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Armani White

Photo: Courtesy of Armani White

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HIP-HOP RE:DEFINED: ARMANI WHITE GIVES LIL WAYNE'S "A MILLI" A FRESH, PERSONAL
TWIST

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Philly-born newcomer Armani White personalizes Lil Wayne's GRAMMY-winning 2008
smash "A Milli" by shouting out his hometown in the lyrics.

Glenn Rowley
|GRAMMYs/Sep 27, 2023 - 07:00 pm

Lil Wayne had already hit a new high point when he released "A Milli" in the
winter of 2008. "Lollipop," the single that directly preceded "A Milli," had
scored the rap legend his first hat trick by hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot
100, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts.

With "A Milli," the rapper born Dwayne Carter Jr. continued his chart-topping
success by capturing yet another No. 1 on the latter two tallies and winning him
the GRAMMY for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 2009 ceremony. The modern
classic also heralded Wayne's blockbuster album Tha Carter III, which became the
final album of the decade to sell more than a million copies in its opening
week.

In this new episode of Hip-Hop Re:Defined, rising rap star Armani White tackles
Wayne's noughties smash, with the Philadelphia-born newcomer building his flow
over the same stuttering sample of A Tribe Called Quest's "I Left My Wallet in
El Segundo" as the original.

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"A millionaire/ I'm a West Philly millionaire, tougher than Nigerian hair/ My
criteria compared to your career just isn't fair," White raps, personalizing the
lyrics with a shout-out to his hometown while still echoing Weezy's trademark
cadence.

In May, White dropped his major-label debut, Road to Casablanco, with the EP led
by his viral single "BILLIE EILISH" and its official remix featuring Ludacris,
Busta Rhymes and N.O.R.E.

Press play on the video above to watch White rip through "A Milli," and check
back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of Hip-Hop Re:Defined.

K-Pop's Hip-Hop Roots: A History Of Cultural Connection On The Dancefloor

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DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince in 2005

Photo: KMazur/WireImage via Getty Images

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DJ JAZZY JEFF AND THE FRESH PRINCE TO REUNITE ONSTAGE AT "A GRAMMY SALUTE TO 50
YEARS OF HIP-HOP"

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The famous duo will join previously announced performers, like LL Cool J, Queen
Latifah, Common, Cypress Hill, E-40, and Latto, at "A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years
of Hip-Hop," airing Dec. 10 on CBS and Paramount+.

Morgan Enos
|GRAMMYs/Nov 1, 2023 - 03:00 pm

Can you recite every word of the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" theme song? If so,
that's ever more of a reason to tune into "A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of
Hip-Hop" — which goes down Nov. 8 at YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California,
and airs Dec. 10 on CBS and Paramount+.

Indeed, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince — aka Will Smith — are set to reunite
at the star-studded event, in celebration of this quintessential American genre
and global cultural phenomenon.

DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince will join Black Thought, Bun B, Common, De La
Soul, Jermaine Dupri, J.J. Fad, Talib Kweli, The Lady Of Rage, LL COOL J, MC
Sha-Rock, Monie Love, The Pharcyde, Queen Latifah, Questlove, Rakim, Remy Ma,
Uncle Luke, and Yo-Yo.

Newly announced performers include rap icons and next-gen hip-hop superstars 2
Chainz, T.I., Gunna, Too $hort, Latto, E-40, Big Daddy Kane, GloRilla, Juvenile,
Three 6 Mafia, Cypress Hill, Jeezy, DJ Quik, MC Lyte, Roxanne Shanté, Warren G,
YG, Digable Planets, Arrested Development, Spinderella, Black Sheep, and Luniz.

The concert will take place at the aforementioned venue on Wed. Nov 8, 2023 at 7
p.m. Tickets are available to the public now at Ticketmaster.com. The tribute
special will air Sun, Dec. 10, 8:30 – 10:30 p.m. ET/PT, on the CBS Television
Network and be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+. 

Don't miss this one-of-a-kind monument to a world-shifting genre and culture —
now with a dash of the one and only Fresh Prince!

