Political Hip-Hop

Phattest Political Group

48.8%	Goodie Mob
29.8%	Organized Konfusion
21.4%	Poor Righteous Teachers

In the beginning there was Organized Konfusion. But then Goodie Mob took over and kept on going. This not only makes three years in a row for my homeboys from ATL, but this is their biggest victory yet. PRT never quite caught up with the other players, but managed a respectable showing nonetheless.

Missing of course, is Public Enemy and the criminally overlooked political stylists, The Coup. This year, though, both groups will be returning with new albums, so we shall see what happens in the 1998 awards.

Phattest Political Male Rapper

36.4%	KRS-ONE
18.2%	Cee-Lo (of Goodie Mob)
17.0%	Common
10.2%	Pharoah Monch (of Organized Konfusion)
9.1%	Chuck D
9.1%	Ras Kass

This was an interesting race. A third of the way through the top three contenders were neck-and-neck. At that point KRS-ONE pulled ahead and stayed there, but it wasn't until the very end that Cee-Lo pulled ahead of Common.

Phattest Political Female Rapper

83.5%	Lauryn Hill
15.2%	Motion
1.3%	Bahamadia

You know one day a female category is going to be really, really close and we won't know what to do. I, for one, look forward to it. Let's move on shall we?

Phattest Political Rap Single

56.5%	"Retrospect For Life" by Common
28.2%	"Step Into A World" by KRS-ONE
15.3%	"Conscious Stylin'" by Poor Righteous Teachers

Okay, so explain this to me. Common crushes the competition in the political single category (where he's up against KRS-ONE and PRT no less)...

Phattest Political Rap Album

56.5%	One Day It'll All Make Sense by Common
28.2%	I Got Next by KRS-ONE
15.3%	Equinox by Organized Konfusion

...and dominates in the political album category (in exactly the same way I might add), but comes in third place in the Male Rapper category. What's up with that?

Maybe I think too hard about this stuff. The bottom line is simple: Common wins, and he wins pretty big.

Gangsta Hip-Hop

Phattest Gangsta Group

75.5%	Wu-Tang Clan
14.0%	Beatnuts
10.5%	Whoridaz

So, there's this group called Wu-Tang Clan. You might have heard of them. Every year, someone complains to me that they aren't really a gangsta group. But they've won every year since 1994 despite this. What am I supposed to say?

Phattest Gangsta Male Rapper

38.6%	2Pac
36.1%	Notorious B.I.G.
14.5%	Big Punisher
10.8%	Master P

And a close race this was. Although it looked to be a runaway victory every once in a while, in the end 2Pac only wins by just a little bit. Behind him is the Big Man, Notorious BIG, who is closely followed by The Even Bigger Man, Big Punisher. Master P is at the bottom going, "uhhhhhhhh" and mumbling to himself.

Phattest Gangsta Female Rapper

56.8%	Lady of Rage
24.7%	Lil' Kim
11.1%	Foxxy Brown
7.4%	Mia-X

Despite sarcastic voters writing in such nominees as the The Tooth Fairy, because "she doesn't exist", Lady of Rage manages to accumulate quite a few votes, leading to a nice majority win. Nasty Gangstress Lil Kim is waaay behind, with Foxxy and Mia-X doing clean up.

Phattest Gangsta Rap Single

51.1%	"Triumph" by Wu Tang Clan
16.7%	"I Aint a Playa" by Big Punisher
16.7%	"I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto" by 2Pac
15.5%	"Hypnotize" by Notorious B.I.G.

And those non-gangstas strike again, and with authority no less. Big Pun not only ties with urban legend 2Pac, but also manages an extra vote in a write-in for his work with Beatnuts on "Off The Books." Biggie also shows up, but doesn't quite manage to make it a three-way tie for second.

Phattest Gangsta Rap Album

51.7%	Wu-Tang Forever by Wu-Tang Clan
24.7%	Life After Death by Notorious B.I.G.
14.1%	R U Still Down (Remember Me) by 2Pac
7.1%	Ghetto D by Master P
2.4%	The Untouchable by Scarface

Damn, it's those Wu people again, dominating as a group, if not as individuals. BIG beats out 2Pac, taking a solid second place by his lonesome.

