Hip Hop News

Nas’ Win In The Best Rap Album Category Grants Him His Long-Awaited Grammy Award

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Nas hasn’t had much success at the Grammy awards. Well, to be honest, he hasn’t had any. The legendary rapper failed to bring home the coveted award each of the 13 times he was nominated. Luckily for him, all of that changed on Sunday at the 2021 Grammys. Nas won in the Best Rap Album category with his 13th album, King’s Disease. The project was boosted by a refreshed sound thanks to Hit-Boy’s production as well as solid contributions from the likes of Big Sean, Lil Durk, Anderson .Paak, and more.

The win comes 25 years after Nas received his first Grammy nomination in the Best Rap Solo Performance category at the 1996 show for “If I Ruled The World (Imagine That).” His nomination for the Best Rap Album is also the fifth time in Nas’ career that he was in the running for the award. The previous four times came in 2000 with I Am…, 2008 for Hip Hop Is Dead, 2009 for Nas, and 2013 for Life Is Good. Prior to this year, Nas was high on the list of artists with the most Grammy nominations without a win. The names ahead of him include Martina McBride (14), Brian McKnight (17), Snoop Dogg (17), and Morten Lindberg who holds the record with 20 winless nominations.

Nas beat D Smoke’s Black Habits, Jay Electronica’s A Written Testimony, Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist’s Alfredo, and Royce 5’9’’’s The Allegory to take home his first Grammy award.

Meg Thee Stallion Wins Her First Grammy Award

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Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion is a true “Savage” and being reward for it. The hip-hop superstar and collaborator Beyoncé have won a Grammy award for their epic 2020 single. Meg Thee Stallion Wins First Grammy Stallion and Queen Bey blew away stiff competition coming from DaBaby‘s “BOP” and late rap star Pop Smoke‘s “Dior” […]

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U.S. Administers World Record Single-Day COVID-19 Vaccinations

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The United States set a world record for single-day vaccinations for COVID-19, Saturday, with nearly 3 million coronavirus vaccines being administered in the 24-hour period. White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klein announced the record on Twitter, Saturday night.

“With the 6am cut off, the total would have been 2.98m, more COVID shots than any country has administered on any day in this crisis — a world’s best record,’’ Klein tweeted in response to Bloomberg reporter Drew Armstrong.

Vaccine, COVID-19
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Armstrong noted that the originally reported figure, 4.6 million, was a massive increase in vaccinations, but not necessarily accurate or indicative of a new single-day trend, but how the data was delivered from the CDC. He explains: “The boring answer: It’s a one-time methodological bump from a later-than-usual CDC data pull that sucked in more data than usual.”

Regardless, as Klein points out, the corrected figure is still a world record in its own right. 

There are now three vaccines available in the U.S., but Dr. Anthony Fauci says there is no favorite and that all are equally good to get. He explained why and joked about microchips in a new episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Friday.

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Megan Thee Stallion’s ‘Son’ Turns 2 Years Old

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Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion knows the importance of March 14. The hip-hop star has lit up social media with a big salute to her “son” and ride or die doggy Foe Thee Frenchie. Megan Thee Stallion’s ‘Son’ Turns 2 Stallion went to Instagram to celebrate the special day. Meg unloaded a must-like pic of […]

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Drew Brees Announces Retirement From NFL

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Legendary Saints quarterback Drew Brees has announced that he is retiring from the NFL after 20 seasons in the league. The former Super Bowl champion revealed his highly rumored decision with a video on his social media.

“After 20 years as a player in the NFL and 15 years as a Saint, it is time I retire from the game of football,” Brees said in the caption of the post. “Each day, I poured my heart & soul into being your Quarterback. Til the very end, I exhausted myself to give everything I had to the Saints organization, my team, and the great city of New Orleans. We shared some amazing moments together, many of which are emblazoned in our hearts and minds and will forever be a part of us. You have molded me, strengthened me, inspired me, and given me a lifetime of memories. My goal for the last 15 years was striving to give to you everything you had given to me and more.”

Drew Brees, Saints, Retirement
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Brees was drafted in the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft by the Chargers. He joined the Saints in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2006 and led New Orleans to the Super Bowl three years later. Brees finishes as the NFL’s leader in career passing yards with 80,358.

“I am only retiring from playing football, I am not retiring from New Orleans,” Brees added. “This is not goodbye, rather a new beginning. Now my real life‘s work begins!”

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Taika Waititi Was As Surprised He Won A Grammy (For ‘Jojo Rabbit’) As Everyone Else

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Taika Waititi is a Grammy winner now! That was a bit unexpected! The filmmaker and actor is not a musician, though he has done some music-adjacent work, such as his involvement with The Flight of the Conchords. But on Sunday, during the run of pre-show awards, he accepted the trophy for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media, for his 2019 Holocaust comedy-drama Jojo Rabbit. And he was as surprised to get one as everyone else.

