Hip Hop is in a wild place half-way through the 10s, and it’s not getting any saner anytime soon. Even the best albums come and go with a tweet, and most artists simply choose to air out each other via Instagram or with Twitter fingers because why not? TMZ now scours the streets for Hip Hop artists to stop and question because the genre is facing unprecedented popularity. But almost none of that 24 hour media glow is leading to more album sales. So, you can imagine these artists had a lot of pent up rage and it showed. 2015 is the year rap beef parachuted from the second floor and sprained its ankle. Drake became the rap game’s most wanted, TIDAL’s firepower didn’t even cause a ripple, someone named Jesus showed up with disclaimers instead of scriptures and much more. And since we’re all here, in between helpings of Twitter beef or Birdman hand rubs, let’s all enjoy poking a little fun at the nonsense before we get drunk and argue with relatives. Gobble, gobble, bitches.
The “What Would Jesus Do?” Award
Slim Jesus
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Slim Jesus has been the year’s tongue-in-cheek rap phenomenon. But for all the nonsensical attention “Drill Time” created, it highlighted the under-appreciation rap fans have with rap. Then there’s the whole thing about him “not being about that life.” You can’t help but shrug your shoulders and move on, but we’re torn. Is it a blessing that there’s a place for someone like that in the culture or a curse? Does it show Hip Hop’s inclusiveness or its morbid fascination with novelty? In the end it’s not for me to say. What I can say with some certainty is that whatever Slim Jesus is doing, the real Jesus would not do that. Nope. Not even a little bit.
The Twitter Fingers Award
Meek Mill
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Meek Mill’s decision to come at Drake over not writing his lyrics to “R.I.C.O” is still kind of baffling to us. But it did make for the most entertaining beef of the year. It was also hilariously one-sided, as Meek got TKO’d before he even had a chance to respond in kind. First, “Charged Up” in its soup of lukewarm subliminals opened the dark closet door, then “Back To Back” shoved him in and shut it. Ever since then we’ve just heard a lot of rapping, though not the kind we’d come to expect from the fast talking former battle rapper. And we stood even more rapt over this line: “Trigger fingers turned to Twitter fingers.” In one bar Drake turned the daily social media scroll and response into a walk of shame.
The Superman Dat Hoe Award
Soulja Boy
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Let’s be honest here. The same man who created “Crank That” still manages to make his legendary presence known in Hip Hop from time-to-time. When he’s not behind the booth or producing a ludicrous amount of tracks, Soulja Boy Tell’em has had a field day running the reality television route. Through that outlet, he’s turned into Mack Of The Year. For the past two years, Soulja Boy has literally had a relationship for every reality television series he’s been on. Starting with The Sisterhood Of Hip Hop, Diamond’s romance with Soulja was a part of her narrative of regaining prominence as an emcee while in Atlanta. And then there’s 2015. As an ongoing cast member on VH1’s Love & Hip Hop Hollywood, he was caught in a three-way love triangle on the West Coast with Teddy Riley’s daughter, Nia Riley and model Nastassia Smith. In New York, he’s dating one of the daughters on MTV’s “The Westbrooks.”
The No Publicist Necessary Award (Sorry Greg)
The Game
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If anyone knows how to stay relevant and promote themselves without even dropping music, it’s definitely Jayceon Taylor aka The Game. This year has been nuts for the Compton emcee, from dropping a double disc album [The Documentary 2 and The Documentary 2.5], to beefing with Young Thug to his Robin Hood Project to even his “Fine Nigga Friday” IG stories that make the ladies go crazy. Game has been known for pulling a number of stunts before album drops, but this year alone he has been in the media more than ever, and not always in a good way. Back in April, The Game was hit with a lawsuit filed by a photographer and process server hired to serve him papers for another lawsuit. Two months later, he was wanted for issuing death threats to an off-duty police officer. Later that month he was ordered to pay a former nanny more than $200,000 for libel he allegedly committed on his Instagram account. Then in August he was sued for $10 Million by Priscilla Rainey, a contestant on his reality show, She Got Game, for sexual assault. Sheesh, Jayceon, don’t you think that’s enough? Of course not, because in September Game and Chris Brown’s friend Wackstar went back and forth on Instagram after he liked pictures of the singer’s ex, Karrueche Tran. Later that month, he was sued by Universal Attractions for canceling a performance in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I mean the list goes on! Oh, and he issued a warning to Slim Jesus. SMH!
