Dope Videos and Other Visual Stuff

This set was counted by me. Hi mom!

Oh, and of course, my homeslice Mark helped with the nomination counting in this category as well. We'll hear more from him later.

Phattest Short Form Video
Award for the Phattest Video.

50.4%	"Passin Me By" Pharcyde
20.2%	"What's my name?" Snoop Doggy Dogg
12.6%	"Breakadawn" De La Soul
10.9%	"Nuttin' But a G Thang" Dr Dre
5.9%	"93 'Til Infinity" Souls of Mischief

This was actually never a contest. Pharcyde took over from the very beginning and didn't even pretend to let anyone come near them. They actually managed a majority of the votes (if barely), something one hardly ever sees.

The more interesting race was for second and third. It looked like it was between Dr. Dre and Snoop, but both Snoop and De La Soul managed big surges at the last minute. Thus, Snoop garnered a solid second and De La Soul a squeaky third.

Phattest Long Form Video
Award for the Phattest full-length video.

61.3%	O.G. Ice-T
38.7%	Shorty the Pimp Too $hort

Well, well, well. Ice-T's video, riding the coattails of what is arguably his best album, O.G. Orginial Gangsta, never even let Shorty the Pimp dream about winning this one. Still, Too $hort remained tenancious throughout. So, while it looks bad on paper, he actually did very well.

Phattest Hip Hop Video Show
Award for the Phattest, um, Hip Hop Video Show.

45.8%	"Rap City" with Prince Du Jour, Chris Thomas & various guest hosts
43.0%	"Yo MTV Raps" with Dr. Dre, Ed Lover, T-Money & Fab 5 Freddy
11.2%	"Video Music Box" with VJ Ralph McDaniels (Channel 31 in NYC)

After two years at the top as undisputed champion, "Yo! MTV Raps" has gone the way of the dinosaurs, finally yielding to the more ecologically sound "Rap City." Also, due to the woes of cancellation, Dee Barnes' "Pump It Up!" is nowhere to be seen. Thus ends an era? Certainly for Dee Barnes, but what about "Yo!"? We'll see next year, I guess.

Of special note is the not-embarrassing showing of "Video Music Box." VJ Ralph Daniels did very well considering his limited exposure. Also worth mentioning is the write-in vote for "Urban Experience" which is "outta Roz's basement in Philly on channel 48." You Philly folks might want to check it out. Also those of you in Germany might be able to figure out "Freestyle" (VIVA in Germany).

Best live performance/tour/live album
Award for the best live performance, be it on tour, a live album or whatever.

77.3%	The De La Soul/Tribe Called Quest/Souls of Mischief tour
16.5%	The Cypress Hill/Rage Against The Machine/Funkdoobiest tour
3.1%	The Pharcyde/Masta Ace tour
3.1%	The Souls of Mischief-Souls of Mischief with the Coup

What an upset. There's not much I can add. The votes pretty much always kept to the ratios above from the beginning to the end. It was actually kind of embarrassing. Still, what I find interesting is just how many people voted in this category. Where do y'all get the money?

Whackness and former whackness

Once again, I have Fletch to thank for counting.

Biggest sellout
For the suckas that go pop. Should have been at least vaguely hip-hop in the first place.

60.8%	Tag Team for "Whoomp! There It Is"
29.2%	DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince for Code Red
10.0%	Big Daddy Kane for Looks Like a Job For...

Another upset. Despite its apparent popularity, the voters gave this one the big finger. Now, I don't how Tag Team sold out, but the masses have spoken. Kinda ugly isn't it?

In the meantime, the once-slammin' DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince got the big pimp slap along with Big Daddy Kane (no one seems to have forgiven him for Prince of Darkness since he's been nominated every since we've had these awards).

Last year's winner, Hammer, also got a write-in vote just for GP, I guess.

Whackest rapper
The weakest, but visible, whackster of the year.

26.8%	Tag Team for "Whoomp! There It Is"
22.8%	The Fresh Prince for "Boom! Shake The Room"
16.5%	Snoop Doggy Dogg for, well, everthing
14.2%	Easy-E for 187 It's On
12.6%	Duice for "Dazzey Dukes"
7.1%	Luke for "In The Nude"

It looked like a definite win for the Fresh Prince but then Tag Team snuck up and stole first place. I hope they're happy about it. In any case, people were less sure about whackness this time around than in year's past when we had greats like Vanilla Ice Cream Cone and Marky Mark to choose from.

Of special note is the performance of ridiculously popular Snoop Doggy Dogg. Speaking of which:

Biggest Disapointment
This is different than the biggest sellout. Sometimes old favorites just plain fall off without even getting the money for selling out. Who fell flat this year?