Nasty rap

Phattest Nasty Group

63.3%	Wu Tang Clan
19.0%	2 Live Crew
17.7%	Luniz

So, there's this group called Wu-Tang Clan. You might have heard of them. Every year, someone complains to me that they aren't really a nasty group. But they've won every year since 1995 despite this. What am I supposed to say?

Phattest Nasty Male Rapper

55.5%	Dr Octagon/Kool Keith
33.7%	Notorious BIG
10.8%	Luke

So, just in case you were wondering, we knew that Dr Octagon and Kool Keith are more-or-less the same person. We also thought that they could be thought of as different concepts, like Humpty and Shock D, so we listed them seperately.

Apart they tie for second, just behind Biggie, but combined Kool Keith wins handily... and that's how we're going to do it.

Phattest Nasty Female Rapper

81.2%	Lil Kim
18.8%	Foxxy Brown

Say, this looks familar. Last year, it was between these two, with similar results. Actually, Kim has widened her lead by almost 20 percentage points.

Also of note are Lady of Rage and Angie Martinez (?!) as write-ins.

Phattest Nasty Rap Single

56.6%	"I Ain't a Playa (Real Version)" by Big Punisher
30.3%	"Call Me" by Lil Kim and Too $hort
13.1%	"No Time" by Lil Kim

No contest here. Big Punisher's no-radio-edit version of "I Ain't A Player" wins a clear victory. I finally got a chance to listen to it, and I have to admit that it's a very different song that the one I've been seeing on Rap City by quite a bit. Lil Kim comes in both second and third with stand-by Too $hort.

Phattest Nasty Rap Album

43.4%	Muddy Waters by Redman
28.9%	Sex Style by Kool Keith
27.7%	Hardcore by Lil Kim

And here I didn't even realize that Redman's album was eligible this year. Anyway, Redman takes it home, with Dr. Octagon's alter ego taking the prize in a tight race for second. Maybe next year, Sex Style can go against the latest Octagon release.

Even More Phat Stuff

Phattest Video

43.9%	"Triumph" by Wu-Tang Clan
19.5%	"Step Into a World" by KRS-ONE
18.3%	"Sky's The Limit" featuring Puff Daddy & Family
11.0%	"Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" by Busta Rhymes
7.3%	"The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" by Missy Elliot

Proving they're more than non-gangsta non-nasty nasty gangstas, Wu-Tang Clan triumphs with the phattest video (get it?). I think they may have won just for not using the fishbowl lens, which might explain why Busta Rhymes' pretty damn good video and Missy Elliot's oft-imitated video stylin's end up at the bottom. In the middle is KRS-ONE's video, available on his enhanced CD as well as BET, and Puff Daddy's nice entry featuring young children playing the principals performers.

This category also got a few write-ins for The Roots and DJ Shadow.

Phattest Hip Hop Video Show

72.9%	Rap City with Big Lez and Joe Clair
12.9%	Rap City on MuchMusic
8.6%	Planet Groove on BET
5.6%	Yo!

I remember when Yo! was unstoppable. My, how the mighty have fallen. I'm not sure if it's because of the videos they play, the lack of Dr Dre and Ed Lover or the fact that it keeps getting preempted for The Real World marathons. Whatever it is, Yo! is waaaaay down on the list.

Phattest Soundtrack

48.7%	Soul in the Hole
30.3%	Rhyme and Reason
13.2%	Gang Related
7.9%	Hoodlum

Never a contest, despite a late surge for R and R. Many voters and nominators gave special props to Soul in the Hole.

Best live performance/tour/live album

45.5%	Roots
31.2%	KRS-ONE
10.4%	Busta Rhymes
7.8%	Puff Daddy and the Family
5.2%	Boot Camp

I suppose this isn't much of a surprise given how universally praised the jazz/hip hop band is for its live shows. Still KRS-ONE (who took some time to give a free concert last year for NSBE) didn't do too badly. Also worthy of mention are the write-ins for the Wu-Tang Clan/Rage Against The Machine tour.

