25 Years Later, Nas Wins Best Rap Album At The 2021 Grammy Awards
The 2021 Grammy Awards Ceremony was unusual just like the last year. The big winner is Nas with his thirteen-track album called King’s Disease. It is a big win for the rapper and also acknowledgment since this is his first-ever Grammy Award.
The first nomination of the OG was 25 years ago in 1996. Also in that same year, hip-hop and rap music were for the first time officially given notice as a category and also recognized by the Recording Academy.
The other nominees in the same category were also worth it. And the Best Rap Album competition at the 2021 grammy Awards was not easy for Nas. The winner has to beat D Smoke with his Black Habits. Also in the category is Alfredo by The Alchemist and Freddie Gibbs. The others are Royce 5’9”’s The Allegory, as well as A Written Testimony by Jay Electronica. It was a very difficult decision to be made.
Back to the winner, the final 13th track from the King’s Disease album represents the special bond Nas has with the new generation of rappers and he is also featuring some names like Don Toliver, Fivio Foreign, and Lil Durk.
Taking again the award back to the first years when hip-hop was new to the ceremony, many would not remember the name of the first album to win in this category. But it is a fact that this was the project of the legendary Naughty by Nature. This happened in the distant 1996. Another interesting fact is that in the history of this category there are only two female representatives that won it – Lauryn Hill in 1997 and Cardi B for Invasion of the Privacy in 2019.
The big winner Nas managed to nail it with this award, as it was one of the few missing on his wall of fame. The last year’s Best Rap Album winner was Tyler, The Creator with his album Igor.
There are other interesting moments from the 2021 Grammy Awards ceremony, besides the fact that it passed with a minimal audience. The event at the Staples Center in Los Angeles was stolen from Queen B, who set a record for her award winnings and the record of the Grammy Awards, taking her twenty-eight in a row.
Kanye West finally got recognition for his recent work. The album Jesus is King was the first not in any classic hip-hop category, but for the best Contemporary Music Album of the year.
Congratulations to Nas!
Revisit 2021’s Best Rap Album below.