Waititi gave his acceptance speech very remotely — from a trailer on the set of Thor: Love and Thunder, which started filming in Sydney, Australia earlier this year. It began with some technical glitches, but once everything was cleared up he was quick to go into charming jokey mode.

“I guess they’re just giving Grammys to anyone now! I’ll take it, thank you,” Waititi said. He then tried to talk about Jojo Rabbit, which earned him an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay over a year ago, in a much different time. “What can I say? It was so long ago, I can barely remember anything about making that movie — but it seems like it’s never going to go away, and I’m happy about that.” Then he said he was “going back to work now.”

Waititi was also taken aback online.

But he was also very grateful.

The win may be a shock, but it does mean something big: Waititi is one half of the way towards EGOT power. So put him on TV and on Broadway and let’s get this done.

Megan Thee Stallion And Beyonce Become The First Women To Win The Best Rap Performance Award

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Megan Thee Stallion has achieved a long list of things in her short career and thanks to this year’s Grammy Awards, she can add a special accomplishment to her resume. The Houston rapper and Beyonce became the first women to win in the Best Rap Performance category thanks to their “Savage” collaboration. The song originally appeared on Megan’s Suga project as a solo effort, but shortly after its release, Beyonce hopped on it for a sizzling remix, which helped boost the track to the No. 1 position on the singles chart.

It should be noted that the Best Rap Performance award was created back at the 1989 Grammy Awards, but after the 1990 show, it was split into the Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group categories. It remained this way until 2012 when they were recombined into the Best Rap Performance award after the Grammys reconstructed their categories. Prior to this year’s show, it had only been men who won in the Best Rap Performance category in the 11 years that it was presented at the Grammys.

The Best Rap Performance win is Megan’s first Grammy award. She is also nominated in three other categories including Record Of The Year and Best New Artist. As for Beyonce, the win is the 25th Grammy of her career. The “Black Parade” singer also won in the Best Music Video category for “Brown Skin Girl.” Here’s Meg’s delightful reaction to winning:

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Klay Thompson Reflects On 2020: “Probably The Worst Year Of My Life”

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Golden State Warriors All-Star guard Klay Thompson admitted that he may not be the same player when he returns to the court after missing two seasons to injury, but did reaffirm to fans that he will get back to the best version of himself eventually. Thompson went down with an Achilles injury prior to the start of the 2020 season. 

“I’ll be honest, I don’t expect to come back balls to the wall, 38 minutes a night, guarding the best player, running around 100 screens. I’m going to get to that point. I guarantee that,” he told reporters prior the Warriors’ matchup with the Utah Jazz, Sunday. “I plan on being the All-NBA player I was. I will not settle for anything less. I’m too competitive to take a relegated role. That’s not me… I can’t wait, man. I’ve got a lot of pent-up energy.”

Klay Thompson, Injury
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Thompson also admitted that 2020 was the worst year of his life, echoing similar comments he made recently when he said that being injured is killing him.

“It was probably the worst year of my life,” he told reporters. “…It feels good to be back here. I feel love when I’m back in the Warriors facility. My roots are here. It was not easy on anybody. Everyone had their own trials and tribulations through 2020, but that was it for me: losing my grandma Mary, tearing my Achilles, and I still think about Kobe every single day.”

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Nas Wins Best Rap Album At 2021 Grammys For “King’s Disease”

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Nas is officially a Grammy-winner after his project, King’s Disease, won Best Rap Album at the 2021 Grammys Awards, Sunday. Other nominees included D Smoke (Black Habits), Jay Electronica (A Written Testimony), Freddie Gibbs & Alchemist (Alfredo), and Royce 5’9’’ (The Allegory).

Throughout his storied career, Nas has now been nominated for a Grammy 14 times. 

Nas, Grammy
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Despite the impressive competition among nominees, Nas recently said that he isn’t often impressed by Today’s rappers. In a recent interview with Financial Times, he gave his opinion on contemporary rap: “I appreciate what’s out there, but there’s no one keeping me up at night. I hear a new rap record and think it’s great, but I don’t listen to it the next week.”

Nas did add that he is very impressed by the late-New York rapper Pop Smoke: “We were happy to see that young king come up. He was a breath of fresh air. The drill movement in London, Chicago, and New York is really exciting.”

Other Grammy winners thus far include Megan Thee Stallion for Best Rap Performance with her song “Savage,” featuring Beyonce. More award winners will be announced throughout the night.

For the full list of updated Grammy winners and nominees head here.

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