Hardest and Ugliest Dis'

51.8%	"The Bitch in Yoo" by Common
24.7%	Common's dis on Foxxy Brown "...made up like foxxy brown's face"
9.9%	LL's (supposed?) dis on Canibus for the "4,3,2,1" dis
9.9%	Redman (supposed?) dis on Canibus (at the Apollo?)
3.7%	Canibus' (supposed?) dis on LL Cool J in "4,3,2,1"

Now before this gets out of hand, I want to remind everyone that Common is now a "verbal vegetarian/squashed beef with Ice Cube." Still, he did rip him to shreds, and apparently someone noticed. Common's sideways dis on Foxxy also got some notice with only a few buying into the whole "Canibus dissed LL on his own single" thing.

Trends in Hip Hop

Leaders of the New School

46.9%	One Day It'll All Make Sense by Common
19.8%	Funcrusher Plus by Company Flow
19.8%	"Universal Magnetic" by Mos Def
13.6%	Latryx by Lateef The Truthspeaker & Lyrx Born

The purpose of this award is to recognize those artists who are taking hiphop in a new direction. I think Common's latest album definitely lives up to that in two ways. First, One Day It'll All Make Sense is one of the clearest examples of the maturing and diverse interests of the true hip hop artist. Second, this effort has clearly affected a number of headz, if the mailing lists and USENET are any indication of anything. I'm not sure if Common will go triple platnium any time soon, but I think that this effort might just have a long-term impact on the way hip hop gets done.

The three other nominees are also interesting in that they are true underground headz. The new directions, as always, really end up coming from the trenches, not from corporate headquarters.

Best Comeback

64.7%	The 18th Letter by Rakim
23.5%	Back in Business by EPMD
9.4%	I Got Next by KRS-ONE
2.4%	Return Of The 1 Hit Wonder by Young MC

So, Rakim is a living legend. He's in the New Jack Hip Hop Awards Hall of Fame and the Album Hall of Fame for Paid in Full. With that, as well as much of his subsequent work with Eric B, you would think that it would be pretty impossible to live up to that past image.

But as he says in the intro to his album, "What I'm givin' them back is what they've been waitin' for... skillz."

Best Source of Hip Hop News and Info

29.6%	The HipHopSite ( http://www.hiphopsite.com )
27.2%	The HipHop Mailing List ( hiphop-request@isbell.org )
19.8%	rec.music.hip-hop ( USENET )
13.6%	The Krib ( http://www.krib.com )
9.9%	The Source ( magazine )

Despite all the variety of places where one can pick up tips on the latest in hiphop, we don't seem to know about them all. We were hoping that this might help. So here you are.

The winner is The HipHopSite, "The Most Complete Source of HipHop Info on the Net," followed closely by the Hip Hop Discussion List. Also in the running are USENET, The Krib, and some small-time commerical magazine called The Source (maybe you've heard of it?).

Check 'em out.

Most Conflicted Rapper

45.9%	2Pac
17.6%	Nas
15.3%	KRS-ONE
10.6%	Puffy
9.4%	Wu-Tang Clan
1.2%	Master P

For the second time running, 2Pac wins this award. It does pretty much seem tailor made for him. Despite his untimely death, the continued release of his previously unpublished material only underscores the contradictions in his public persona.

Well below him are Nas, KRS-ONE and Puffy. Only token votes are given for Wu-Tang and Master P. Some of those who voted for Nas seem to think that he can't decide whether he wants to be Nas or Nas Escobar while some feel that KRS-ONE's various "I Am Hip Hop" pronouncements don't quite jibe with material that he has released.

Most Overplayed Song

58.2%	"I'll be Missing you" by Puff Daddy and the Family
14.3%	"Mo Money, Mo Problems" by Notorious B.I.G. with Puff Daddy
12.1%	"All About the Benjamins" by Puff Daddy and the Family
8.8%	"Men In Black" by Will Smith
6.6%	"Feel so Good" by Mase

Puff-stuff combines for an incredible 91.2% of the most overplayed material today. I'm not even going to say anything because, well what is there to say?

Most Overdone Trend

54.5%	Lifting entire songs instead of sampling
23.9%	Big Willie-ism
21.6%	Videos shot in small rooms with bright or black-white colors, flashy suits and fish-eye lenses

Speaking of Puffy....