A Brief History Of Hip-Hop At 50: Rap's Evolution From A Bronx Party To The
GRAMMY Stage

Read More

Photo: Oscar Sánchez Photography

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THE UNENDING EVOLUTION OF THE MIXTAPE: "WITHOUT MIXTAPES, THERE WOULD BE NO
HIP-HOP"

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Today, the mixtape holds a variety of meanings — from a curated playlist to a
non-label hip-hop release. From the dawn of the cassette to the internet-based
culture of mixtape-making, musicians in hip-hop have developed their style via
this format.

Lior Phillips
|GRAMMYs/Oct 30, 2023 - 02:12 pm

"Living in the Bronx, we got to hear all the latest music. If a party was on a
Friday or a Saturday, by Monday the mixtapes would already be in my
neighborhood," Paradise Gray says, beaming.

Now the chief curator and advisor for the soon-to-open Universal Hip Hop Museum
in the Bronx — not to mention the co-host of the A&E TV show "Hip-Hop Relics,"
which follows the quest for genre relics alongside the likes of LL Cool J and
Ice T — Gray grew up consuming countless mixtapes from the likes of the L
Brothers, Grandmaster Flash, and the Cold Crush Brothers. 

"The amount of music and the way it was curated was incredible, and having it on
tape was way more valuable than hearing it on the radio because the radio didn’t
have a rewind button," he says with a laugh. While the general public may have
moved onto other formats, those cassettes are making a comeback and mixtapes
continue to pervade every aspect of pop culture — both in their musical impact
and nostalgic glory.

Today, the mixtape holds a whole swath of meanings — from a curated playlist to
a non-label hip-hop release. But back in the early ‘70s, kids like Gray raised
on everything from Motown to Thelonious Monk, George Clinton to James Brown were
blending their influences. 

"The first tapes were used to record people at places like a park jam, a party,
a community gathering," explains Regan Sommer McCoy, founder of the Mixtape
Museum, a repository of physical tape collections, nostalgic storytelling, and
more. "They were called party tapes then, and people would make copies to give
out to friends that couldn’t be there, so they could hear if the DJ was hot or
not." 

As the form became more popular, DJs like Kid Capri or Brucie B would start
recording their club sets as well. "The recordings would sometimes include the
DJ shouting out people who were in the room — and if you were in Harlem, maybe
there were a few drug dealers in the room who even paid for a shoutout," she
adds with a laugh.

McCoy is a longtime devotee of the form and a music industry professional
(including a stint as manager of hip-hop legends Clipse). And the more she
explored, the more she affirmed that these early tapes are an unparalleled
document of a moment in music history. 

Gray remembers making his own tapes as a young man in the late ‘70s, discovering
the creativity that the new cassette technology could offer. 

"We had two recorders, and we would keep the breaks extended even before we were
conscious of what we were doing, sampling from cassette to cassette," he says.
"We couldn’t afford turntables, but me and my childhood DJ partner, DJ Bob Rock,
would make hip-hop practice tapes with the breakbeats and then put them on
8-track. We took over our neighborhood with those tapes because that’s what
everybody had in their cars."

Zack Taylor, director of Cassette: A Documentary Mixtape, suggests that the
freedom and control Gray felt were a driving force in the ubiquity of mixtapes
during hip-hop's early days. 

"By all accounts, the music industry in those days was doing everything it could
to stifle hip-hop, to hold it back, label it as low-class output," he says. "But
the mixtape represented creativity on a personal level. DJ Hollywood, Kool Herc,
DJ Clue, these were people who didn’t have the support of a label or an
infrastructure, but if they had $100 they could go buy a whole bunch of blank
tapes, stay up late on Friday, and have the tapes ready on 125th Street in
Harlem on Saturday morning with their blends.



And while some were relishing the individual creativity that cassettes could
offer, others were enthused by the ability to listen to music in a more portable
way, or merely thrilled by the opportunity to record their favorite songs off
the radio. Within this space, talented musicians were finding their footing in a
new landscape and developing signature styles.

"There was no such thing as hip-hop at the time — it was really the microcosm of
the worldwide Afro-indigenous culture," Gray says. "It’s a sample of everything,
not just the breakbeats." Artists were as free to indulge in snippets of Brahms
as they were the Delfonics, stringing together their own mixes or making unique
blends that would soundtrack an experience that was specific  to their own.

Gray also notes that obsessives like the Bronx-based Tape Master would hit up
various parties and clubs to document the moment and share the music, in turn
allowing this self-defined movement to spread.

A big element of the tapes’ spread was a service called the OJs — a sort of
proto-Uber where New Yorkers who owned expensive cars would offer them as a cab
service. "If you were going to the club, at least once or twice you would want
to show up in the OJ, a Cadillac or an Oldsmobile, and have them playing the hot
new hip-hop tapes while they drove you around so everyone could see you and hear
you," Gray says.



Listening to those mixtapes as a child, McCoy began to piece together the larger
movement, the tapes acting as a sort of encyclopedia with something for
everyone. "If I was interested in more R&B blends, I knew that someone like DJ
Finesse from Queens would have R&B Blends volume 1 through a million," she
explains. "And then I would go to camp every summer, and we would all bring our
tapes and mix and swap them. There was a boy from California at camp and I’d get
an entirely new sound."

"You couldn't get too hot…because then the RIAA is going to come in"

After first acting as a proving ground for talented DJs, mixtapes became
intertwined with lyricists. Many prominent rappers — from Too Short to MC Hammer
— started out by selling mixtapes of their work from the trunk of their car,
showing up wherever they might find demand. DJs also started recording their
sets in professional studios, toeing the line between commercial release and
self-distribution — often based on whether there was enough demand to draw the
industry’s attention. "You couldn’t get too hot, like DJ Drama, because then the
RIAA is going to come in," McCoy says.

Eventually, these DJs would be hired on for entire projects with lyricists or
even labels, uniting their voices in their unique blending style. "People like
50 Cent or Diddy would make tapes for their label," McCoy adds. Those artists
would hire someone like  DJ Whoo Kid to put together an entire tape with the
label’s artists featured. "And then the big labels came in, and it got real
messy."

Jehnie Burns, author of Mixtape Nostalgia: Culture, Memory, and Representation,
argues that this move towards more structured recording processes ties back to
the way hip-hop’s origins were separate from the mainstream — both by exclusion
and intention.

“Mainstream releases would have to be worried about getting samples approved,
making sure it was something that would sell, but hip-hop was often being made
by people with something interesting to say that didn’t fit into that mold,"
Burns says. "It had a lot of similarities to the early days of punk — where
local culture was so important, local community, local issues. Mixtapes are able
to speak to that community in a way that they understand it and care about."

And when enough of a groundswell happens in a relatively new genre, some artists
will work out ways to fit its ethos into the corporate music structure while
others will continue to push in the indie world.

McCoy had first hand experience with that thin line while working with Clipse —
an experience that proved foundational to the Mixtape Museum. At the time, the
duo of Pusha T and No Malice had their contract transferred from Arista to Jive.
When their work on Hell Hath No Fury began getting pushback, the duo attempted
to get out of their obligation with their new label. "They were going to court
with Jive and not able to drop their album, so they were like, ‘F— you, we’ll
put out a mixtape,’" McCoy recalls. While label structures might mean trying to
force Clipse into a certain box, the freedom of a mixtape meant they would be
able to experiment and use their own musical language.

But when someone from the group’s camp dropped 10,000 copies of We Got It 4
Cheap, Vol. 1 (hosted by DJ Clinton Sparks) at McCoy’s Stuyvesant Town
apartment, the realities of distributing a mixtape came to bear. Luckily, she
had a helping hand in the form of Justo Faison — her then-boyfriend and the
founder of the Annual Mixtape Awards. The annual awards honored innovative
musicians pushing boundaries in the mixtape form, and Faison had fittingly
amassed quite the collection of tapes, vinyl, and other early hip-hop
memorabilia.

"I couldn't make a song, but because of the cassette, I could make an album"

After Faison passed in 2005, McCoy and a friend looked around his apartment,
wondering what they could do to honor him. "I didn’t know what it meant yet, but
I looked around the room and just said ‘Mixtape Museum,’" she remembers. And
when she started working in academia, she continued pushing and researching,
focused on adding emphasis to the artform that Faison had championed as well.

As the years have passed, countless people have felt that same endless nostalgic
draw to the mixtape — as evidenced by the countless memoirs, novels, and films
centered on the form. Everyone that made their own mixtape had a unique
perspective, a unique purpose, and a yearning to make a document of it,
something that would live on longer than a simple playlist.

