Last night, I realized that there is really nothing new about these guys anymore. When you consider mixtapes, touring before you have a single, and (yes, Freeway) the blogosphere, your average rapper who is getting any kind of play can stop using the term freshmen after just a few months. But since the summer is here, that means that the school year is officially over, and when we come back in the fall, you’re in class with the big boys. So go ahead and drop your album on the same day as Hov and 50; you’re not a freshmen anymore.

That being said, let’s not start making our way for the new class just yet, because there is just a little more hazing to do. Let’s give out the year-end awards for the first-year (or so) standouts who actually passed a test or two this year, then maybe we can stop calling these people freshmen.

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Antoine McColister, known to you as Ace Hood, will drop his debut Gutta on September 23rd. The album arrives via a joint venture between DJ Khaled’s We The Best Music and whatever’s left of Def Jam.