Last night was a good night for hip-hop at the 61st annual Grammy Awards, where some of it’s most prominent artists received awards at the music industry’s most prestigious ceremony.
Of all the winners, the most notable was perhaps Cardi B’s “Invasion of Privacy” being honored as the “Rap Album of the Year,” beating out Mac Miller’s “Swimming,” Nipsey Hussle’s “Victory Lap,” Pusha T’s “Daytona,” and Travis Scott’s “Astroworld,” in the highly debated category. For her victory, Cardi B made more history by becoming the first solo woman act to win Best Rap Album at the Grammy Awards.
Cardi wasn’t the only artist from the genre to be honored last night, however, as JAY-Z and Beyonce won the award for “Best Urban Contemporary Album for their collaborative lp, “Everything Is Love,” led by the music video to their hit record “Apes***” that was filmed inside the Louvre in Paris.
Elsewhere, Drake received the award for “Best Rap Song” for his hit-record “God’s Plan,” while Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, Future, and James Blake all split the win for “Best Rap Performance” for their collaborative hit “King’s Dead,” which actually tied with Anderson .Paak in the category for his stand-alone single “Bubblin.” Furthermore, Ella Mai and DJ Mustard won “Best R&B Song” for “Boo’d Up,” Childish Gambino won “Best Rap Song of the Year” for “This is America,” and H.E.R. won “Best R&B Album” for her self-titled compilation album, who’s single “Best Part” also won “Best R&B Performance” along with Daniel Caesar. Additionally, Pharrell won “Producer of the Year,” in the non-classical genre.
In consideration to the decades of neglect that the Grammy Awards showed towards hip-hop and R&B in the past, many will speculate if all the latest recognition will be enough to earn back the culture’s trust moving forward.