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.

Top Selling Rap Albums of 2013

Today is the first day of 2014, and I wanna take time out to note the top selling rap albums of 2013. This list contains only albums that dropped in 2013. A lot of good albums dropped last year, but not all of them did pretty good commercially. Check out the list below.

10. 2 Chainz- B.O.A.T.S.2: Me Time- 210,000

9.  Kid Cudi- Indicud- 260,000

8.  Wale- The Gifted- 350,000

7.  A$ap Rocky- LongLiveA$ap- 400,000

6.  Lil Wayne- I Am Not A Human Being 2- 560,000

5.  Kanye West- Yeezus- 580,000

4.  J.Cole- Born Sinner- 650,000

3.  Jay Z- Magna Carta Holy Grail- 1,090,153


2.  Drake- Nothing Was The Same- 1,296,000

1.  Eminem- The Marshall Mathers LP 2- 1,605,000

Hip Hop World Awards (Headies) 2013 List of Winners

To all my International readers, Hip Hop World is a Nigerian music magazine, and they hold a yearly music awards in the country tagged- Headies. The one for 2013 was held last night, and below are the list of winning at the event.

Best R&B Single

Good Good Loving – Banky W

Best Rap Single

Man of the Year – Phyno

Best Street-Hop Artiste

Durosoke – Olamide

Best Recording Of The Year

This Year - Jaywon

Best Collabo

Ghost Mode – Phyno FT Olamide

Best Rap Album

YBNL – Olamide

Hip Hop World Revelation

Omo Baba Olowo – Davido

Lyricist On The Roll

Let It Go - Mode 9

Producer Of The Year

Sho Lee – Dee Tunes

Best Alternative Song

Repete - BlackMagic

Best Pop Single

Ihe Ne Me – 2Face

Best Vocal Performance Female

Only You – Nikki Laoye

Best Vocal Performance Male

Rich And Famous – Praiz

Next Rated

Sean Tizzle

Best Reggae/DanceHall Single

I Wish – Waje

Song Of The Year

Limpopo – KCee

Album Of The Year

YBNL - Olamide

Artiste Of The Year

Iyanya

Best Music Video

Alingo – Jude Okoye & Clarence Peters

Best R&B/Pop Album

O.B.O – Davido  

Hall Of Fame

Wasiu Ayinde The 1^st

Most Downloaded Callertune

Mandela - Harrysong

Good to see Olamide won more than one award; that dude was everywhere in 2013. I think he is currently one of the most hardworking Nigerian artists out there. I heard people saying Sean Tizzle didn't deserves the Next Rated awards, and that Burna Boy should have won that. They forget what Next Rated means. Burna Boy has been out for two years now; that's a fact.

Drake's Net Worth (2013)

Since Drake ditched his acting career and got into the rap world in 2007/2008, the American rapper (of Canadian origin) has been on a steady rise. He signed with Young Money Cash Money in , and  years down the line, he has his own label. Even though he is still contractually tied to Baby and Lil Wayne, he is a boss of his own. He received $10,000,000 for signing his label (OVO Sound) to Warner Music Group late last year. If you noticed, his latest album (Nothing Was The Same) had no features from any artists at YMCMB. It is clear that Drake is preparing his departure from the label. According to Forbes, he made $10.5 between July 2012 and July 2013. The 27 year old rapper is currently worth $40 million.

Check out his choice of cars here- Drake's Cars

Do You Think TDE Ran 2013?