Sorry, that was uncalled for.

Sort of.

What you've been waiting for

Most Unfairly Slept On Album

38.9%	One Day It'll All Make Sense by Common
17.6%	That's Them by Artifacts
17.6%	Accept Your Own & Be Yourself (The Black Album) by No I.D.
17.6%	The Equinox by Organized Konfusion
8.3%	Funcrusher Plus by Company Flow

Amazing. A three-way tie for second. The Artifacts had to do some serious last-minute catching up to make it happen, but there it is.

Anyway, the spotlight is once again on Common. With his third album, Common has made a big splash among the underground, garnering lots of grassroots and critical acclaim. Nevertheless, there is a feeling--and a correct one, I think--that Common isn't getting enough props for this hightly personal and amazingly constructed album.

That's a message, fool: wake up.

Phattest New Hip Hopster

45.8%	Canibus for "Making A Name for Ourselves" & "4,3,2,1"
32.5%	Mos Def for "Universal Magnetic" & "Fortified Live"
14.5%	Company Flow for Funcrusher Plus
7.2%	Jurassic Five for J5 (EP)

Canibus has certainly generated a lot of noise this year and takes the top award with a comfortable lead.

He was closely followed by underground sensation Mos Def, who has made a name for himself with Reflection Eternal on "Fortified Live." That's a single that's been finding heavy rotation in my ride.

Co Flow does a little better this year than they did last year, finishing above old-school stylers, J5 . Yes, I know, but the rules are such that CoFlow was available for two years. I promise, we won't let them in next year.

Phattest Underground Artist

50.0%	Mos Def for "Universal Magnetic" & "Fortified Live"
16.6%	Company Flow for Funcrusher Plus
15.4%	Lateef The Truthspeaker & Lyrx Born for Latryx
9.0%	Danja Mowf for Word of Mowf
9.0%	Jurrasic 5 for J5 (EP)

Speaking of underground sensations, Mos Def moves up from first to second. Now the purpose of this award is to provide a forum where some of those on the downlow, underground acts can get a little cyber exposure.

This is our first time doing this award, and I have to admit that I've been pleased with it. Because of it, I've given a couple of artists a listen when I might not have, and I haven't been disappointed.

Hall of Fame
This is where we honor our best and most significant performers and artists.

Please Note: Public Enemy, Run-DMC, KRS-One/Boogie Down Productions, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Eric B and Rakim, and EPMD, our 1991-1996 winners, were ineligible this year.

Who was eligible? That would be:

A Tribe Called Quest
De La Soul
Grandwizard Theadore
Ice-T
NWA

And the winner is: 

35.2%	A Tribe Called Quest
24.2%	De La Soul
19.7%	NWA
16.5%	Grandwizard Theadore
4.4%	Ice-T

As we might have suspected from last year's race, this was a Native Tongue showdown. And the winner is none other than A Tribe Called Quest. Now ATCQ has placed second or third for a very long time, so it's nice to see them get their due. As much as any other group, they helped to usher a jazz style into hiphop. Further, they've managed to achieve mainstream recognition without appearing to compromise themselves and their image (Q-Tip's Sprite thing not withstanding).

Anyway, A Tribe Called Quest is fronted by Q-Tip the Abstract and Phife-Dawg. Rounding out the group are Ali Shaeed and Jarobi. I'm still not exactly aware of Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi do, but whatever they do they can keep on doing it.

In a solid third place is N.W.A, who in many ways popularized West Coast Gangsta Flava(tm). They are followed by Grandwizard Theadore, who is credited as the creator of the scratch. In the bottom is Ice-T, but I'm sure that one day he will get his due.

Album Hall of Fame
This is where we honor our best and most significant albums.

Note: It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back by Public Enemy, Criminal Minded by Boogie Down Productions, and Paid in Full by Eric B & Rakim, 1994-1996 winners were ineligible this year.