But not everything The Game does is questionable. Through his Robin Hood Project, The Game gave away $1,000 every day to one fan for a span of 25 days. He personally hand-delivered the money to most of the winners. Now that’s dope. He also visited Mike Brown’s Memorial and handed out Happy Meals to the kids in Ferguson that he prepared himself. The Game is most definitely all about giving back to the community and despite everything that happened this year, the guy still does a lot of good.
The Epic Failure Award
Bobby Shmurda
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Last year, HipHopDX gave Bobby Shmurda “The Thirteen Minutes & 57 Seconds Award” and it looks like we were right. This was definitely an epic fail for Epic Records. The 21 yr-old Brooklyn emcee was initially indicted on charges including reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a weapon, conspiracy to commit murder in the second degree and criminally using drug paraphernalia. As if that wasn’t enough, Bobby Shmurda, Rowdy Rebel and 13 other GS9 members pled not guilty on January 29 to over 100 charges. Yes 100! To make things worse, he posts $2 Million bail and it was later pulled. How does he even expect to get out when he’s getting involved in gang-related fights while in prison? Yeah, that makes total sense, Bobby. Then there was all the different trial dates set, more denying of bails, oh and the promise from Flavor Flav to bail him out. Can people stop playing with the kid’s emotions? We think it’s safe to say that Bobby will be sitting down for a while. 15 minutes of fame expired a lonnnggggg time ago.
The Vibin’ On Our Hoe-ism Award
Amber Rose, Blac Chyna, Zola, Lira Galore & Summer P
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Looks like hoes really be winning. Amber Rose took embracing one’s sexuality to a new level after ex-husband Wiz Khalifa and ex-boyfriend Kanye West took shots at the former stripper. What did she do? Forgave them and participated in the highly controversial Slut Walk. Of course, this was all before releasing her first book, How To Be A Bad Bitch. Meanwhile, Rose’s BFF Blac Chyna had to endure her baby daddy Tyga leaving for someone underage. Then Chyna was embraced after getting a tattoo inspired by a short relationship with Future. Summer P ended up being a pawn in DJ Drama and Drake’s cold war. Lira Galore allegedly tried to smash all of the employees before getting engaged with The Boss. And Zola became an internet sensation through her clever usage of Twitter.
The Mediocre Music Group Award
Maybach Music Group
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Yes, Wale and Meek Mill had #1 albums in 2015, but everything beyond the music surrounding Rick Ross’s empire was anything but boss-like. Tha Bawse was arrested twice. Yeah, the June arrest for weed gets a pass. After all, it’s legal in some states. But getting knocked two weeks later on kidnapping, aggravated assault and aggravated battery charges? Remember, Ross, you’re supposed to have someone put in that type of work for you. Your time as a CO should have taught you that. Never get your own hands dirty. Speaking of keeping your hands clean, how do you wipe yourself of the flop that was Gunplay’s album? A living legend can surely bounce back from that, though. Wuuuhhhhh.
Then there’s the messy beef between labelmates-turned-foes, Meek Mill and Wale. These two goofs. Man, Wale aligns himself with Jerry Seinfeld (talk about an album about nothing) and Meek Mill’s twitter fingers were busting shots all through social media. He brought a keyboard to a gunfight and got bodied by a singing, um, brotha, from Canada. You know… “the bottom.” And who really won the beef between Wale and Meek Mill anyway? Since no one cared, it is the rare double defeat. At least Omarion did the label proud by having a non-MMG girl talk about gettin’ her booty ate. MMGood.
The Chatty Patty Award
Dame Dash
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It’s one thing when you’re an obnoxious businessman seemingly devoid of business acumen and one of the most disliked people in a butt-kissing industry such as the music business. But when Jay Z’s your business partner, it makes people like Dame Dash easier to tolerate.
Oh, wait.