As 2013 is just a couple of days to the end, I wanna ask, do you think TDE ran 2013? You know...TDE...Top Dawg Entertainment...The label Kendrick Lamar is on. The label also houses Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q, and new comers, SZA and Isiah Rashad. The C.E.O of the label, Anthony 'Top Dawg' Tiffith twitted this a couple of days ago.






dangeroo kipawaa TDE        ✔ @dangerookipawaa 

WE RAN 2013 WITH OUT DROPPING 1 ALBUM. I WONDER WUTS GONE HAPPEN IN 2014 WHEN I DROP 6.. THEY NOT READY 4 THIS #TDE #HiiiPoWeR TAKE OVER

9:02 PM - 21 Dec 2013

I don't know man! I feel this dude has been bragging too much. Yes, Kendrick was hot last year eventhough his album dropped at the tail end of 2012, but no one else was really hot on TDE. This dude was the same one on twitter saying Drake's response to Kendrick was weak and shit. At one time he was also comparing TDE to Death Row Records of the past.  I have a feeling this dude has an inferiority complex. Kendrick and the rest of the Black Hippy rappers had been signed to him at least 5 years without none really blowing up (Jay Rock did have some mild shine tho), until Dr Dre came along and took the label to Interscope, and took Kendrick as an artist under Aftermath Records.

Maybe dude feels people will overlook his work if he keeps quiet, cos I feel a record label boss of his status shouldn't be blabbing on Twitter at every chance he gets. Back to the question- did TDE run 2013? Kendrick's verse on Control  got the hip hop world in a frenzy when the song dropped mid way through the year, and Kendrick also dropped a good amount of singles (and remixes) from his album this year, as well as a couple of guest appearances he made. So, yea, Kendrick had a great year. But I think the rest are still underground. Don't get me wrong, I like Ab-Soul and Jay Rock, and I think they are dope rappers, but you can't say they were in spotlight in 2013. As for Schoolboy Q; all dude did all year long was to give his opinion on other rappers. I don't know if that is his formula for staying relevant.

I don't think any clique ran 2013. But If I would pick a clique, I would say Roc Nation/Good Music. Well, it is not a label, but they are a very close knit. Jay Z, J.Cole, Kanye West, Pusha T, so yea, they were very relevant in 2013.

Eminem's 'The Marshall Mathers LP 2' Goes Double Platinum Globally

Yea, trust Eminem to sell astronautical numbers with his albums. His 7th album, 'The Marshall Mathers LP 2' sold 315,000 copies globally this week, and it is now a 4 week total of 2,216,000; that is double platinum status attained worldwide.

Please note that the numbers above represent the album's global sales. In domestic sales, it sold 199,000 copies 4th week in the U.S, and is at a total of 1,323,000 copies sold domestically. It definitely will still attain double platinum status nationally soon, and probably go on to be quadruple platinum like his last album, Recovery (2010).

Check out the tracklist below-

1.  “Bad Guy”

2.  “Parking Lot (Skit)”

3.  “Rhyme Or Reason”

4.  “So Much Better”

5.  “Survival”

6.  “Legacy”

7.  “Asshole” f. Skylar Grey

8.  “Berzerk”

9.  “Rap God”

10.  “Brainless”

11.  “Stronger Than I Was”

12.  “The Monster” f. Rihanna

13.  “So Far…”

14.  “Love Game” f. Kendrick Lamar

15.  “Headlights” f. Nate Ruess

16.  “Evil Twin”

Beyonce Shares Pics of Jay Z and Their Daughter, Blue Ivy

The duo became a trio last year, and they are the happiest they have ever been together. Beyonce recently shared a couple of really cool pictures (on her Tumblr) of the two most important people in her life- Jay Z and Blue Ivy. Check them out below...

Nicki Minaj Speaks on Almost-Nude Halloween Costume

When everyone was being creative and putting on classic movie villain costumes on Halloween night, Nicki Minaj just made sure her costume showed off enough of her boobs. After getting hit with negative criticism over the last few days on social media, she has come forward to speak on why she had the very revealing Halloween costume.


Check out the pics she put on Instagram on Halloween night below...

And below is what she had to say about the costume-

"I’ve just been feeling a lot [more comfortable], and its like if you’re feeling yourself, you might as well show the world. Like f*** the world. […] Sometimes you just hold so much back and its like, ‘Look, I’m a girl and I won’t be able to do this when I am 60 years old, so I am going to freaking do it [now].’ I didn’t know it was going to be that big of a deal. Because I swear my friend Shericka bought me that costume 2 hours before I put it on. […] My stylist couldn’t come through with the costume that I was going to [wear]. I was going to have this cheetah thing and paint my face and then I couldn’t get it, so I was like ‘Well, let me just get any old thing.’ And that was the any old thing."

