As the year ends, Bet is hosting its annual hip-hop Awards show. Not to be confused with the BET Awards earlier this year, the BET Hip Hop Awards pit strictly hip-hop artists against each other and vote on which ones had the best year in their respective categories. For this article, I will be going over five categories that interest me, my predictions for each category and why I chose the nominee.
Album of the year
A lot of great projects released in 2017. With that being said, it was difficult to decide which album was the best of the year.The nominees are DJ Khaled - Grateful, Future - Future, J.
Cole - 4 Your Eyez Only, Jay-Z - 4:44, Kendrick Lamar - Damn, and Migos - Culture. My choice for album of the year goes to Kendrick Lamar's DAMN. The album was the best to me in terms of theme, lyrics, presentation, and marketing. In addition, the visuals from the music videos are amazing.
Lyricist of the year
There is a trend in hip-hop where rappers are creating catchy songs at the cost of meaningful lyrics. Thankfully, BET is staying true to hip-hop's origin by creating this category. The nominees for lyricist of the year are Chance the Rapper, Drake, J. Cole, Jay-Z, and Kendrick Lamar. Jay-Z is the winner of this category. After listening to 4:44, Jay-Z is the best option by a long shot. Not too many people can release a great conceptual album, especially at Jay-Z's age.
The stories behind his lyrics on family, friends, and racism prove his lyrical ability is above the other nominees.
Best Mixtape
Mixtapes are one of my favorite aspects of hip-hop because they are realistic projects of an artist's vision. They aren't limited by their label, and they have a say in its final outcome. The nominees for best mixtape of 2017 are Gangsta Bitch Vol.
2 by Cardi B, Droptopwop by Gucci Mane, Gas Face by Juicy J, Playboi Carti by Playboi Carti, My Moment by Tee Grizzley, and Gotti Made-It by Yo Gotti and Mike Will Made It. In my opinion, the best mixtape of 2017 is My Moment by Tee Grizzley. After doing a three-year sentence, he released a single from this mixtape and, it reached the Billboard top 100.
This highly debated mixtape gives me high expectations for future projects.
Hustler of the year
Hustling is an important part of the hip-hop community. Rappers talk about how they are hustling to get rich, and what they've done to reach where they are today. Nominees for hustler of the year are Cardi B, Chance the Rapper, Diddy, Jay-Z, DJ Khaled, and Kendrick Lamar. The best hustler of the year is Cardi B in my opinion. She made the transition from stripper to a rapper with the number one single on the Billboard 100. There aren't many rappers that could make that much progress in so little time.
Single of the year
A lot of projects produced great singles. The nominees are Bad and Boujee by Migos, Bodak Yellow by Cardi B, HUMBLE by Kendrick Lamar, Mask Off by Future, and Wild Thoughts by DJ Khaled, Rihanna, and Bryson Tiller.
My favorite single that came out this year was Mask Off by Future. Metro Boomin and Southside's production is amazing. When you add Future's catchy hook, it is a guaranteed song of the year.
Concluding thoughts
The BET Hip Hop Awards are a great way to recap the plethora of music released over the year. It also brings attention to lesser-known artists and hip-hop projects. These are some of the categories that we will see at this year's awards show.
