2009 has been a strange year. It may not have been the best year for Rap but there’s been fantastic moments for artist in the charts.
Jay-Z Closing Out The VMA’s With Alicia Keys.
This wasn’t just a big moment for Jay-Z and Alicia but also for Rap. Finally we get to close out a big show that is watched by Rock and Pop fans.
This was surely going to number one after this closed out the award show.
The moment was spoiled by Lil Mama who said she was so overwhelmed by the moment that she jumped on stage.
Lil Mama jumping on stage despite Beyonce trying to stop her.
Nevertheless the song has also become an anthem (it reached number 2 in the UK charts, a month before release).
Here’s Jay and Alicia performing “Empire State Of Mind” at the World Series.
Chris Brown & Rihanna
Before the Grammy’s in February, news emerged that Chris Brown had beaten his then girlfriend Rihanna after a pre-Grammy party.
Since then they have both released albums and Chris Brown has accused the industry of blackballing him.
“Im really happy for, im going to let you finish…”
No idea what Kanye was thinking. His heart was in the right place but he chose the wrong time and place.
Joe Budden & The Rock The Bells Incident(s)
Joe Budden made some contraversial comments earlier this year. When Vibe released a list of their best rappers, they seemed to have put Joe Budden lower than he thought. One name he took exeception to Method Man being above him.
It started with….
Which led to….
then to…
Now at this point, everyone thought this was over. But unfortunately it wasn’t.
One thing led to another and then at Rock The Bells L.A., Raekwon went to speak to Joe Budden but then one of Rae’s dudes hit Joe Budden in the eye.
This led to a load of tension at the Rock The Bells event but thankfully this situation is over.
Beanie Releases Diss Tracks Against Jay-Z
Beanie Sigel came out dissing Jay-Z and told Hip Hop that Jay stopped him from signing with G-Unit.
He then had an interview with Charlamagne where Beans talked about the fall of the Roc and why he is mad at Jay-Z.
Beanie Sigel Interview With Charlamagne (40 min audio)
Rick Ross vs. 50 Cent
At first this beef started out entertaining and competitive…
Rick Ross – Kiss The Pinky Ring
50 Cent then launched a online series called Pimpin Curly.
…but then it took a turn for the worse with indecent pictures of 50′s son appear on the net and then video appear of Khaled’s mother at work.
50 even took Rick Ross’ Baby Mother, Tia for a shopping spree and recorded the whole thing.
Jay-Z’s Death Of Auto-Tune.
Jay-Z had enough of auto-tune! Earlier in the year, he dropped a track entitled D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune).
One lyric (“get back to rapping, you T-Pain-ing too much”) forced Jay-Z to clarify he wasn’t just going at T-Pain but all the other rappers who were using it all the time.
At this year’s Hot 97 Summer Jam, Jay-Z made a surprise appearance but he wasn’t the only one (cue T-Pain’s enterance).
Number One’s.
Raekwon dropping the best Hip Hop album of the year.
Drake releasing the best Mixtape of the year (“So Far Gone”). He even released it on iTunes and it sold over 70K in it’s first week!
Congrats to Drizzy who has now been nominated for a Grammy and he doesn’t have an album (he’ll probably win one too).
Dizzee Rascal going to number one twice in the singles chart and a number one album.
Tinchy Stryder and N-Dubz going number one with “Number One”
Jay-Z getting his first number one in the UK with “Run This Town” and US singles with “Empire State Of Mind” (11 straight number one albums too!)
Jay Sean went up to number one in the States with his track “Down”
But before I finish up, I got to pay homage to the much loved artists that we lost in 2009.
R.I.P. To The King