First Week Sales Prediction Of Eminem's 'Marshall Mathers LP 2' Album

When the first two singles from this album dropped, I didn't know what to think of it. I mean quality-wise, cos Eminem is going to sell regardless. But after getting the leaked version of the album, I have to say Eminem has still got it. This is a mix of The Slim Shady LP (1999) and The Marshall Mathers LP (2000). I wont say it is up there with the latter, but it is a pretty dope album...very creative album. I love that he brought back story telling on here; which is reminiscent of his first two albums. Eminem has a lot of radio friendly songs on it, and there are going to do pretty good on radio. I predict this album would sell between 800-950k first week.

 The album drops officially next week Tuesday, November 5th to be precise. Check out the tracklist below.

1.  “Bad Guy”
2.  “Parking Lot (Skit)”
3.  “Rhyme Or Reason”
4.  “So Much Better”
5.  “Survival”
6.  “Legacy”
7.  “Asshole” f. Skylar Grey
8.  “Berzerk”
9.  “Rap God”
10.  “Brainless”
11.  “Stronger Than I Was”
12.  “The Monster” f. Rihanna
13.  “So Far…”
14.  “Love Game” f. Kendrick Lamar
15.  “Headlights” f. Nate Ruess
16.  “Evil Twin”

Tracklist & Download Link Of Ice Prince's 'Fire Of Zamani' Album

Ice Prince seem to be the hottest rapper in Nigeria right now. I guess the execs at Chocolate City agreed that MI would take a break from the music scene for a while and let Ice Prince get some shine. This is second album in 3 years, and it already getting a lot of attention. The album dropped 2 days ago, October 28 to be precise. 

The album features international artist like French Montana and Wale...and home-grown super stars like Wizkid and Sound Sultan...Check out the tracklist below-

Download album on Spinlet here...for just N250...Fire Of Zamani Download

Bun B's Trill O.G: The Epilogue

R.I.P Pimp C. UGK inspired a lot of southern rappers with their albums from the 90s, and it is cool to see Bun B still doing his thing as a solo artist. His fourth album, Trill O.G: The Epilogue is scheduled to drop on the 11th of November (the same day Mariah Carey's new album drops), and the tracklist just hit the internet. He has a guest appearance from the late Pimp C on there...Check out the tracklist below.

1. The Best is Back
2. Care (Feat. Big K.R.I.T. & Pimp C)
3. Fire (feat. Rick Ross, 2 Chainz & Serani)
4. No Competition (Feat. Raekwon & Kobe)
5. Don’t Play With Me (Feat. Pimp C)
6. Gladiator (Feat. Royce da 5’9″ & Redman)
7. Eagles
8. Stop Playin’ (Feat. Raekwon & Kobe)
9. Triller
10. Off Top (Feat. Max Frost)
11. Dippin’ & Swervin’
12. On One (Feat. Gator Main & Devin the Dude)
13. The Legendary DJ Screw
14. Bye!

Mase Speaks On Upcoming Album- Now We Even

Mase has been on and off the hip hop scene since he retired in 1999. He came back in 2004 still under Diddy, then he was with  50 Cent around 2005, then he disappeared again, and then came back around 2009, and disappeared again. But the last 2 years, it seems like he is really here to stay now. My problem with Mase is that he can't deliver at his full potential unless he removes the barrier of being called a gospel rapper. He needs to drop the 'pastor mase' title, and just rap about life. He can still preach without being to preachy...you get what I mean? He can deliver a positive message without coming off as someone that is 'holier than thou.' I am a Mase fan, and would love to here the old Mase flow, but with some positive message.