43.0%	Doggy Style Snoop Doggy Dogg
20.3%	Home Invasion Ice-T
17.1%	14 Shots to the Dome LL Cool J
9.8%	The Body Hat Syndrome Digital Underground
5.7%	Straight Up Sewaside Das EFX
4.1%	"Real Muthaphukkin' G's" Eazy E

Here he is again. Both he and Ice-T had hard acts to follow after The Chronic and OG Original Gangsta, respectively. It might have been hard not to be disappointed. Still, Snoop had the bigger burden to carry after the incredible hype his oft-delayed first solo effort received. By contrast, Ice Cube's underhyped new album--which disappointed a lot of people, apparently--wasn't even nominated and only received one write-in.

For my part, I'm surprised at number #3 since I could never be disappointed by LL after Walking With A Panther. That's just me, though.

Best Comeback
On the good side, sometimes folks we had written off as dead, come back like hard.

45.8%	Down With The King Run-DMC
32.8%	Return of the Boom Bap KRS-One
10.7%	No Need For Alarm Del Tha Funke Homosapien
10.7%	SlaughtaHouse Masta Ace Inc.

And the Jack goes to Run-DMC, the kings of rock themselves. Of course, Run-DMC is in our Hall of Fame and as everyone ought to know, had a profound effect on Hip-Hop in the early and mid 1980s. Last year, they released, like, their one millionth album Down With King with a new style and some new production. Apparently, folks are happy with it.

Not too much farther down the list is KRS-One, another veteran of Hip-Hop who, along with Public Enemy, helped to shape the Hip Hop Nation in the mid to late 80s. His latest album--which seems to be considered by many to be his best since his first two--has reaffirmed him as a popular and relevant hip hop artist.

Tied for third are Del Tha Funke Homosapien (whom everyone apparently wrote off after his first album) and Masta Ace.

Hardest and Ugliest Dis'
Award for the hardest most diggum-smack dis of the year--the one that made you screw up your face and go "damn!"

71.2%	"____ Wit Dre Day" Dr. Dre
28.8%	187 It's On Eazy E

Pardon me while I screw up my face. Damn!

Since each of these disses were aimed at the other, I guess we can claim Dr Dre the winner, especially since Luke--the other Dre victim--managed only a write-in.

Damn!

Gangsta Hip-Hop

This batch was herded home by none other than William David Haas who's still doing stuff with Dartmouth. Say "hi" to the people, William.

Phattest Gangsta Group

37.1%	Cypress Hill
23.4%	Onyx
21.0%	Black Moon
18.5%	Geto Boys

Cypress Hill took first early on and held it. The battle was always for second. In that race, Onyx managed to squeak by.

Phattest Gangsta Male Rapper

71.4%	Ice Cube
18.8%	Snoop Doggy Dogg
9.8%	Dr. Dre

Well... damn. Is this one too close to call or what? Ice Cube posts one of our highest shares of votes ever and completely smokes former N.W.A cohort Dr Dre as well as the young upstart, Snoop Doggy Dogg.

Ice-T, one of our usual suspects in this category received a write-in vote along with B-Real and Kool G Rap.

Phattest Gangsta Female Rapper

35.0%	Bo$$
26.0%	MC Lyte
22.7%	Yo-Yo
16.3%	Rage

Once again, Bo$$ wins the race hands down. That's not too surprising since she pretty much has the gangsta attitude down pat while MC Lyte has softened her image over the years. Bo$$ is... the boss.

Phattest Gangsta Rap Single

30.4%	"Nuttin But a G Thang" Dr. Dre
21.8%	"Really Doe" Ice Cube
15.1%	"Dre Day" Dr. Dre
10.9%	"Let Me Ride" Dr. Dre
10.9%	"Who's The Man?" House of Pain
10.9%	"The Bonnie And Clyde Theme" Yo-Yo and Ice Cube

Despite losing handily in the Male category, Dr. Dre took top spot. And spot number three. And tied for fourth place. Of course all of this might have been for Snoop since he was featured in each of those tracks. Whatever.

Given that he was competing against himself, taking top spot is quite impressive. To see another sort of result like that we'd have to go back to the 1991 awards and find Public Enemy taking the top three spots for Dopest Political Single.

In any case, Ice Cube managed a solid second place and reappears in his duet with Yo-Yo to tie for fourth. Also in the mix is House of Pain for "Who's The Man?".