"Making a mixtape was super empowering," Taylor says. "I couldn’t make a song,
but because of the cassette, I could make an album."

Half a century on, the term "mixtape" remains relevant and meaningful. Even kids
growing up today, post-8-track, post-cassette, post-CD, post-mp3 know what a
mixtape is and the importance it can hold.

"Mixtape has become shorthand for this personal, eclectic collection," Burns
says. "There’s a nostalgia factor because Gen X is coming to a certain age, a
connection to a slower life less reliant on technology."

In hip-hop specifically, where the term continues to refer to a non-label or
non-LP project, it continues to hold the meaning of a testing ground for
experimentation and a connection to a niche community.

When Taylor set out in 2011 to make his documentary as an obituary to the
mixtape, the Oxford English Dictionary had announced that they’d be removing the
word cassette from their printed pages.

"To most people it was dead, but it was starting to have a real revival," he
says. "If it were ever going to die, it would’ve happened already. But the
portability and personalization will never be replaced." To this day, when
shooting commercials, Taylor brings his tape deck (made by new French
manufacturer We Are Rewind) and his pleather case of cassettes rather than
sticking with a Spotify playlist.

"People are so much more excited to come up and talk about tapes, even from
other sets," he says with a laugh. Burns similarly continues to see the
advantages mixtapes hold over streaming — especially when it comes to the
inability to skip around and the endless ability to rewind and start again.
"You’re not skipping tracks or shuffling. You have to listen in the order that
someone intentionally put it together," she says.

Perhaps it's that intentionality and experimentation that have allowed the
mixtape to constantly evolve and stay relevant. Gray certainly sees it that way.

"Mixtapes are like time machines, musical magic," he says. "And every
generation’s youth has the right to make it what they want it to be. Without
mixtapes, there would be no hip-hop."

And while some older aficionados may be especially protective of the golden age
of hip-hop, Gray sees the mixtape’s place as a living, breathing entity as
essential to the genre’s development.

"The mixtape is one of the most invaluable tools that we have available because
the internet is a cesspool and needs a filter," he says with a laugh. "Mixtape
DJs are filters of culture and vibration. Back in the day, you knew to expect a
certain level of quality with a tape from K Slay, Kid Capri, Red Alert, Chuck
Chillout, Marley Marl. Today, you know that you’ve got some serious sounds
coming out your speakers if it’s that kind of artist curating it."

The Recording Academy And CBS Announce “A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop”
Live Concert Special Featuring Performances By Common, LL COOL J, Queen Latifah,
Questlove, De La Soul, Remy Ma & More; Airing Dec. 10

Read More
“A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop” airs Sunday, Dec. 10, at 8:30 – 10:30
p.m. ET/PT on the CBS Television Network and streams live and on demand on
Paramount+

Image courtesy of the Recording Academy

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ADDITIONAL PERFORMERS ADDED TO "A GRAMMY SALUTE TO 50 YEARS OF HIP-HOP" LIVE
CONCERT SPECIAL: 2 CHAINZ, T.I., GUNNA, TOO $HORT, LATTO, E-40, BIG DADDY KANE,
GLORILLA, JUVENILE, THREE 6 MAFIA & MORE CONFIRMED

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The star-studded tribute will take place Wednesday, Nov. 8, at YouTube Theater
at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California. Tickets are on sale now. "A GRAMMY
Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop" will air on Sunday, Dec. 10, on CBS and
Paramount+.

John Ochoa
|GRAMMYs/Oct 27, 2023 - 03:59 pm

The massive lineup for the "A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop" live concert
special just got bigger and more legendary with the addition of rap icons and
next-gen hip-hop superstars: 2 Chainz, T.I., Gunna, Too $hort, Latto, E-40, Big
Daddy Kane, GloRilla, Juvenile, Three 6 Mafia, Cypress Hill, Jeezy, DJ Quik, MC
Lyte, Roxanne Shanté, Warren G, YG, Digable Planets, Arrested Development,
Spinderella, Black Sheep, and Luniz have all been added to the lineup.

They join previously announced performers Black Thought, Bun B, Common, De La
Soul, Jermaine Dupri, J.J. Fad, Talib Kweli, The Lady Of Rage, LL COOL J, MC
Sha-Rock, Monie Love, The Pharcyde, Queen Latifah, Questlove, Rakim, Remy Ma,
Uncle Luke, and Yo-Yo, who will perform at a once-in-a-lifetime live concert
special celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, which the Recording Academy
is honoring all year long across 2023.

