Grammy Award for Best Rap Album
Gilded gramophone trophy presented to Grammy Award winners
Awarded for	quality albums with rapping
Presented by	National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
Country	United States
First awarded	1996
Last awarded	2012
Official website	grammy.com

The Grammy Award for Best Rap Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums with rapping at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards.^[1] Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".^[2]

In 1995, the Academy announced the addition of the award category Best Rap Album.^[3] The first award was presented to the group Naughty by Nature at the 38th Grammy Awards the following year. According to the category description guide for the 52nd Grammy Awards, the award is presented for "albums containing at least 51% playing time of tracks with newly recorded rapped performances".^[4] Award recipients often include the producers, engineers, and/or mixers associated with the nominated work in addition to the recording artists.^[5]

As of 2012, Eminem holds the record for the most wins in this category, with five. Kanye West was presented the award four times, and the duo known as Outkast received the award twice. Jay-Z holds the record for the most nominations, with nine, which resulted in one win. The award has been presented to artists or groups originating from the United States each year to date. Missy Elliott and The Roots have received the most nominations without a win, with four each.

Recipients[link]

1998 winner Sean Combs (credited as Puff Daddy), performing in 2006

Five-time award winner Eminem, performing in 2009

Four-time award winner Kanye West

2007 award winner, Ludacris

Year[I]	Performing artist(s)	Nationality	Work	Nominees	Ref.
1996	Naughty by Nature	United States	Poverty's Paradise !Poverty's Paradise	2Pac – Me Against the World Bone Thugs-n-Harmony – E 1999 Eternal Ol' Dirty Bastard – Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version Skee-Lo – I Wish	[6]
1997	Fugees	United States	The Score !The Score	2Pac – All Eyez On Me A Tribe Called Quest – Beats, Rhymes & Life Coolio – Gangsta's Paradise LL Cool J – Mr. Smith	[7]
1998	Puff Daddy and the Family	United States	No Way Out !No Way Out	Missy Elliott – Supa Dupa Fly Wyclef Jean – Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival The Notorious B.I.G. – Life After Death Wu-Tang Clan – Wu-Tang Forever	[8]
1999	Jay-Z	United States	Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life !Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life	A Tribe Called Quest – The Love Movement Big Punisher – Capital Punishment Jermaine Dupri – Life in 1472 Mase – Harlem World	[9]
2000	Eminem	United States	The Slim Shady LP !The Slim Shady LP	Busta Rhymes – E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event): The Final World Front Missy Elliott – Da Real World Nas – I Am… The Roots – Things Fall Apart	[10]
2001	Eminem	United States	The Marshall Mathers LP !The Marshall Mathers LP	DMX – ...And Then There Was X Dr. Dre – 2001 Jay-Z – Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter Nelly – Country Grammar	[11]
2002	Outkast	United States	Stankonia !Stankonia	Eve – Scorpion Ja Rule – Pain Is Love Jay-Z – The Blueprint Ludacris – Back for the First Time	[12]
2003	Eminem	United States	The Eminem Show !The Eminem Show	Ludacris – Word of Mouf Mystikal – Tarantula Nelly – Nellyville Petey Pablo – Diary of a Sinner: 1st Entry	[13]
2004	Outkast	United States	Speakerboxxx/The Love Below !Speakerboxxx/The Love Below	50 Cent – Get Rich or Die Tryin' Missy Elliott – Under Construction Jay-Z – The Blueprint 2: The Gift & the Curse The Roots – Phrenology	[14]
2005	West, KanyeKanye West	United States	The College Dropout !The College Dropout	Beastie Boys – To the 5 Boroughs Jay-Z – The Black Album LL Cool J – The DEFinition Nelly – Suit	[15]
2006	West, KanyeKanye West	United States	Late Registration !Late Registration	50 Cent – The Massacre Common – Be Missy Elliott – The Cookbook Eminem – Encore	[16]
2007	Ludacris	United States	Release Therapy !Release Therapy	Lupe Fiasco – Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor Pharrell – In My Mind The Roots – Game Theory T.I. – King	[15]
2008	West, KanyeKanye West	United States	Graduation !Graduation	Common – Finding Forever Jay-Z – Kingdom Come Nas – Hip-Hop Is Dead T.I. – T.I. vs. T.I.P.	[17]
2009	Lil Wayne	United States	Tha Carter III !Tha Carter III	Jay-Z – American Gangster Lupe Fiasco – Lupe Fiasco's The Cool Nas – Untitled T.I. – Paper Trail	[18]
2010	Eminem	United States	Relapse !Relapse	Common – Universal Mind Control Flo Rida – R.O.O.T.S. Mos Def – The Ecstatic Q-Tip – The Renaissance	[19]
2011	Eminem	United States	Recovery !Recovery	B.o.B – B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray Drake – Thank Me Later Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3 The Roots – How I Got Over	[20]
2012	Kanye West	United States	My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy !My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy	Lupe Fiasco – Lasers Jay-Z and Kanye West – Watch the Throne Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday Lil Wayne – Tha Carter IV

^{^[I]} Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.

