Winners of 'Best Rap Album' at The Grammys Since 1996

In 1995, a new category was listed among the few rap/hip-hop categories present in the Grammy Awards listings, and it was called 'Best Rap Album' category. The first rapper(s) to win that award was the legendary hip hop group, Naughty By Nature, with their Poverty's Paradise album in 1996. 



Check out the list of winners since that time till now- 1996-2014

1996: Naughty By Nature - Poverty's Paradise (500,000 Sold)

1997: Fugees - The Score (6 Million Sold)

1998: Puff Daddy & The Family - No Way Out (7 Million Sold)

1999: Jay Z - Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life (5 Million Sold)

2000: Eminem - The Slim Shady LP (4 Million Sold)

2001: Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP (10 Million Sold)

2002: OutKast - Stankonia (4 Million Sold)

2003: Eminem - The Eminem Show (10 Million Sold)

2004: OutKast - Speakerboxxx / The Love Below (11 Million Sold)

2005: Kanye West - The College Dropout (2 Million Sold)

2006: Kanye West - Late Registration (3 Million Sold)

2007: Ludacris - Release Therapy (1 Million Sold)

2008: Kanye West - Graduation (2 Million Sold)

2009: Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III (3 Million Sold)

2010: Eminem - Relapse (2 Million Sold)

2011: Eminem - Recovery (4.5 Million Sold)

2012: Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy  (1 Million Sold)

2013: Drake- Take Care (2 Million Sold)

2014: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - The Heist (1.2 Million Sold)

Hmm! Let's see. Eminem has won the award 5 times, and Kanye West has won it 4 times. I don't think we can say The Grammy Award organizers are racists and would give the award to just any white rapper because of the color of his skin, irrespective of his achievements or skills on the mic...at least Kanye has won 4 times, and Vanilla Ice hasn't won any, neither has Bubba Sparxxx. I think what they look at is commercial success/achievement (all albums that have won the Grammys in this category have at least sold over 500,000 copies), and also if the artist and his music is loved among majority of Americans (and not just the black populace). According to the 2010 census statistics of America, white people make up 72.4 % of the population, and blacks make up just 12.6%- Think about that for a minute.