1991
Welcome the first annual New Jack Hip Hop Awards!
And what is the New Jack Hip Hop Awards?
Well early in 1991, everyone on alt.rap and the funky-music mailing list was bitchin' about how lame the Grammy's were in general, and especially how weak they were when it came to rap and hiphop.
Thus was born the New Jack Hip Hop Awards.
You decide on the categories. You nominate. You vote. All we do is count and give out the Jacks. You can't blame us.
Our first category is Crossover Rap, counted by fletch1 who resides here at MIT. Crossover is not to be confused with hip-pop like Vanilla Wafer. This is the rap that really "crosses" to R&B and even pop while actually remaining both good and true to hip hop. Well, you know what I mean. The results:
Dopest Crossover Group
| 49.0% | Digital Underground |
| 24.0% | PM Dawn |
| 16.0% | Urban Dance Squad |
| 10.0% | Salt 'N Pepa |
No contest. Digital Underground led the whole way, probably helped by their latest album Sons of The P and the popular "Kiss You Back" single. PM Dawn did fairly well also, despite the recent flack 'tween them and KRS-One of Boogie Down Productions. The peoples have spoken. Go buy DU, then PM Dawn. Oh yes, someone wrote in Definition of Sound.
Technically, by the way, PM Dawn isn't a group by our definition, but we'll pretend that didn't happen.
Dopest Crossover Male Rapper
| 67.5% | Heavy D |
| 32.5% | Shabba Ranks |
Even less of a contest. Many voters wondered exactly why Shabba Ranks was even on this list, reflecting his trouncing. Well, I don't know, but look at it this way: if Heavy D were an incumbent president, this would be seen as a message.
Dopest Crossover Female Rapper
| 54.5% | Monie Love |
| 45.5% | Queen Latifah |
Queen Latifah remained in the race until the about halfway through. Since Monie's album came out much earlier in the year than the Queen's, this either says something about Monie's popularity or the Queen's lack thereof.
Dopest Crossover Single
| 39.1% | "Down Wit OPP", Naughty by Nature |
| 28.7% | "Summertime", DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince |
| 18.4% | "All Around The World", Digital Underground |
| 6.9% | "Now That We've Found Lover", Heavy D and the Boyz |
| 6.9% | "Hip Hop Junkies", Nice 'N Smooth |
The mega-overplayed "Down Wit OPP" takes top honors. Jeff and the Prince surged at the last minute but it was too little too late. Somewhat surprisingly, Heavy D found himself at the very bottom, barely tying with newcomers Nice N Smooth. This was a bit of a trend for both Heavy D and DU. Despite high votes for them as rappers, they received low votes for the singles.
Dopest Crossover Album
| 41.9% | Peaceful Journey, Heavy D and The Boyz |
| 37.8% | Of The Heart, of The Soul and of The Cross: The Utopian Experience, PM Dawn |
| 20.3% | Life 'N Perspectives of a Genuine Crossover, Urban Dance Squad |
There was a late surge for PM Dawn, but they seem destined for second.
Our second category is Braggadacio counted by dav@dartmouth. This is sort of the default category, but "Default Rap" seemed a bit lame.
Dopest Braggadacio Group
| 33.7% | Digital Underground |
| 29.1% | EPMD |
| 23.3% | Naughty By Nature |
| 11.6% | N.W.A |
| 2.3% | Run-DMC |
As if to point out just how ridiculous it is to try to categorize rappers, Digital Underground decided to win this category as well. They barely pulled it off though, having been neck and neck the whole time with EPMD. Unlike DU, EPMD's presence in 1991 wasn't as hard felt, with their third album Business As Usual actually released in 1990 (but a few singles off that album charted in 1991). Naughty By Nature made a respectable third and NWA edged out Run-DMC who received a few sympathy votes.