Check out what he has to say about his upcoming album (Now We Even) with a series of tweets-

“No abbreviations use #NOWWEEVEN that’s the only conversation I’m having. y€$ #NOWWEEVEN is the album title… Lets make it happen!!! Right now I’m listening to all my early freestyles & songs… This got to be something special. A couple free shows & visits #NOWWEEVEN. I’m listening also to Life after Death, All Eyes On Me and Reasonable Doubt… Just so u know what I’m thinking. #NOWWEEVEN.

@iamdiddy should be on MY album unless he gets saved and leave music… LM_ _ O #NOWWEEVEN. TO ME @Mr_Camron IS HOMETEAM. SO “NO” we don’t have any beefs. I can only comment on what is factually correct! #NOWWEEVEN. @iamdiddy I forgot I was the first SeanJohn super model… we should definitely be even!!! #NOWWEEVEN.
@jimjones DM me I’m getting on The Ghost of RP… #NOWWEEVEN. This is what my ideal album would look like: @MsLaurynHill @2Chainz (@S_C_ or @Drake) @Seal @CeeLoGreen @iamdiddy @meekmill (#1 @Beyonce or #2 destiny child) @ArianaGrande & dipset @myfabolouslife y€$ #NOWWEEVEN is the album title… Lets make it happen!!!
When its personal the money doesn’t even matter. ONE THING I WONT DO AND THAT APOLOGIZE FOR GOING AFTER MY FULLEST POTENTIAL… #NOWWEEVEN”

First Week Global Sales Of Drake's 'Nothing Was The Same' Album

Drake's Nothing Was The Same album sold 794,000 copies in its first week globally. That is, the album worldwide sales totaled at 794,000 for the first week out. But nationally, in the U.S, the album sold 658,000. This means that he sold 136,000 more copies outside of the U.S. Not bad at all. Congrats to Drake and the whole YMCMB...OVO.




Nothing Was The Same tracklist-

01. Tuscan Leather
02. Furthest Thing
03. Started From The Bottom
04. Wu-Tang Forever
05. Own It
06. Worst Behavior
07. From Time
08. Hold On, We’re Going Home
09. Connect
10. The Language
11. 305 To My City (Featuring Detail)
12. Too Much
13. Pound Cake (Featuring Jay Z) / Paris Morton Music 2

Bonus Tracks
14. Come Thru
15. All Me

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Kendrick Lamar Goes At Papoose In B.E.T Cypher

The B.E.T Cypher for 2013 is not online yet, but a part of the TDE Cypher was leaked online, and Kendrick Lamar was definitely going at Papoose on his verse. At first, a lot of people thought he was going at Drake (Drake dissed Kendrick subliminally on The Language, off Nothing Was The Same), because he started the verse with 'Nothing's been the same since they dropped Control', but really he just put that there to say what it means; nothing really has been the same in Hip Hop since they dropped Control...I guess he threw that in to throw off some listeners, and create a diversion for who he was really going at.



Check out some lines from Kendrick's B.E.T Cypher below-

"Nothing's been the same since they dropped 'Control' / And tucked the sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes. Ha-ha, jokes on you / High-five, I'm bullet proof / Your shits will never penetrate / Pin the tail on the donkey, boy, you've been a fake."





Let's decipher the lines above. 'Nothing's been the same since they dropped Control' means just that, nothing has been the same since he went at a couple of rappers on the Big Sean song (Control). 'And tucked the sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes,' people said Papoose acted too sensitive when he dissed Kendrick after 'Control' dropped, since Kendrick really didn't diss him, but Pap thought Kendrick claiming to be the King of New York was a disrespectful line. 'Ha-ha, jokes on you.' This is a direct response to Papoose's line- "You a fucking joke, we laugh at you like hee hee hee." And the line- 'High-five,I'm bulletproof, your shits will never penetrate,' is a response to Pap's line- "My bullets hit em' dead in his cooty come out his booty."


