Cardi B just got a lovely surprise in the mail while in quarantine: her Grammy award from 2019! On Wednesday (May 13th), Cardi posted a video on her Instagram story, showing off the shiny trophy she won a year-and-a-half ago at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. In the clip, Cardi opens the box while indicting that "I just received my Grammy to the right house." Engraved on the plaque below the golden gramophone are Cardi's name and the title "Best Rap Album - 2018," which she won for her debut album, Invasion of Privacy.
Cardi's win last year was a historic one for the ladies. She became the first solo female rapper to be honoured with the prestigious award. The last female rapper in general to take home the trophy was Lauryn Hill, as part of The Fugees, who won for their album, The Score, more than two decades earlier in 1997.
Since then, Invasion of Privacy has gone on to break a number of records for female rap albums. It became the longest-charting debut for a female rapper at 92 weeks, beating Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which spent 91 weeks on the charts. After spending 8 more weeks on the charts, IOP also became the first female rap debut to chart for 100 weeks straight.
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Currently, Cardi is working on her follow-up to her explosive debut, but is reportedly putting the process on hold to renegotiate her contract. However, she's been building the hype by sharing some snippets of a few of the tracks off the forthcoming album, including one unreleased song about her daughter, Kulture.
Playboy Will No Longer Be Crowning A Playmate Of The Year
Playboy will no longer be choosing a Playmate of the Year, but instead will be introducing a new award system that favours inclusivity.
Playboy Magazine has opted not to choose one of the previous year’s Playmates of the Month to be crowned Playmate of the Year anymore, but they’re not tossing the tradition away entirely. Instead, the publication will be recognizing the Playmates of the Year to “celebrate all twelve diverse Playmates of the month” from the previous year. This move is in an effort to have “a more inclusive celebration” of all the Playmate cover stars, rather than choosing just one to honour.
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Since 1960, The Playmate of the Year award has been given to the best Playmate of the Month from the year prior. For forty years, one lucky Playmate has been honoured with the title, including stars like Jenny McCarthy and Anna Nicole Smith. However, the magazine felt that it was time for a change.
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“The point of this change was to not exclude anyone,” a rep for the magazine said. “Instead of honouring one Playmate, they’re honouring all 12 diverse Playmates of the Year for each of their unique contributions to the brand. They had an exceptional group of impressive diverse women join the Playboy family as Playmates for 2019. These women are accomplished advocates and admirable personalities in their own right. We wanted to raise the group up as a whole and felt that there was a need to commemorate each of them one more time.” Due to this change, the last true Playmate of the Year was Jordan Emanuel in 2019.
Solange Emotionally Accepts First-Ever Lena Horne Prize
Solange accepts the first-ever Lena Horne Prize for Artists Creating Social Impact.
Solange is the first-ever recipient of the Lena Horne Prize for Artists Creating Social Impact, as announced at Town Hall in New York City, Friday.
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The Lena Horne prize, named after legendary singer Lena Horne, showcases an artist who not only captivates an audience in the arts but demonstrates excellence with their activism.
Solange gave a powerful teary-eyed acceptance speech.
“I’m honored to be all the things that my mother and my dear friend Toyin have said, but I’m also in a moment of great transition and transformation and we all deserve the space to be all of those things," Solange said during her acceptance speech, per Billboard. "The space to love my people, to vow to continue fighting for us, for our peace, uplift us, make us seen and heard, celebrate our undeniable supreme light while trying really hard to find my own.”
Barbara Streisand Voted For Eminem’s "Lose Yourself" At 2003 Oscars
Barbara Streisand revealed that she voted for Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” from “8 Mile” for “Best Original Song” at the 2003 Oscars.
Barbara Streisand revealed that not only did she present Eminem‘s award for “Best Original Song” at the 2003 Oscars for “Lose Yourself,” she actually voted for the 8 Mile anthem in that category. Eminem’s surprise performance of “Lose Yourself” at the Oscars on Sunday night caught plenty of people off guard and sparked major confusion. While it was certainly unexpected, his performance was framed as a celebration of how songs have defined the films for which they were written over time, since Em notably won the Oscar for “Best Original Song” 17 years prior to this year’s Academy Awards.
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On Monday, Em shared a clip of the moment he was announced as the winner of “Best Original Song” back in 2003, an award he wasn’t able to accept in person since he was so convinced he wouldn’t win that he didn’t even attend the ceremony. In the caption of the video, in which Barbara Streisand presented the award to one of Em’s co-writers for “Lose Yourself,” Luis Resto, Em wrote, “Look, if you had another shot, another opportunity… Thanks for having me @theacademy. Sorry it took me 18 years to get here.”
Barbara reposted the video on her own Instagram account, and revealed in the caption that she actually played a larger role in getting Eminem that Oscar that he ever knew.
“@eminem I had voted for your song too!” Barbara wrote. “Was really looking forward to handing you the award. Next time!” While he wasn’t able to bask in his victory back then, Em has shared that this year’s performance was his opportunity do just that. “I kinda figured maybe since I didn’t get a chance to do it at the time, maybe it would be cool,” he noted.