The nominees are:

The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest
Enter the Wu Tang: 36 Chambers by Wu Tang Clan
Three Feet High and Rising by De La Soul
Step in the Arena by Gangstarr
Raising Hell by Run-DMC
Strictly Business by EPMD
Straight Outta Compton by NWA

And the winner is: 

29.2%	The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest
21.2%	Enter the Wu Tang: 36 Chambers by Wu Tang Clan
16.9%	Three Feet High and Rising by De La Soul
12.4%	Straight Outta Compton by NWA
9.0%	Step in the Arena by Gangstarr
7.9%	Raising Hell by Run-DMC
3.4%	Strictly Business by EPMD

And A Tribe Called Quest sweeps it! This pleases me quite a bit, as ATCQ's The Low End Theory was a very influential album. Much of their impact on hiphop was through this album, so it's truly fitting that it join them in the Hall of Fame.

Also of note is the strong performance of Wu Tang Clan's first album. On the other hand, they also finished a strong second last year, ahead of ATCQ. Will Quest fans vote for Native Tongue elders De La next year or will it finally be time for the relatively young Wu-Tang standard to enter into the fame chambers??

Phattest Rap Single
Phattest single to drop this year. Period.

The nominees are:

"Step Into A World" by KRS-ONE
"Triumph" by Wu-Tang Clan
"Universal Magnetic" by Mos Def
"Retrospect for Life" by Common
"Phone Tap" by The Firm
"4,3,2,1" by LL Cool J with Method Man, Redman, DMX, Master P & Canibus
"Guess Who's Back" by Rakim

The winner is: 

25.6%	"Step Into A World" by KRS-ONE
22.1%	"Guess Who's Back" by Rakim
17.4%	"Triumph" by Wu-Tang Clan
15.1%	"Retrospect for Life" by Common
10.5%	"Universal Magnetic" by Mos Def
5.8%	"Phone Tap" by The Firm
3.5%	"4,3,2,1" by LL Cool J with Method Man, Redman, DMX, Master P & Canibus

And the phattest single of the year is none other than KRS-ONE's summer jam. As you will recall, KRS-ONE came in second for phattest lyric and first for most slammin' beat, so I suppose this is to be expected.

Perhaps the most interesting story here is Rakim's. Although votes for him started off kind of slowly, he managed to roar into reach of first place. That puts two old skool artists up top.

Phattest Rap Album
Phattest album to drop this year. Period.

The nominees are:

One Day It'll All Make Sense by Common
Wu-Tang Forever by Wu-Tang Clan
Funcrusher Plus by Company Flow
I Got Next by KRS-ONE
The Carnival by Wyclef Jean
The 18th Letter by Rakim

And the winner is: 

44.2%	One Day It'll All Make Sense by Common
16.3%	The Carnival by Wyclef Jean
15.1%	Wu-Tang Forever by Wu-Tang Clan
8.1%	Funcrusher Plus by Company Flow
5.8%	I Got Next by KRS-ONE
10.5%	The 18th Letter by Rakim

And just to be contradictory, the phattest album category belongs to the young. And this year, it belongs in particular to Common's One Day It'll All Make Sense. This, for those of you who keep count of such things, is the biggest win for phattest album ever (and this marks the first time that the Phattest Album also won Most Slept On). You have to go all the way back to 1992 to find anything close.

But, hey, this has been a long time coming for Common. In 1994, he made a splash with "I Used to Love H.E.R." a track about how hiphop had evolved from fun-lovin' party music to politically aware messages from the heart, head and street, but had begun to slide into gangsta-inspired nihilism.

Obviously, a few headz were feelin' it because it managed second place in the Phattest Single, Phattest Lyric, and Phattest Crossover Single categories that year. His album, Resurrection, also came in second for Most Slept On Album that year.

Meanwhile, it's taken three or so years, but the rest of the underground nation appears to have caught up with him. One Day It Will All Make Sense is a personal, self-aware album full of butta lyrics, nice beats and is in all other ways, well put together.

Know what I mean?

In second place is Wyclef, just barely beating out Wu-Tang Clan. Still that's a pretty good showing for the refugee.

So where does this leave us? I'd say Wyclef did pretty well, and Wu-Tang didn't do quite as well as their fans probably expected. On the other hand, the old skool did do better than you might expect, with KRS-ONE and Rakim leading the charge.

And of course, this was Common's year.

Of course, there's next year and Wu-fans are still out there....

I'll see you in the regular place: