What a great year 2018 was for Hip-Hop. RIP to everyone we lost and cheers to a brand new year. Here’s a quick rundown of the 2018 According 2 Hip-Hop Awards.
Most Disappointing Album Of The Year:
“QUEEN” by Nicki Minaj. QUEEN’s album release date was delayed from June 15th to August 10, and then to August 17, before ultimately being released a week ahead of schedule yet was still met with lackluster response. Nicki released her two singles (that were soon forgotten) from the album days after Cardi B released her monstrous chart topping Invasion Of Privacy album, leading many to believe Nicki made a hater move. Upon debuting second on the Billboard 200, Minaj expressed frustration and criticized several people on Twitter, including Travis Scott, whose album Astroworld claimed the top spot for a second week in a row, blocking Queen from number one. Nicki claimed Travis cheated with his spot by selling merch and exploiting his child by the famous Kylie Jenner. Minaj made several television appearances and live performances in support of the album. She performed the during the Saturday Night Live season finale on May 19, 2018. On June 23, 2018, she performed a medley of “Chun-Li” and “Rich Sex” at the BET Awards. On August 13, 2018, she appeared as a guest on The Late Show, and freestyled a personalized verse from “Barbie Dreams” dedicated to Stephen Colbert. On August 20, 2018, she performed a medley of “Majesty”, “Barbie Dreams”, “Ganja Burn”, and “Fefe” live from the PATH World Trade Center station at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards. She even launched her own radio show on Beats 1 entitles QUEEN Radio. Even with all this push and QUEEN branding nothing from the album seemed to stick in the minds of the Hip-Hop or Pop world. Due to lackluster ticket sells her tour with Future was cancelled. As a mainstream artist with this much visibility Nicki Minaj also received 0 Grammy nominations.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmTtcy2hNev/
Diss Record Of The Year:
Rap Verse Of The Year:
Jay Z on “What’s Free”; “In the land of the free, where the blacks enslaved. Three-fifth’s of a man I believe’s the phrase. I’m 50% of D’USSÉ and it’s debt free. 100% of Ace of Spades, worth half a B. Roc Nation, half of that, that’s my piece. Hunnid percent of TIDAL to bust it up with my G’s. Since most of my niggas won’t ever work together You run a cheque up but they never give you leverage. No red hat, don’t Michael and Prince me and Ye. They separate you when you got Michael and Prince’s DNA. I ain’t one of these house niggas you bought. My house like a resort, my house bigger than yours. My spou- (C’mon man) My route better of course, We started without food in our mouth they gave us pork and pig intestines, Shit you discarded that we ingested, we made the project a wave You came back, reinvested and gentrified it, Took nigga’s sense of pride. Now how that’s free?
And the people stole their soul and hit niggas with 360’s. I ain’t got a billion streams, got a billion dollars, Inflating numbers like we ‘posed to be happy about this. We was praisin’ Billboard but we were young. Now I look at Billboard like ‘Is you dumb?’ To this day, Grandma ‘fraid of what I might say. They gon’ have to kill me Grandmama, I’m not they slave (Ha-ha-ha) Check out the bizarre rappin’ style used by me the HOV, Look at my hair free, care free, Niggas ain’t near free Enjoy your chains, whats your employer name with the hair piece? I survived the hood, can’t no Shaytan rob me my accountant’s so good I’m practically livin’ tax free. Factory, that’s me Sold drugs, got away scot-free that’s a CC, E-copy, Guilt free, still me and they expect me to not feel a way to this day you would say y’all killed me Sucker free, no shuckin me I don’t jive turkey Say “Happy Thanksgiving” Shit sound like murder to me, Smoke free all of y’all calling out toll free labels rob you for millions yet you wanna put a hole in me. Sugar free, seasoned but I’m salt free Lay a hand on Hov, my shooter shoot for free I promise World War three. Send an order through a hands free, kill you in 24 hours or shorter you can’t ignore the hand speed. On GOD, it’s off the head this improv but it’s no comedy. Sign I fail, hell naw (Ha-ha-ha)” – Jay Z
OG Album Of The Year:
“The Pimp Tape” by Too Short. Too Short dropped his debut album in 1985 and released his 10th album and had a rap retirement party during that album while both 2Pac and Biggie were still alive. Short is and has worked with all the greats and in 2018 Too Short released his 20th album The Pimp Tape which was vintage Too Short. The album featured Snoop Dogg, 2 Chainz, Joyner Lucas, Mistah F.A.B, French Montana, E-40, Mozzy, SchoolboyQ, T.I., The Dream, G-Eazy, Ty Dolla $ign, and more. It’s a perfect mix of current and vintage. This album really shows that Short kept his ear to the street while giving the people what they want from Short dawg. At 52 years old for Short to make such a well rounded dope Hip-Hop effort his already great legacy has increased even more. Breaking ground for the 50 plus stable of artist in Hip-Hop is a big thing.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp8mxjkAugF/
Freestyle Of The Year:
Arsonal’s Freestyle on Flex Freestyle #116. BARS like “Fuck the industry, the underground is the better bracket. Hunnid K, I’ll battle any nigga that got the bread to back it” let you know that these major record deal rappers don’t want it with these underground emcees. In today’s age underground emcees are getting the money and visibility to have substantial careers with rap as a full time job. BARS like ” Now it’s a fucked up world that we live in, cards we given. Yeah we all be sinnin’, but that don’t mean we belong in prison fallin’ victim to the system, so many wrongful convictions. Black man, twelve jurors all white to make the decision. Flex, what ever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Cops spot a nigga, shot a nigga, chose to do ’em filthy. Doc won’t even nurse you back to health, all they do is bill me. This ain’t Arsonal, Darrell Jones, I’m giving you the real me” lets you know how rounded battle emcees have become.
Music Video Of The Year:
NASIR – The Film by Nas. The 16-minute clip implements vocals from each of the seven tracks featured on Nasir, but delves deeper into peeling back the layers regarding social and economic issues severely hampering the minority communities. Nas candidly harps on police brutality, which was a frequent theme used throughout the album on tracks such as “Cops Shot the Kid”, etc. Nas went all out for this one and it’s a pleasure watching over and over again. The “Everything” moment was touching in every way while the “White Label” moment was stuntin.
Rookie Of The Year:
Juice WRLD. Juice WRLD’s name was inspired by his affection for 2Pac and his role in the film Juice, Wrld because it “represents taking over the world.” Juice took 2018 by storm showing off his freestyle ability on Tim Westwood’s show freestyling off the top of the head for an hour and 15 minutes straight. After that Juice’s freestyle abilities were in demand and he answered every time. All from the top and none written. Then Juice proved that he could not only rhyme but make music that stuck with the younger generation of Hip-Hop. Juice WLRD turned 20 years old earlier this month and his debut album has since gone platinum. The album peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 while his singles “All Girls Are the Same” and “Lucid Dreams” have charted on the Hot 100 at 41st and 2nd respectively. Juice signed a $3 Million Record deal with Interscope in 2018 and a publishing deal with BMG for an undisclosed amount in 2018. His hard drive was hacked and over 100 songs he recorded were leaked and the song “In My Head” with The Chainsmokers has even become a hit. Juice will be joining Nicki Minaj on her “WLRD Tour” and made a collaborative project with Future this year. What a year for a rookie.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Brd2BJegaMW/
Emcee & Producer Collaboration Project Of The Year:
Black Thought & Salaam Remi for “Streams Of Thought, vol 2 Traxploitation”. For a combination that we didn’t see coming these two fit perfectly. Like really perfectly, like a glove. Honestly these two fit better together than Nas and Salaam Remi and Salaam made “Made U Look” for Nas. The only complaint about this project is we didn’t get it sooner. The fact that Black Thought blessed is with two solo projects in 2018 gives us the ability to deal with the fact that it was only 9 tracks. This project is perfect from beginning to end and leaves any Hip-Hop fan wanting more. Hopefully this wasn’t just a one off thing for these two Hip-Hop legends, because we would love to hear even MORE!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqLq8p7F6Em/
Comeback Artist Of The Year:
Meek Mill. 2018 has been a banner year for Meek Mill and many will point to the Philly rapper and state this was the best year of his career. After a release from prison, Meek hit the ground running speaking on issues with incarceration, releasing more hit music. On April 24, 2018, Mill was released from prison pending the outcome of the appeal to the Pennsylvania supreme court. The Philadelphia district attorney had petitioned Judge Brinkley for his release, citing credibility issues with the arresting officer in his initial 2008 conviction. Meek begun his fight for the voiceless who have been treated like him and worse. Meek took to every major news platform telling his story, getting the word out. And when it was time to deliver on the music end Meek released his album fourth album Championships on November 30. The album received positive reviews from critics and debuted number 1 on the US Billboard 200, selling 229,000 album-equivalent units in its first week (42,000 coming from pure sales). For a guy that was in prison and consistently ridiculed in Hip-Hop for taking “L’s” this has to be one of the greatest comebacks we’ve ever seen.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsGgb-cnbmW/
Slept On Album Of The Year:
Lupe Fiasco’s “Drogas Wave”. Drogas Wave is based on a story about a group of slaves that jumped off a slave ship transporting them from Africa. The slaves did not drown, and instead somehow managed to live under the sea. They spent the rest of their underwater existence sinking slave ships. ‘Drogas’ is the Spanish word for drugs. I made it an acronym which stands for ‘Don’t Ruin Us God Said’. Lupe’s lyricism and musicality took full flight with this album and if you haven’t heard it you’re really missing out.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpfVEFElLL1/
Emcee Collaboration Album Of The Year:
Styles P & Dave East for “Beloved”. Two generations of Emcees came together to bridge the gap and it turned out beautifully. Styles P & Dave East was another combination that we never saw coming but came together nicely. All this generational division talk and this album is a shining example of where Hip-Hop needs to go. We can all learn from each other.