Phattest Gangsta Rap Album

33.7%	The Chronic Dr. Dre
21.3%	Lethal Injection Ice Cube
17.2%	Live and Let Die Kool G. Rap and DJ Polo
13.9%	Black Sunday Cypress Hill
9.0%	Born Gangstaz Bo$$
4.9%	Doggy Style Snoop Doggy Dogg

Was this ever in doubt? He took first place convincingly, again beating out Ice Cube. Again, we see Snoop Doggy Dogg in the basement.

Each nominee was pretty solid in his or her (there's Bo$$ again!) place this time around, so it's pretty clear how people feel.

It's Dre Day.

Political Hip-Hop

This set was guarded by Mark Smith, Jamaican knockin' out Ja-fakin's and Hip Hop activist.

Phattest Political Group

54.8%	Public Enemy
22.2%	Poor Righteous Teachers
20.7%	The Coup
2.3%	The Goats (write-in)

No contest. Public Enemy, probably riding off their entire career as one of the best groups ever rather than just their performance for 1993, took this category by storm, even winning a nice majority. No story to tell here.

Second place is a different issue. PRT and The Coup fought it out up until the very end, but the brothers from New Jersey finally came out on top. Also worth noting is that the write-ins for The Goats numbered enough to make it worth actually putting them in the final tally.

Phattest Political Male Rapper

45.1%	KRS-One
21.1%	Chuck D
13.5%	Ice Cube
11.3%	Paris
6.0%	Boots
3.0%	Tragedy, The Intelligent Hoodlum

KRS-One dominated this category from the get-go, as well he should have... even beating out the ever-present Chuck D. Our resident gangsta politican, Ice Cube, pulled solid third place over Paris' underground sound. Swayzack managed a write-in.

Phattest Political Female Rapper

65.3%	Queen Latifah
20.2%	Yo-Yo
14.5%	Me'Shell NdegeOcello

Queen Latifah just spanked the competition, as she does every year and this time by an impressive margin. Of special interest here is the amazing performance of Me'Shell NdegeOcello. Considering that many might argue that she isn't even hip hop she did very well. Since her album barely sneaked in this year, there's a good chance that she may come back as a serious challenge for next year....

Phattest Political Rap Single

34.7%	"Sound of Da Police" KRS-One
21.8%	"U-N-I-T-Y" Queen Latifah
16.9%	"Typical American" The Goats
11.3%	"Dig It" The Coup
7.2%	"Not Yet Free" The Coup
8.1%	"Living in a Zoo" Public Enemy

KRS-One took the top spot, even though this particular single was just released. This was a solid victory for the philosopher.

An even bigger victory is Queen Latifah's strong second place showing. She not only took a big step simply by showing up in the singles category--remember that this is the first year that any women have ever had singles up for category awards (including everything, of course, Roxanne Shante's did receive a nomination for Hardest Diss last year)--but she managed a strong second place showing.

You go gurl.

Saddest case might be The Coup whose split votes may be what kept them from third.

Now... does anyone want to explain Public Enemy's showing? How'd they manage to do so poorly and still dominate the group category? Hmmmm? They only did better than the Ice Cube write-in for "Ghetto Bird."

Phattest Political Rap Album

42.9%	Return of the Boom Bap KRS-1
23.0%	Lethal Injection Ice Cube
17.4%	Sleeping With The Enemy Paris
16.7%	Kill My Landlord The Coup

And this makes the KRS-One dominance of the Political genre complete. As always, he dominated wherever he was. The race for second was a bit more interesting in that it was pretty much a free-for-all up until the end. The Goats, by the way, received a few write-ins.

Progressive/Jazz Rap

This little bit of counting was done by none other than La Tondra Alyce Murray, Virginian-by-way-of-England, progressive member of the Hip Hop Nation, Atlanta GA fan and all-around humanitarian.

Phattest Progressive/Jazz Rap Group

45.3%	A Tribe Called Quest
15.3%	Digable Planets
12.7%	Us3
9.3%	Pharcyde
8.7%	De La Soul
8.7%	Souls of Mischief

Not much to say here. Quest won, as if there was ever any real doubt one way or the other. The fight for second was a bit more interesting until Digables took a sizeable lead. The ever-popular Pharcyde edged out veterans De La Soul and fellow new jacks Souls of Mischief.

Phattest Progressive/Jazz Male Rapper

36.0%	Guru
35.3%	Q-Tip
17.7%	Posdonus
16.0%	Phife Dog

Now this was an upset. It was a Q-Tip world until the very last day. Almost all the last-minute voters voted for Guru and just made the difference. In the meantime De La Soul's Posdonus and the other lyricist in ATCQ stand flabbergasted. I know I am.