Read More: 50 Artists Who Changed Rap: Jay-Z, The Notorious B.I.G., Dr. Dre,
Nicki Minaj, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem & More

Airing Sunday, Dec. 10, at 8:30 – 10:30 p.m. ET/PT on the CBS Television Network
and streaming live and on demand on Paramount+, "A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of
Hip-Hop" is a two-hour live concert special that will showcase the profound
history of hip-hop and celebrate the genre's monumental cultural impact around
the world. The special will feature exclusive performances from hip-hop legends
and GRAMMY-winning artists and much more.

The live concert comprising the "A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop"
special, which is open to the public, will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 8, at
YouTube Theater at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California. Footage from the
concert will then air on Sunday, Dec. 10, as a live concert TV special.

Tickets for the "A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop" live concert are
available to the public now.

The full concert details are below:

Concert:
Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023
Doors: 6 p.m. PT
Concert: 7 p.m. PT           

Venue:
YouTube Theater
1011 Stadium Dr
Inglewood, CA 90305

Purchase tickets here.

Stay tuned to GRAMMY.com for more news and updates about "A GRAMMY Salute to 50
Years of Hip-Hop."

A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop is produced by Jesse Collins
Entertainment. Jesse Collins, Shawn Gee, Dionne Harmon, Claudine Joseph, LL COOL
J, Fatima Robinson, Jeannae Rouzan-Clay, and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson for Two
One Five Entertainment serve as executive producers and Marcelo Gama as director
of the special.

Hip-Hop Just Rang In 50 Years As A Genre. What Will Its Next 50 Years Look Like?

Read More
Kassa Overall

Photo: Courtesy of Kassa Overall

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REIMAGINED: KASSA OVERALL TRANSFORMS SNOOP DOGG'S "DROP IT LIKE IT'S HOT" WITH
JAZZY IMPROVISATION

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Contemporary jazz star Kassa Overall uses his genre-bending of hip-hop and jazz
to offer a new perspective on Snoop Dogg's 2004 hit single with Pharrell, "Drop
It Like It's Hot."

D. Mariah
|GRAMMYs/Oct 24, 2023 - 07:00 pm

While Snoop Dogg and Pharrell boast a bevy of chart-toppers across their
respective careers, both artists' first No. 1 can be traced back to 2003 thanks
to one special single: "Drop It Like It's Hot." The track went on to receive two
GRAMMY nominations, Best Rap Song and Best Rap Duo/Group Performance. By the end
of the 2000s, Billboard declared it the most popular rap song of the decade.

In this episode of ReImagined, contemporary jazz artist and drummer Kassa
Overall delivers a live performance of "Drop It Like It's Hot" from a highway.
Overall uses pieces of the song's original iconic production — like its tongue
clicks — but ultimately turns it into his own with jazzy improvisation.

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Overall's spirited performance is a teaser for what fans can expect on his Ready
to Ball World Tour, which kicked off with a sold-out performance in Tokyo on
Oct. 19. The trek will see Overall hit 30 cities in the United States and
Europe, ending on March 21 in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Press play on the video above to hear Kassa Overall's unique rendition of Snoop
Dogg and Pharrell's "Drop It Like It's Hot," and check back to GRAMMY.com for
more new episodes of ReImagined.

10 Albums That Showcase The Deep Connection Between Hip-Hop And Jazz: De La
Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Kendrick Lamar & More

Read More

READ LIST

 1. 1Hip-Hop Re:Defined: Armani White Gives Lil Wayne's "A Milli" A Fresh,
    Personal Twist
 2. 2DJ Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince To Reunite Onstage At "A GRAMMY Salute
    To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop"
 3. 3The Unending Evolution Of The Mixtape: "Without Mixtapes, There Would Be No
    Hip-Hop"
 4. 4Additional Performers Added To "A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop"
    Live Concert Special: 2 Chainz, T.I., Gunna, Too $hort, Latto, E-40, Big
    Daddy Kane, GloRilla, Juvenile, Three 6 Mafia & More Confirmed
 5. 5ReImagined: Kassa Overall Transforms Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot"
    With Jazzy Improvisation


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