Producer Of The Year:
Kanye West. This was hard, but no one can deny what Kanye West did from a production standpoint in 2018. Kanye solely produced DAYTONA, Ye, Kids See Ghost, NASIR, Teyana Taylor’s full project. Let’s take away everything else people think about Kanye and think about production alone. The only thing we can think of that is similar to this is RZA producing Liquid Swordz, OB4CLs, & Ol Dirty’s album in 1995. Kanye was tough to beat in this category.
@chrisrock speaks at the #KanyeWest album release in Wyoming. pic.twitter.com/zhjJvLwtij
— BET (@BET) June 2, 2018
Song Of The Year:
“Sicko Mode”. When Travis Scott released his critically acclaimed album “Astroworld” Sicko Mode was clearly a standout. “Sicko Mode” debuted at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100, It reached number two following the release of its music video, first behind “Girls Like You” by Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B, and then behind “Thank U, Next” by Ariana Grande. It later became his first number one on the issue dated December 8, 2018, after seventeen weeks in the top 10, aided in part by the Skrillex remix. The single also became Travis’ first top 10 on the Radio Songs chart. The beat change was epic and Drake even came through with a Kanye sneak diss “checks over stripes” putting Nike over Adidas
Emcee Of The Year:
J. Cole. Cole not only released one most critically acclaimed albums of the year in KOD (that went platinum) but he also came through on his features. Cole killed it with Jay Rock, J.I.D, 21 Savage, 6lack, etc. Big year for Cole, he did it all. Actually one of the best full years that Cole has ever had.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg-BCVMhiOn/
Album Of The Year:
“DAYTONA” by Pusha T. This album shook things up. It started the Pusha T vs Drake thing that revealed the life of a child with a pornstar and the biggest Popstar in the world in Blackface. Besides all that DAYTONA is DOPE! I mean when you name drop plug 2 in the albums opening lines before the beat drops you can’t go wrong. The ONLY criticism of this album is that it’s too short. Even with limited length this album says more and has more replay value than any Hip-Hop album that came out in 2018. “Still do the Fred Astaire on a brick. Tap tap throw the phone if you hear it click” COME ON! “If we go by connections made, I can still climb ladders when complexions fade. White on white that’s the tester. Black on black that’s the Tesla” COME ON! “Niggas get exposed, I see the cracks and I’m the liar? Shit I’ve been exposed, I took the crack and built the wire Now who do you admire?” COME ON! “The Lord is my shepherd, I am not sheep. I am just a short stone’s throw from the streets. I bring my offering, I will not preach. Awaken my demons, you can hear that man screaming I’m no different than the priest” COME ON! “I done flew it, I done grew it, been a conduit. Moynat bags on my bitches, I done blew it. See through it, neck, igloo it. Habla en español, I y tú it” we got one more. “Lower level’s where you settle at. I’m the pot callin’ the kettle black. Where there’s no brick peddles at. Between God and where the Devil’s at. Had to double dutch and double back. Then hopscotch through where the trouble’s at” ok we rest our case. This album got play from beginning to end from late May till now and beyond. Happy New Year!
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