Angel Haze has been steadily climbing her way up from the underground, dropping both a notable EP and a mixtape in the past 12 months while she preps her debut album Dirty Gold. Her music speaks for itself, but a spot on XXL's 2013 Freshman Class cover doesn't hurt either. The Michigan native is confident that this is only the beginning of her journey.

"There's a ton to be expected, especially since I've been working so diligently and with so many different and diverse people," she tells MTV News of her upcoming album. "It's crazy right now, but I can only imagine the evolved, finished [project]...I'm excited"

Haze released her Reservation EP last summer, dropped some bars during BET's Hip-Hop Awards cypher -- where she spit in a circle that included A$AP Rocky and Joey BadA$$ -- and a few weeks after that, she followed up with her Classick mixtape.

On the six-track tape, she blew critics away with the haunting cut of "Cleanin' Out My Closet," a remake of Eminem's 2002 release. It was no light fare, with the 21-year-old openly addressing her painful struggle with sexual abuse as a child and the ever-taboo topic of bisexuality in hip-hop.

With so much to say on her mixtape, there's no doubt that Haze will have plenty more to share on her debut album. "It's entitled Dirty Gold because it's how I feel about myself and countless other people," she explained. "I came from the underground and you find a lot of things where you're not looking [for them] and you mine it, and it becomes great."

This year, Angel Haze was the only female who appeared on XXL's Freshman Class cover, alongside rappers like Schoolboy Q, Trinidad James and Chief Keef. She was grateful for the admission, sharing her thanks on Twitter, writing to fans, "Thanks to everyone showing love, it's appreciated."

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