Nicki Minaj Standing Up To Applause At VMAs Is Latest Meme To Take Over Twitter
Nicki's power.
After keeping a fairly low profile for awhile, Nicki Minaj has reappeared in all of our lives as she jumped back onto the scene this week. Following a public dispute with ex-boyfriend, Meek Mill, alongside her husband, Kenneth Petty, Nicki reappeared on Instagram this week to share her first post in months. Not only did she return to social media, but the Queen also continued to shut down her alleged retirement from music with her feature on Meghan Trainor's new single, "Nice To Meet Ya." To top it all off, she announced she'd be a serving as a guest judge on season 10 of RuPaul's Drag Race.
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Now that Nicki's next era is upon us, a clip of her from over a year ago has resurfaced as the latest viral meme. The simple video shows Nicki standing up from her seat at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2018 to accept the Best Hip-Hop Music Video award while "Chun-Li" plays in the background. The way she takes a second to actually get up and then proceeds to stroke on of her pigtails has people producing some content that is just pure gold. Check out the funniest uses of the meme on Twitter:
Roddy Ricch Hugs Lauren London After Nipsey’s Grammy Win In Touching Photo
Nipsey posthumously won for his song, "Racks in the Middle," with Roddy and Hit-Boy.
The Grammy Awards on Sunday definitely felt more somber than usual, not only with the passing of Kobe Bryant that same day, but also due to the hyperawareness of Nipsey Hussle's absence. Nipsey passed away just about a month-and-a-half after last year's Grammys, where he received his first nomination for his debut album, Victory Lap, in the Best Rap Album category. Though he ultimately lost, Nipsey was posthumously nominated this year in three different categories: Best Rap/Sung Performance for "Higher" with DJ Khaled and John Legend, as well as Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song for "Racks In The Middle" with Roddy Ricch and Hit-Boy. Despite losing Best Rap Song to J. Cole and 21 Savage for "A Lot," Nip and his collaborators did nab the other two titles. While these awards are, of course, bittersweet, Roddy Ricch's latest Twitter share casts a brighter light on their win for "Racks In The Middle." The rap wunderkind posted a photo of himself hugging Nipsey's partner and the mother of his child, Lauren London, on the momentous evening.
In the tweet, Roddy wrote, "one of the greatest moments was seeing her smile cause hussle got one." Not only did Nipsey get recognized with multiple awards, but he was also honoured with a tribute performance by Roddy, John, and Khaled, along with YG, Meek Mill, and Kirk Franklin. These artists made sure to include Kobe's memory in the tribute as well, which made the performance all the more powerful and devastating.
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Diddy Speaks Out: "Black Music Has Never Been Respected By The Grammys"
Diddy made a powerful statement during his speech at the Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala.
Diddy was the honouree of the 2020 Grammys Salute to Industry Icons at the Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala on Saturday night, and the hip hop OG used his speech as an opportunity to shed light on the wide range of overlooked artists in the industry. Following a tribute performance by various artists close to Diddy including Faith Evans, Ma$e, Lil’ Kim, and his son, King Combs, Diddy took the stage to accept the honour which resulted in a whopping 50-minute speech. Though he primarily focused on his own life and career for the majority of his allotted time, near the end of the speech, Diddy made the bold and admirable choice to call out the Recording Academy for their major musical oversights over the years, specifically of black artists.
“There’s something that I need to say to the Grammys, and I say this with love," he announced. "Every year, y’all be killing us, man. I’m speaking for all the artists here, the producers, the executives. The amount of time that it takes to make these records, to pour your heart out into it. And we just want an even playing field. In the great words of Erykah Badu, 'We are artists and we are sensitive about our sh*t.' We are passionate. For most of us, this is all we’ve got. This is our only hope." Diddy then comprehensively summarized his overarching point in two powerful statements: "Truth be told, hip-hop has never been respected by the Grammys. Black music has never been respected by the Grammys.”
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The crowd applauds him as he proceeds to reference the current turmoil surrounding the Grammys, following the Academy's sudden decision to place its president and CEO, Deborah Dugan, on administrative leave after they received a “formal allegation of misconduct by a senior female [staff] member." Deborah has accused the Academy of its own misconduct, which includes voter manipulation, financial mismanagement, sexual harassment, and gender discrimination. Diddy spoke to how there have always been issues within the Academy, which includes a long history of excluding black music from its consideration.
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“So right now, with this current situation, it’s not a revelation. This thing been going on, and it's not just going on in music. It's going on in films, it's going on in sports, it's going on around the world. And for years we’ve allowed institutions that have never had our best interests at heart to judge us, and that stops right now. I’m officially starting the clock: you’ve got 365 days to get this sh*t together," Diddy declares, challenging the Academy to shift how they operate for the better. "We need the artists to take back control, we need transparency, we need diversity. This is the room that has the power to [force] the change that needs to be made. They have to make the changes for us: They’re a non-profit organization that is supposed to protect the welfare of the musical community. That’s what is says on the mission statement. They work for us. It’s going to take all of us to get this done. I’m here for the artists, so sign me up.”