Now that we’re going on a decade since Roc-a-Fella Records dissolved, inquiring people want to know what exactly it is that Dame Dash does. Oh, that’s right. He does interviews about all the things he used to be affiliated with and talks about how everyone else is wack. In July, he acknowledged that Roc-a-Fella was more flash than cash, admitting that the foundation upon the empire he helped build was a lie. He also did or did not partner on a number of ventures with protege Kanye West this year, but he definitely was called a culture vulture by Charlamagne after lobbing the same claim against former business partner Lyor Cohen.
When the only thing you’re running is your mouth, you’re losing the race.
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The Literally On Death Row Award
Suge Knight
Oh, how the mighty have fallen! Suge Knight has gone from being one of the most powerful music executives in the rap game to literally collapsing in jail. While it seemed like Suge’s collapse (both symbolic and literal) was sudden, a long history of shady behavior has finally caught up to him this year. Not only was Suge involved in a hit-and-run that left one dead and another hospitalized at the top of the year, but a shockingly graphic video of the incident became public and dominated the headlines in March. And this all came after he was rushed to a hospital while in police custody after suffering from a panic attack in February!
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At this point, it felt like Suge had hit rock bottom. But nope! Things only continued to get worse. Suge was AGAIN hospitalized after claiming that he was going blind from lack of medical care behind bars. Then, in late March when his $25 million bail was announced, Suge collapsed in the courtroom. The all of Suge Knight was officially underway.
In July, his lawyer claimed that he may have a brain tumor. It’s pretty sad to see the tragic turn his life has taken, but you gotta admit he had it coming. It became especially hard to feel bad for Suge when Eazy-E’s son resurfaced video footage of him chuckling with Jimmy Kimmel about the idea of murdering people by injecting them with AIDS-infected needles this summer. Plus there’s the fact that he remorselessly ran over and murdered a “friend” over a disagreement at the filming of Straight Outta Compton. Seriously, who does that?!
The What Money? Award
Cash Money Records
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It doesn’t seem that long ago that Cash Money was on top of the world. You couldn’t listen to the radio without hearing a Lil Wayne song or feature every five minutes. But maybe it was that long ago. Birdman has gone from father figure to Weezy to… reportedly conspiring to have him murdered. *gulp* Lil Wayne started the year off by suing Baby for a whopping $51 million for not releasing Tha Carter V and the fallout ensued. He said he was leaving Cash Money and taking Drake and Nicki Minaj with him. Drake and Nicki don’t even appear to be family anymore. The Toronto rapper found himself embroiled in a battle with Nicki’s boo and she remained silent the whole time. And Drake has a deal with Apple while Lil Wayne has chosen to side with TIDAL in the ongoing streaming wars. What happened to la familia?
Besides all of this, Lil Wayne’s house was raided by police because he owed $2 million to a private jet company. Birdman is dealing with his fair share of lawsuits and is also losing control of Tyga, who released The Gold Album: 18th Dynasty independently.
In DJ Khaled’s 2011 track, “I’m On One,” Weezy rapped braggadociously that he struts around clubs not giving a fuck what people think. “Too much money ain’t enough money / You know the feds listening, what money?” Four years later, we are all going, “what money?”
The In The Early 2000s You Were The Man, Homie Award
50 Cent
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Two phrases we never thought we’d hear together actually happened this year: “50 Cent” and “bankruptcy.” Not 50 Cent! Anybody but 50 Cent! In today’s rap game, the importance of authenticity is being questioned more and more. But we always had the G-Unit general to give us solace that at least someone was keeping it real. Cue “Wanksta.” So when Fiddy filed for bankruptcy in July, our world was shattered. During his testimony in the sex tape lawsuit, he admitted that much of his flashy image was false. All the cars and jewelry go back to where they came from after he’s had his Instagram fun, of which he’s had a lot.
And honestly, everyone knows that musically, he hasn’t even come close to the greatness of his 2003 debut album Get Rich Or Die Tryin’. He released the “9 Shots” single this year. That was hot for a second, but is anyone still bumping that song? 50 thinks so. The video is the link in his Instagram bio. Three months later. We’re still *patiently waiting* for Street King Immortal. Or are we?