See also[link]

Hip hop portal

• Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance
• Grammy Award for Best Rap Song
• Hip hop music

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site of the Grammy Awards

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth^[1] (born June 17, 1987), simply known as Kendrick Lamar, is an American rapper and songwriter from Compton, California currently signed to Top Dawg, Aftermath and Interscope. He first gained major attention after the release of his 2010 mixtape Overly Dedicated. In 2011, his album Section.80, released exclusively through iTunes, instantly ranked as one of the top digital hip hop releases of the year.^[2] Lamar has amassed a large internet following, is a member of hip hop collective Black Hippy, along with Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul, and has worked with Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Wiz Khalifa, Game, Drake, Busta Rhymes and Tech N9ne among other popular artists.^[3]

Biography[link]

1987-2009: Early life and career beginnings[link]

Kendrick Lamar was born in Compton, California, a community southeast of Los Angeles city limits, to parents from Chicago, Illinois.^[4] At the age of eight, in 1995, Lamar witnessed his idols, Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre film the music video for their hit single "California Love," a very significant moment in Lamar's life.^[5] In 2003 at the young age of sixteen, Lamar released his first mixtape, Youngest Head Nigga In Charge under the name K. Dot.^[6] The mixtape was able to garner enough attention for Lamar to get a record deal with Top Dawg Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based independent record label.^[6] He then released a twenty-six track mixtape two years later titled Training Day.^[7] More recognition came Lamar's way after a video of a Charles Hamilton show surfaced, where Hamilton goes in the crowd and battles rappers at attendance. Lamar didn't hesitate and began rapping a verse over Milkbone's "Keep It Real", that would later appear on a track titled "West Coast Wu-Tang".^[5] In 2008 Lamar made a cameo appearance on Jay Rock's "All My Life (In the Ghetto)" music video. After receiving a co-sign from Lil Wayne, he released his third mixtape in 2009 titled C4, heavily themed around Tha Carter III LP.^[8] Soon after, he decided to drop his stage name K. Dot and go by his real name. This resulted in him releasing a self-titled EP; the Kendrick Lamar EP in late 2009.^[9]

[edit] 2010–2011: Overly Dedicated and Section.80

Kendrick performing at a concert in Toronto, Canada

In 2010 he toured with Tech N9ne and Jay Rock on The Independent Grind tour.^[6] On September 23, 2010 he released O(verly) D(edicated) a highly acclaimed mixtape that included a song titled "Ignorance is Bliss" in which he glorifies gangsta rap and street crime but ends each verse with "ignorance is bliss" giving the message "we know not what we do".^[10][11] It was that song specifically that made hip hop producer Dr. Dre want to work with Lamar.^[12] This led to him working with Dre and Snoop Dogg on Dre's Detox album and him considering signing to Aftermath Entertainment.^[6][13] In January 2011 Lamar said his debut album was 90% finished.^[6]

In early 2011 Lamar was featured on XXL Magazine's 2011 Freshman cover along with CyHi the Prynce, Meek Mill, Mac Miller, Yelawolf, Lil B, Big K.R.I.T. and Diggy Simmons among others.^[14] On July 2, 2011, Lamar released his third solo project Section.80 to critical acclaim. It features guest appearances from GLC, Colin Munroe, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul and includes production from longtime collaborator Sounwave, Wyldfyer, Terrace Martin, J. Cole and more. On the topic of whether Section.80 would be an album or a mixtape Lamar said "I treat every project like it’s an album anyway. It’s not gonna be nothing leftover. I never do nothing like that. These are my leftover songs y’all can have ‘em, nah. I’m gonna put my best out. My best effort. I’m tryna look for an album in 2012". The first single for Section.80 was the J. Cole produced track "HiiiPower", of which the concept was to further explain the HiiiPower movement. Section.80 went on to sell over 10,000 copies in its first week^[15] without any television or radio coverage and received many very positive reviews. In the second half of 2011, Lamar appeared on Game's The R.E.D. Album, Tech N9ne's All 6's and 7's, 9th Wonder's The Wonder Years and Drake's Take Care.

In August 2011, while onstage with Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Game, at the West Los Angeles concert, the three of them crowned him the "New King of the West Coast"^[16]

[edit] 2012–present: Good Kid in a Mad City

On February 15, 2012, a song titled "Cartoons & Cereal" featuring Gunplay of Triple C's was leaked.^[17] Lamar revealed later that the track was for his upcoming album and he was planning to shoot a video for it.^[18]

In March 2012, MTV announced that Top Dawg Entertainment, the independent record label Lamar is signed to, have closed a joint venture deal with Interscope Records and Aftermath Entertainment, marking the end of his career as an independent artist. Under the new deal, Kendrick Lamar’s projects, including his upcoming debut studio album Good Kid in a Mad City will be jointly released via Top Dawg, Aftermath and Interscope, while releases from the rest of Black Hippy will be distributed via Top Dawg and Interscope.^[19]

Lamar premiered "The Recipe", his debut single and the lead single from Good Kid in a Mad City, at Power 106 on April 2, 2012. The track was released for digital download the following day. The song was produced by Scoop DeVille and features Dr. Dre.^{[citation needed]}

It was announced on May 14, 2012, that Lamar is working on a collaborative album with J. Cole. In an interview with Bootleg Kev, Cole stated that "I just started working with Kendrick the other day. We got it in, finally, again. We got maybe four or five [songs] together."

Personal life[link]

In high school, Centennial in Compton, Lamar was a good student.^[4] Lamar said that he has seen relatives who have died in his dreams for years. Tupac Shakur is also his favorite rapper, and influences not only his music, but his day-to-day lifestyle as well. In terms of subject matter, Kendrick Lamar has often been compared to Tupac Shakur. ^[6][20][21] He revealed that his favorite and most influential rappers are Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Nas, Jay-Z and his label-mate Eminem.

Discography[link]

• Section.80 (2011)
• Good Kid in a Mad City (2012)

References[link]