On the night of February 25th 1998, at the 40th Grammy Awards, Diddy—also known as—Puff Daddy—also known as—P. Diddy—also known as—Brother Love became the first rapper to win multiple Grammys in a night/same year. Diddy was nominated for seven awards that year and won two, he won the 1998 Grammy award for Best Rap Album with No Way Out and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group with “I’ll Be Missing You,” his The Notorious B.I.G. tribute featuring Faith Evans and 112.
In 1991, Virginia natives Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, Magoo, and Larry Live were all in a group called “S.B.I.” which stood for “Surrounded by Idiots.” The group was created during their high school days. Timbaland went under the moniker DJ Timmy Tim and Pharrell was known as Magnum.
Pharrell Williams gave Chad Hugo a shoutout on “Skull Caps and Stripe Shirts” on the S.B.I. 1991 Demo Tape by calling him “Chad the Creator.”
According to Timbaland’s book The Emperor of Sound: A Memoir, Before joining S.B.I., Pharrell Williams was a member of his own group, Dead Poets Society.
On the night of September 9, 1999, while presenting the Best Rap Video award at the MTV Video Music Awards, Will Smith introduced Afeni Shakur and Voletta Wallace, Tupac and Biggie’s moms, for the first time ever. Roughly three years after the tragic deaths of their sons, the two grieving mothers hugged on the Metropolitan Opera House stage and honored the legacies of their sons.
Will Smith—also known as—the Fresh Prince, started the introduction by incorporating the title of his 1988 hit song with DJ Jazzy Jeff “Parents Just Don’t Understand”—the first video to win Best Rap Video at the 1989 VMAs “I’d like to introduce to you two parents who definitely seem to understand.”
Photo by Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect
The 1999 Best Rap Video award went to Jay Z, Ja Rule and Amil for Can I Get A..
Rest in Peace to Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, who passed away in 2016.
On the night of March 1, 1995, at the 37th Grammy Awards, Queen Latifah and Salt-N-Pepa won an award in the same category, which made them the first female rappers to win a Grammy. The Best Rap Performance award was split into “solo” and “duo/group” categories. Queen Latifah won Best Rap Solo Performance with “U.N.I.T.Y.,” and Salt-N-Pepa won for Best Performance By a Duo or Group with “None of Your Business.”
Salt-N-Pepa had been nominated before for Best Rap Performance at the 31st Grammy Awards in 1989 with “Push It.”
The last verses The Notorious B.I.G.—also known as— Biggie recorded were on Victory off Puff Daddy’s debut studio album No Way Out. The song also featured Busta Rhymes and was originally titled Hell Up in Harlem. The Notorious B.I.G.’s verse on Victory was recorded on March 8th, 1997, a day before he was killed. Victory peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100.The song was produced by Stevie J & Diddy and released as a single on March 17, 1998, a year after Biggie was killed.
The song received a very expensive music video directed by Marcus Nispel. Diddy spent $2,700,000 on production for the music video.
MTV (Music Television Network) launched on August 1, 1981. Blondie‘s music video for Rapture—which released that same year—was the 48th video aired on MTV’s launch day and Rapture became the first music video with a rap aired on MTV. In the music video for Rapture, you see Blondie’s frontwoman Debbie Harry walking through the city of New York with walls covered of the hip-hop element, Graffiti. The music video featured cameos from Fab 5 Freddy (who Debbie Harry shouted out on the song), Jean Michel ‘Basquiat,’ and Lee Quinones.
Rapture by Blondie was the first music video with a rap aired on MTV
Rock Box by Run-D.M.C. was the first hip-hop music video by a rap group aired on MTV
In the summer of 1984, Run-D.M.C.’s Rock Box, the first rap-rock song, became the first official hip-hop music video by a rap group played on MTV. Rock Box was Run-D.M.C.‘s debut music video. Four years after that, MTV devoted an entire show to hip-hop, when they launched Yo! MTV Raps in August 1988.
“‘Rock Box’ was the first rap-rock record. It took Eddie Martinez’s rock guitar to get us on MTV. Our producer, Larry Smith, came up with the idea. People forget about Larry Smith, but Larry Smith owned hip-hop and rap. He produced our first two albums, and he produced Whodini. The rock-rap sound was Larry Smith’s vision, not Rick Rubin’s. Rick changed history, but Larry was there first. Actually, me and Run was against the guitar. We did two versions of ‘Rock Box’ because we didn’t want the guitar version playing in the hood. But when DJ Red Alert played it on his radio show, black people loved the guitar version more than the hip-hop version.” D.M.C.’s told MTV about the music video on I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution.
There was an all-female version of N.W.A, named H.W.A (Hoez With Attitudes) which consisted of members Jazz, Diva, and Baby Girl. The female rap trio was active from 1989 to 1994, then reformed in 2012. Diva was replaced by Go-Di for the recording of their second album and Ty James the daughter of Rick James, was a member of the female rap group H.W.A. (Hoez With Attitude).
H.W.A released their first album Livin’ in a Hoe House in 1990 with the label Drive-By Records. The group eventually signed to Eazy-E’s Ruthless Records.
In 1992, Snoop Dogg needed a ride to a studio session with Dr. Dre. Snoop Dogg’s cousin, RBX, gave him a ride and ended up being featured on Dr. Dre’s debut album The Chronic. The album peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard 200 Chart.
Long Beach rapper RBX, who’s name stands for “Reality Born Unknown,” was featured on six songs on The Chronic, including “Let Me Ride,” “The Day the Niggaz Took Over,” “Lyrical Gangbang,” “High Powered,” “Stranded on Death Row,” and “The Roach” (The Chronic Outro). RBX eventually signed to Death Row Records with his cousins Snoop Dogg and Daz Dillinger of Tha Dogg Pound that same year of 1992, he left the label two years after.
“He said, ‘Man, I’m gonna come back when you get off work. I’m gonna need a ride.’ I said, ‘Where do you need a ride to?’ He said, ‘I need a ride to Dre’s house.’ And I say, ‘Ok, where does Dre stay?’ He said, ‘Just, like, on the other side of Hollywood.’ Lying through his teeth. Calabasas is not on the other side of Hollywood.“ —RBX explaining how the studio session came about in an interview with LA Weekly.
