The year 2001 was undoubtedly a good one for hip hop, some excellent albums came out this past year and a lot of artists really stepped up their game. So who did Billboard give the award of “Rap artist of the year” to? Lil’ Romeo. “Rap single of the year?” Lil Bow Wow for “Bow Wow (That’s My Name).”
No, I am not kidding. To make matters worse Billboard lumps hip hop and R & B into the same category like the two have anything to do with one another, so there was no representation in that category. R. Kelly won just about every award in that category. The worst part about that is no one is riding hip hop’s coat tails more than R. Kelly. This past year or two has seen the emergance of all these “R&B thugs” who play of hip hop’s image yet don’t suffer from the same negativity. Try and listen to one R&B song and not hear some hip hop slang, it won’t happen. Yet where is the credit going? Not to hip hop because they only talk about killing each other (note: sarcasm). It is time to recognize people.