Dopest Braggadacio Male Rapper
| 40.5% | LL Cool J |
| 17.9% | Kool Moe Dee |
| 14.3% | Tim Dogg |
| 14.3% | Big Daddy Kane |
| 13.1% | Chubb Rock |
Well, LL crushed the competition, winning twice as many votes as his arch-rival Kool Moe Dee who barely beat the rest of the pack. Nothing much to say here, LL does brag well having already registered his ego with the police as a deadly weapon.
Dopest Braggadacio Female Rapper
| 50.0% | MC Lyte |
| 36.2% | Queen Latifah |
| 13.3% | Roxanne Shante |
Roxanne never had a chance, not even a little one. Latifah, like PM Dawn, also seems destined for second, at least behind the relatively hard MC Lyte.
Dopest Braggadacio Single
| 39.5% | "Mama Said Knock You Out", LL Cool J |
| 37.2% | "Down Wit OPP", Naughty By Nature |
| 14.0% | "How Kool Can One Black Man Be", Kool Moe Dee |
| 9.3% | "The Chubbster", Chubb Rock |
LL once again surprised me utterly, always staying one step ahead of NbN. Moe Dee Again fell behind LL, but at least he can feel better than the Chubbster.
Dopest Braggadacio Album
| 45.8% | Mama Said Knock You Out, LL Cool J |
| 29.3% | Business As Usual, EPMD |
| 15.7% | Penicillin On Wax, Tim Dogg |
| 13.2% | Funke Funke Wisdom, Kool Moe Dee |
LL swept this whole category, trouncing the competition once again. EPMD made a nice second and Tim Dogg f*cked Compton long enough to edge out Moe Dee.
Bohemian Rap. Well, no one (even John Murphy, who counted this vote) seems to know exactly what this is. But we do know that the Native Tongue Family and people like them belong there. Maybe "Progressive Rap" would be better, but then maybe not.
Dopest Bohemian Group
| 37.6% | Tribe Called Quest |
| 26.6% | De La Soul |
| 16.5% | PM Dawn |
| 12.0% | Black Sheep |
| 7.3% | Brand Nubians |
Quest's Low End Theory worked big for them this year, leading to a nice margin of victory, even over the heavyweight De La Soul and the airplay kings PM Dawn. Black Sheep received almost no votes at first, but got more and more as time passed. Although Brand Nubians came in last, they can take comfort in the fact that they are in a strong group.
Dopest Bohemian Male Rapper
| 57.7% | Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest |
| 18.6% | Del, the Funkee Homosapien |
| 12.4% | Grand Puba Maxwell, of Brand Nubians |
| 11.3% | Phife, of A Tribe Called Quest |
You may have noticed that (so far) no one has won any award by a majority (except for the cases where there are only two nominees), so Q-Tip's overwhelming victory is pretty stunning. Newcomer Del made a nice showing edging over popular Puba and Phife. The biggest surprise is that Phife came in last! I guess Tribe fans prefer Q-Tip's particular style of speak.
Dopest Bohemian Female
| 62.2% | Queen Latifah |
| 37.8% | Monie Love |
So, Queen beats out the same woman she lost to earlier. This means Monie is a better crossover rapper and Latifah is a better Bohemian rapper.
Okay.
Dopest Bohemian Single
| 22.1% | "Check The Rime", A Tribe Called Quest |
| 19.2% | "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss", PM Dawn |
| 17.3% | "Ring, Ring, Ring", De La Soul |
| 17.3% | "Buggin' Out", A Tribe Called Quest |
| 16.4% | "Flavor of the Month", Black Sheep |
| 7.7% | "Slow Down", Brand Nubians |
Tribe is on its way to a sweep. Still, this was a close race with a just a few votes between each participant (except for "Slow Down" which peaked last summer). Again, a strong field--a very hard one to choose from.
Dopest Bohemian Album
| 41.2% | Low End Theory, A Tribe Called Quest |
| 21.7% | De La Soul Is Dead, De La Soul |
| 15.5% | Of The Heart..., PM Dawn |
| 8.25% | All For One, Brand Nubians |
| 8.25% | A Sheep In Wolf's Clothing, Black Sheep |
| 5.1% | Mr Hood, KMD |
And the sweep is swept. And this time, no real contest. It's a Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul world. PM Dawn made another not-quite first place showing, while the other nominees lagged further behind.