We have to wait till the full B.E.T Cypher video drops to know if there are more lines at Papoose on there, or maybe he also went at other rappers. But, from the little we have heard, it is clear he was going at Papoose in the Cypher. Check out the short clip from the Cypher below-

And its funny that people don't want to accept the fact that Papoose had the best response to Kendrick's 'Control' verse. Kendrick kept brushing it off and saying it was comical, but for him to dedicate lines at Pap just means it really did get to him...Pap got under his skin with some lines, definitely. Even if you go on Youtube, and check out all the 'Control' response songs, Pap's version has the most views. It has been viewed 1,113,074 as I type, and the closest to that is Cassidy's response which has 614,000 views.

Another Nicki Minaj Nip Slip

Yup! Nicki Minaj had another nip slip. You remember the one from 2011, when she was performing at Good Morning America Concert? Well, this one is not as bad as that one. This actually happened on Tuesday, as she left the filming of her interview with Ellen in LA. She had on an undersized cropped jacket, with no shirt or bra underneath, and she only had one button done...the one at the very top. So, it was no surprise that a little breeze would show us the goodies. lol! I think she is pretty sexy in the pic tho.

Forbes List of 'World's Highest Paid Hip Hop Artists' (2013)

Time flies, I can remember when this list came out last year, now we are getting the one for 2013. It's always interesting to go through this list, because there are always surprises...like you see a name on there that you didn't think was making any money at all. Here we go- below is 2013's Forbes list of World's Highest Paid Hip Hop Artists...2013 Cash Kings.





20. Lil John- $6 million

19. 50 Cent- $7 million

18. Tech N9ne- $7.5 million

17. Swizz Beats- $8.5 million

14. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis- $9 million (tie)

14. Pharrell- $9 million (tie)

14. Kendrick Lamar- $9 million (tie)

12. Eminem- $10 million (tie)

12. Snoop Lion- $10 million (tie)

11. Drake- $10.5 million

10. Pitbull- $11 million

9.  Ludacris- $12 million

8.  Whiz Khalifa- $14 million

7.  Lil Wayne- $16 million

6.  Kanye West- $20 million

5.  Birdman- $21 million

4.  Nicki Minaj- $29 million

3.  Dr. Dre- $40 million

2.  Jay Z- $43 million

1.  Diddy- $50 million












Don't let the numbering confuse you...the ones that tie like Snoop and Eminem share the same number. Whoa! I can't believe Diddy has been untop for so long. I remember buying a particular edition of Source Magazine back in highschool (like 1998) and reading about his over $300 million worth, and he still untop. He said it himself- '10 years from now, we'll still be untop.' This is 15 years after that statement, he is still cashing out.


For the record, this is what these Hip Hop artists made between August 2012 and August 2013, this figures don't represent their actual net worth.

Forbes Top 5 Highest Earning Celebrity Couples (2013)

Sow ho topped the list this year...You know they are the super power couple, and it is no surprise that they topped this list again. Jay Z and Beyonce top this year's forbes list of Highest Earning Celebrity Couples. They racked in a combined $95 million between June 2012 and June 2013. Although Beyonce hasn't released a new CD in a while, her Mrs. Carter World Tour grossed her an average of $2 million a night, and Jay Z's world tour brought in $1.4 million a night.


Asides from music, Jay Z has his Roc Nation Sports thing going, Beyonce got her fashion businesses doing great too. Congrats to them. Check out the full list of top earning celebrity couples below-










5.  Kanye West and Kim Kardashian ($30 million)

4.  Aston Kutcher and Mila Kunis ($35 million)

3.  Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie ($50 million)

2.  Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen ($80 million)

1.  Jay Z and Beyonce ($95 million)












Okay there you have it...the top 5 highest earning celebrity couples of 2013. I need to marry my girl real quick so we can make this list next year. Bye!

Lil Wayne's Net Worth

According to celebritynetworth.com, Lil Wayne is currently worth $135 million. His net worth comprises his music label (Young Money- which have Drake, Nicki Minaj...), his yearly tour money, album sales, and other money making brands he has built in his 15 years of being in the music industry. He has released 7 studio albums to date, and most of them had sold multi platinum. He has a few multi million dollar homes scattered around America.


Check out pics of his house and some of his cars-