], my album, Sigan Viendo, is coming soon. Young Thug’s album is coming out. It’s a lot of stuff coming from me that I can’t really go into full detail about, but 2025 is locked and loaded. I must say we gon’ have a lot more fun than people expect. Trust me and believe me. I’m going to make sure the ‘Most Known Unknown’ is heard.”
Watch 2025 XXL Freshman Cypher With BabyChiefDoit, Ian, Lazer Dim 700, 1900Rugrat, Nino Paid, Loe Shimmy — Beat Produced by Cardo Got Wings
Watch Cardo Got Wings’ ABCs
Watch the 2025 XXL Freshman Class Revealed
No hindsight music unit displayed.