This week in Hip Hop, DX makes the case for every rap album nominated for a Best Rap Album Grammy, Jay Z laces Big Sean with a Roc-A-Fella chain and Instagram posts involving Nicki Minaj, Meek Mill and India Love dominate headlines.
Making The Case For The Best Rap Album At The Grammys
What do Chance the Rapper, Drake, De La Soul, Kanye West, DJ Khaled and ScHoolboy Q have in common? They’re all Grammy-nominated for Best Rap Album.
DX made a case for why each of these guys should win the coveted gilded gramophone on Sunday (February 12). Read more here.
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We also made our picks for the worst albums to ever get nominated in the category here.
Stay tuned Sunday night for our coverage of the awards.
Jay Z Gives Big Sean A Roc-A-Fella Chain
It’s like 1996 all over again. Jay Z gifted Big Sean with a Roc-A-Fella chain, telling Sean that he’d “earned it” (according to Sean). Big Sean has been grinding since his debut on the rap scene, and his new project I Decided. has been well received since its release. Check out our review.
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“[Jay Z] gave me the Roc-A-Fella chain, the big boy,” Sean told Power 105.1’s Angie Martinez. “He told me, ‘You earned it.’ He gave it to me and said, ‘You earned it.’”
There’s also a Jay Z album on the way (allegedly). Could the icy Roc chain be the first step in another collab between Jay and Sean?
DX’s Victoria Hernandez connects the dots on what that next album may actually sound like. Read more here.
Nicki Minaj Loves Trolling Her Fans On Instagram
The Instagram shenanigans continue per usual and this week Nicki Minaj trolled her fans (like she usually does, followed by them hilariously cursing her out). This time she shared a photoshopped pic of her looking very pregnant.
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And yes, people actually believed she was pregnant.
Meek Mill also returned to Instagram — again. This time with a mysterious announcement. Is it DC4.5? Or something possibly titled “Down Forever”? Whatever it is, a preview of one of his new songs sounds promising.
Then, India Love bared it all for her 21st birthday.
“How I came into this world: It wasn’t easy embracing big ass boobs at a young age while everyone around me wasn’t even developed yet,” she wrote on the first picture of a black and white nude photo shoot.
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She continued her passage unapologetically for being born how she is.
Read more here.
The Week In Diss Tracks
The week wouldn’t be complete without diss tracks. 50 Cent’s son Marquise Jackson dropped one, even though he says it’s not.
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“This is not a diss to my father at all,” he says. “I think they want it to be a diss. People are making it a diss because I guess they want it to be a diss. But it’s not. It’s what goes on in my life.”
Listen here.
Meanwhile, Waka Flocka is in his feelings over Gucci Mane, so he put his emotions on wax in a song titled “Was My Dog.”
Waka, too, says this is “not” a diss track towards Guwop.
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“I haven’t been cool with Gucci since my best friend got killed,” said in an interview with BBC Radio 1Xtra. “That’s 2012. You dig what I’m saying? Gucci know how I feel about him. It was a lot of rappers in the studio when me and Gucci was going at it. And I made that baby sit down … If you wanna play tough and act like you macho and you the big dog and you this, that, and the third, cool. But the streets gonna wipe your nose every time.”
Hear that one here.
DXClusives: Stat Quo & Mannie Fresh
During our DXLive segment this week, Stat Quo came through and blessed the team with his presence. He gave his thoughts on Dr. Dre’s Compton album and was very honest about his feelings toward the project.
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“Shit was wack. I love Dre to death but it was wack,” Stat told Trent Clark, Justin Hunte, Jake Rohn and Marcel Williams. “This how this shit work is how music goes, this is how you know your shit [is] good. 2-3 months after it come out.” He continued, “It’s not that it wasn’t put together quality wise, it’s not that it wasn’t quality beats and shit like that, it just didn’t capture the attention of the world. The only reason it got where it was was because the movie was so phenomenal. And that’s no diss. People think if you don’t like something you’re dissing it. I love Dre. He’s my everything. I helped him [with the project] but that don’t mean it’s the shit just cause I helped, you know what I’m saying, WE fucked up!”
Mannie Fresh also spoke with DX and gave some insight on the whole Lil Wayne-Birdman debacle. Could they possibly kiss and make up?
Mannie thinks so and he’s down for helping to heal the situation.
“I’m kinda thinking, real talk I could be the medium. I get that Wayne gotta get his money, but I’m hoping that I could be the middle person that resolve it. I’m hoping that I could be the person to say ‘How can we fix this? How can we all like sit at one table, break bread and do something epic again?’” Mannie said. “I think that it could happen because I talk to both of them.”