Phattest Progressive/Jazz Female Rapper

35.4%	Ladybug Mecca
27.0%	Queen Latifah
18.8%	Shortie No Mas
18.8%	Me'Shell NdegeOcello

Last year, Ladybug came in last place in the female crossover category and wasn't even nominated in this one... probably because everyone thought her name was Cleopatra Jones (kids! no sense of history!). This year she comes back strong.

Once again, the surprise is from Me'Shell ("the alternative to hip-hop is dead silence"), who managed to tie for third with the De La female despite her maybe-it-is-maybe-it-isn't hiphop style.

Phattest Progressive/Jazz Rap Single

24.0%	"Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" Digable Planets
21.3%	"Passing Me By" Pharacyde
16.8%	"Award Tour" A Tribe Called Quest
16.0%	"Cantaloop" Us3
13.3%	"93 'Til Infinity" Souls of Mischief
5.3%	"Trust Me" Guru
3.3%	"Breakadawn" De La Soul

I'm surprised by this one. The Digable Planets crew comes from behind to take first place and with a little bit of authority, no less. They are joined by another set of New Jacks, the Pharcyde, relegating ATCQ to third place (unbelievable?). Blue note artists Us3 do a respectable job coming in just behind Quest and a bit ahead of the Souls.

Phattest Progressive/Jazz Rap Album

28.2%	Midnight Marauders ATCQ
15.4%	Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) Digable Planets
14.8%	Jazzamatazz Volume 1 Guru
14.1%	Bizarre Ride II Tha Pharacyde Pharacyde
10.7%	93 'Til Infinity Souls of Mischief
8.7%	Hand on the Torch US3
8.1%	Buhloone Mindstate De La Soul

And The Tribe have their revenge in the end with a solid victory in the album category. It wasn't even close. In the race for second, Digable Planets again pulls an upset, leaving both Guru and Pharcyde behind. At the bottom is De La Soul... beaten by the newcomers, no less.

What you've been waiting for

As always, I counted this group. And let me tell you: the races were pretty damn exciting.

Most Unfairly Slept On Album
Ever year some artist comes off proper but is ignored by the community. Here we may remedy that.

The nominees are:

Kill My Landlord The Coup
SlaughtaHouse Masta Ace Inc.
JBs with the Remedy Jungle Brothers
Enta Da Stage Black Moon
Inner City Griots Freestyle Fellowship
T.I.M.E. Leaders of the New School

And the results:

21.4%	JBs with the Remedy Jungle Brothers
19.4%	Kill My Landlord The Coup
18.5%	T.I.M.E. Leaders of the New School
18.5%	SlaughtaHouse Masta Ace Inc.
12.0%	Inner City Griots Freestyle Fellowship
10.2%	Enta Da Stage Black Moon

This was a race that was down to the wire. The final results almost look like a four-way tie for first. The Jungle Brothers made a last-minute surge to take first just barely from The Coup. And The Coup barely take second place over Masta Ace and Leaders of the New School (both the early favorites).

In other words, go buy all these albums. I have to admit that I've slept on some of them. I've learned my lesson. Off to Tower....

Also, there were several write-ins: Intelligent Hoodlum, Very Necessary Salt N Pepa, Tricks of the Shade The Goats and Looks Like A Job For... Big Daddy Kane

Phattest New Hip Hopster
The best New Jack to arrive on the scene this year.

The nominees are:

Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde The Pharcyde
Kill My Landlord The Coup
93 'Til Infinity Souls of Mischief
Come Clean Jeru Tha Damaja
Here Come The Lords Lords of the Underground
Doggy Style Snoop Doggy Dogg

And the results:

34.9%	Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde The Pharcyde
25.4%	93 'Til Infinity Souls of Mischief
12.7%	Doggy Style Snoop Doggy Dogg
11.9%	Here Come The Lords Lords of the Underground
8.7%	Kill My Landlord The Coup
6.3%	Come Clean Jeru Tha Damaja

Okay, I admit it. I slept on The Pharcyde. Still, they didn't need my help to win. They just plain took first place. The Souls of Mischief--everyone's favorite Hiero group--tried and tried and tried, but that was when they lost.

Oddly enough, Snoop did quite well considering his earlier showings and his Jack for biggest dissapointment. Or maybe that isn't so odd, now that I think about it.... He certainly seems to engender strong feelings.

Hall of Fame
Award for that person or persons who managed to make hip hop history and have stood the test of time... We're talking about those back in the day who helped make our current dopeness possible. Note: Public Enemy and Run-DMC, our 1991 and 1992 winners, were ineligible this year.