The following misc categories were counted by Philip Duvalsaint.
Funniest Rap
| 62.9% | "Bitties In The BK Lounge", De La Soul |
| 37.1% | "U Mean I'm Not", Black Sheep |
Ice T's "Bitches 2" got a write-in also. Black Sheep held on for a while but were finally slain by the end, beaten over the head with a BK tray.
Hardest Dis
| 35.4% | "No Vaseline", Ice Cube |
| 25.3% | "Fuck Compton", Tim Dogg |
| 24.1% | "Pop Goes The Weasel", 3rd Bass |
| 15.2% | "Death Blow", Kool Moe Dee |
Ice Cube's strong dis for his one-time partners egded out Tim Dogg's Compton-bashing and 3rd Bass's Vanilla Ice Cream Cone smack. Oh, and Moe Dee got some dap for his anti-LL lyric-fest.
Best Comeback
| 78.4% | LL Cool J for Mama said Knock You Out |
| 21.6% | Kool Moe Dee for Funke Funke Wisdom |
Poor Moe Dee. I guess LL has won round one, G.
Dopest New HipHopster
| 23.6% | Leaders of the New School |
| 19.4% | Del, The Fonkee Homosapien |
| 18.0% | PM Dawn |
| 16.7% | Paris |
| 15.3% | Son of Bazerk |
| 7.0% | Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy |
A clooooose call for sure except for last place. Busta Rhymes and his crew took top honors, with almost everyone else basically taking second. One vote would have made all the difference.
Leaders of the New School
(not to be confused with the group, this is for the rappers
who have taken the genre in a new direction)
| 72.0% | A Tribe Called Quest |
| 16.0% | PM Dawn |
| 12.0% | Disposable Heroes of HipHoprisy |
The Quest crushed the competition utterly. Totally. This was contestless. This wasn't a majority, it was a slaughter. Geez.
These were counted by Kwatsi at MIT, the Atomic Playboy.
Dopest Lyric
| 38.0% | "Down Wit OPP", Naughty By Nature |
| 26.0% | "Check The Rime", A Tribe Called Quest |
| 16.0% | "Love's Gonna Getcha", Boogie Down Productions |
| 16.0% | "The Wrong Nigga Ta Fuck Wit", Ice Cube |
| 4.0% | "Death Blow", Kool Moe Dee |
NbN beat everyone up, beating out Quest for longest lyrical pipe. Of course, as your impartial judge I have nothing to say.
Most Slammin' Beat
| 48.9% | "Can't Truss It", Public Enemy |
| 31.9% |
"Mind's Playin' Trix On me", Geto Boys |
| 19.2% | "The Band Gets Swivey On The Wheels", Son of Bazerk |
No contest. PE lead all the way.
Dopest DJ
Terminator X
There was no vote here, of course, as he won the nomination. Never daunted, several DJ lovers got into it late with Magic Mike getting a write-in and Eric B getting two.
Best Live
| 62.5% | Public Enemy, various |
| 25.0% | Ice-T, Lallapoloza Tour |
| 9.4% | Boogie Down Productions, Live Hardcore Worldwide |
| 3.1% | Highjack, Lallapoloza Tour |
PE grabs their own majority win here.
Dopest Producers
| 43.9% | Bomb Squad, various |
| 24.4% | Grand Ministers of Funk, Apocalypse '91... |
| 17.1% | Prince Paul, De La Soul Is Dead |
| 9.8% | Sir Jinx, various |
| 4.9% | Boogie Men, Death Certificate |
The two PE-associated producers won top honors, with the Bohmeian Prince Paul taken third and the harder Bomb Squad-like Sir Jinx and Boogie Men taking up the end. Dj Aladin and SLJ got a write in for OG: Original Gangsta.
And that's the end of part one. See you tommorrow.
Peace in? Peace out!