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We shouldn’t feel that bad for 50. He did say filing for bankruptcy is just “for protection.” He still has the success of Power, which he doesn’t let us forget about. And Effen Vodka. And he appeared in a little movie called Southpaw with some obscure actor named Jake Gyllenhaal. Oh, and underwear, yeah.
The Cocaine Is A Helluva Drug Award
Stitches
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Stitches. Stitches. Stitches. We can’t make a list of all the nonsense in Rap this year and not mention this guy. So he gets his very own award. Stitches made a name for himself last year with the release of his “Brick in Yo Face” single. Everyone was wondering, “Who is this angry White guy with the tattoos on his face?” This year, we were treated to more of the wonderfully terrifying life of the Miami rapper born Phillip Katsabanis. And when we say Miami, we mean a Miami suburb named Kendall (not to be confused with the Jenner, more on that later). Not Overtown. Not Liberty City. Kendall. Ok.
Tyga was the first victim of Stitches’ shenanigans. On the track, “Kyga, She’s a Liar,” Stitches and Inkmonstarr alleged that they had sex with the “Rack City” rapper’s girlfriend, Kylie Jenner. But Stitches didn’t stop there. He placed a $10,000 bounty on Tyga’s chain. Is he trying to be Jeezy or something? He knows how that ended, right?
In between nights serving cocaine on stage, Stitches continued his streak by questioning The Game’s authenticity on Instagram. Game fired back, calling Stitches nothing but a fanboy. Stitches deleted all his posts, simultaneously squandering all perceived realness in the process. “Straight like that.”
The Forever 21 Award
Young Thug
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Musically it’s been a fairly successful year for Young Thug. He released Barter 6, Slime Season, and Slime Season 2 this year, with Hy!£UN35and Migos Thuggin slated for 2016. Personally though, it seems like he’s going through a bout of teenage angst.
Exhibit A: Wearing women’s clothing because they “fit the way they are supposed to fit”.
Exhibit B: Break-ups to make-ups. To break-ups…to make-ups. Then a song drops?
Exhibit C: Lauding Lil Wayne as his idol. Then later being accused of trying to…kill him? Then he just admitted he wants to BE him.
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Sounds like the plotline for every teenage coming-of-age film we watched over the last two decades. The jokes are bad, the plots are corny, rumors run rampant, and in the end the guy gets the girl. But during the demise of Thug’s “So Called Life” the DX community probably kept us the most entertained by dropping comments like, “Is Young Thug a girl?” and “Where is Lord Jamar when you need him?” Some jokes write themselves. Ya’ll funny.
The We Swear They’re Not On DX’s Payroll Award
Drake
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If it seemed like we wrote about Drake extensively in 2015… it’s because we did. And for good reason. Canada’s #1 export notched a banner year, releasing his own limited edition Jordans, touring extensively, partnering with Apple Music, campaigning for Sprite, canoodling with Serena Williams, out-Forbes Cash Kinging-Dr. Dre, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Drizzy is easy fodder for any conversation, as the DX Community consistently reminded us this year. We soaked-in a number of shots over our coverage. But away from the gossip, homie dropped two top selling mixtapes and one Philadelphia emcee who brought Twitter fingers to a gunfight. He’s not only one of the most popular emcees of the era, but also one of the most active. So what else is expected? In fact, we don’t wanna hear about this ever again.
The Peaked At The Press Conference Award
Tidal
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Kanye West said “This is the beginning of the new world.” Beyonce said “This collaboration feels so egoless” Jay Z called it “The thing that everyone wanted and everyone feared.” The only thing worse than watching TIDAL’s tone def Youtube commercial is watching TIDAL’s tone def press conference. The platitudes flowed like Ace Of Spades, sure. But did any of it mean anything for anyone who isn’t part of music’s elite? The plan was to essentially create an artists’ union and release music through a platform that would require fans to pay more money to access exclusive content. It was supposed to change the world. Instead it looked more like a bunch of rich people tickling each other’s balls.
In the eight months since TIDAL’s takeover arrival, multiple executives have left the company (including Chief Investment Officer Vania Schlogel), Lil Wayne came on as an additional owner, Jon Caramanica described the Tidal X concert as an old-fashioned telethon and Jay Z forgot to mention he owned the property while under oath. If Hov can’t remember TIDAL, why should you?
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