The nominees are: KRS-One/Boogie Down Productions
Grandmaster Flash & Furious Five
Africa Bambatta
Ice Cube
George Clinton/Parliament-Funkadelic
A Tribe Called Quest

And the results:

28.7%	KRS-One/Boogie Down Productions
19.4%	George Clinton/Parliament-Funkadelic
17.8%	A Tribe Called Quest
13.2%	Grandmaster Flash & Furious Five
11.6%	Ice Cube
9.3%	Africa Bambatta

KRS-One, of course, is the center of Boogie Down Productions, one of the first big powers in Hip Hop. He certainly deserves this honor.

BDP began its recording career, of course, with Criminal Minded waaaaay back in the day (maybe a hundred years or so ago). It's a hiphop classic for most people, often ranking up there with Eric B and Rakim's first album (they received a write-in, by the way).

Since then, KRS-One and BDP have released several albums: 1988's By All Means Necessary, with "My Philosophy" and "Jimmy"; Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of HipHop, with the slammin' "Why Is That?" and "You Must Learn;" the not-quite-as-succesful Edutainment (excepting the track "Love's Gonna Get 'Cha" which blew up); his live album; the solid Sex and Violence and, of course, the recent big hit Return of the Boom Bap (his first "solo" album).

It was never a contest.

There was a contest for second place though, with P-funk barely acing out A Tribe Called Quest. This might be the race for next year. My predictions? I expect that it'll finally go to either P-funk or Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five... unless Quest drops another album this year; in that case, all bets are off.

Phattest Rap Single
The Phattest single this year. Period.

The nominees are: "Passing Me By" The Pharcyde
"Come Clean" Jeru Tha Damaja
"Award Tour" A Tribe Called Quest
"____ Wit Dre Day" Dr. Dre
"Really Doe" Ice Cube
"93 'Til Infinity" Souls of Mischief
"Method Man" Wu Tang Clan

And the results:

27.8%	"Award Tour" A Tribe Called Quest
24.6%	"Passing Me By" The Pharcyde
14.3%	"93 'Til Infinity" Souls of Mischief
11.1%	"Method Man" Wu Tang Clan
9.5%	"____ Wit Dre Day" Dr. Dre
7.9%	"Really Doe" Ice Cube
4.8%	"Come Clean" Jeru Tha Damaja

Well, it was a close race, but Quest held to their slight lead over The Pharcyde throughout. Reading the voting patterns, one gets the idea that the Souls of Mischief, our third place contestants, pulled votes away from the Pharcyde....

The real thing to note here for those of us concerned with trends is that we have to go all the way to fifth place to find a real hardcore gangsta single (and after Cube's sixth place showing we have to look among the write-ins--Del Tha Funke Homosapien and 2Pac--to find one more).

Phattest Rap Album
The Phattest single this year. Period.

The nominees are: Midnight Marauders A Tribe Called Quest
Return of The Boom Bap KRS-One
Buhloone Mind State De La Soul
The Chronic Dr. Dre
Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde The Pharcyde
93 'Til Infinity Souls of Mischief
Kill My Landlord The Coup
Lethal Injection by Ice Cube

And the results:

27.8%	Midnight Marauders A Tribe Called Quest
16.7%	The Chronic Dr. Dre
12.8%	Return of The Boom Bap KRS-One
11.1%	93 'Til Infinity Souls of Mischief
9.5%	Lethal Injection by Ice Cube
8.7%	Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde The Pharcyde
7.9%	Buhloone Mind State De La Soul
5.6%	Kill My Landlord The Coup

No contest. A Tribe Called Quest has finally redeemed itself after losing the first New Jack Awards best album spot... and they win with authority.

Does this signal the rise of Progressive Hip Hop and a possible demise of the gangsta style so prevalent these last few years? Maybe. Still, Dre and KRS-One took second and third and while KRS-One is hardly a gangsta, his style tends to be rough and hardcore. And, we have to go to the bottom to find De La Soul and Pharcyde....

Ask me again next year.

So what have we learned? There's a lot of great stuff out there and I've managed to sleep on some of it. As always, there were few clear dominant winners in any category. Our tastes and favorites tend to vary quite a bit. On the other hand, folks do seem to like that Progressive and Jazzy sound more and more. Also worth noting is that Bo$$ and Queen Latifah tried their best to make 1993 the year of the woman and finally suceeded in breaking the gender barrier in the various singles and album categories.

But, then, every year brings something new. Now I'm kinda hyped about this one.

But first, I think I'll go pick up some of those albums I missed out on in 1993.

And that's it.

Well, thanks for your time. Go back to sleep. I'm out of here like last year. I gots to get back to writing reviews.

Oh, and my thesis work, um, of course.

PEACE!