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Rap Grammy predictions

The 411 Online has kept a record of every rap Grammy ever awarded, but we've never tried predicting who would win before. That changes now. It's not easy getting into the warped mind of the Grammy voters, who often overvalue pop artists, fall in love with creating repeat winners or just generally have no clue.

Here are our predictions (in bold):

Best Rap Solo Performance
"Best I Ever Had," Drake
"Beautiful," Eminem
"D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)," Jay-Z*^
"Day 'N' Nite," Kid Cudi
"Casa Bey," Mos Def

Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group
"Too Many Rappers," Beastie Boys & Nas*
"Crack A Bottle," Eminem, Dr. Dre & 50 Cent^
"Money Goes, Honey Stay," Fabolous & Jay-Z
"Make Her Say," Kid Cudi, Kanye West & Common
"Amazing," Kanye West & Young Jeezy

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
"Ego," Beyoncé & Kanye West
"Knock You Down," Keri Hilson, Kanye West & Ne-Yo
"Run This Town," Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West*^
"I'm On A Boat," The Lonely Island & T-Pain
"Dead And Gone," T.I. & Justin Timberlake

Best Rap Song
"Best I Ever Had," Drake
"Day 'N' Nite," Kid Cudi
"Dead And Gone," T.I. & Justin Timberlake
"D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)," Jay-Z*
"Run This Town," Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West^

Best Rap Album
Universal Mind Control, Common
Relapse, Eminem^
R.O.O.T.S., Flo Rida
The Ecstatic, Mos Def
The Renaissance, Q-Tip*

*-who we'd pick, given the choices
^-actual winner

More: Every Rap Grammy from 1989-present

Lil' Wayne wins 4 Grammys

Lil' Wayne owned the hip-hop portion of the Grammy Awards, which should come as no surprise considering he led all artists -- regardless of genre -- with eight nominations.

Wayne was denied any overall awards, but he took home at least a share of four of the five rap honors, with Best Rap/Sung Collaboration being the lone exception. Estelle and Kanye West won for "American Boy." However, Lil' Wayne left with the trophies for Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song, Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.

Of course, R&B stars Chris Brown and Rihanna stole the show without even showing up, thanks to an alleged domestic dispute before the event that led to charges for Brown.

2009 winners
Best Rap Album: Lil' Wayne, Tha Carter III
Best Rap Song: Lil' Wayne featuring Static Major, "Lollipop"
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: Estelle featuring Kanye West, "American Boy"
Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group: Jay-Z and T.I. featuring Kanye West and Lil' Wayne, "Swagga Like Us"
Best Rap Solo Performance: Lil' Wayne, "A Milli"

For The 411 Online's complete list of all the hip-hop Grammy Award winners since DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince won that first one in 1989, click here.

The 411 Online's Best of 2008

As always, The 411 Online is not of one mind when it comes to the end of the year honors. The Best of 2008 is our first edition since the site was retooled with an old school emphasis -- and 15th overall -- but that doesn't mean our staff's favorites are limited to that generation of artists. Q-Tip and Jay-Z represent the golden era, but Lil' Wayne, T.I. and Young Jeezy are featured as well. Keeping it simple this year, here are our picks for the Best of 2008.

Best album
El Patron: Lil' Wayne, Tha Carter III
Cvere: The Cool Kids, Bake Sale EP
Mr. Freez: Young Jeezy, The Recession
Mason Storm: Q-Tip, The Renaissance

Best single
El Patron: "Swagga Like Us" -- T.I., Jay-Z, Kanye West and Lil' Wayne
Cvere: "Swagga Like Us" -- T.I., Jay-Z, Kanye West and Lil' Wayne
Mr. Freez: "Lollipop" -- Lil' Wayne
Mason Storm: "Swagga Like Us" -- T.I., Jay-Z, Kanye West and Lil' Wayne

More >> Best of 2008 | '07 | '06 | '05 | '04 | '03 | '02 | '01 | '00 | 1999 | '98 | '97 | '96 | '95 | '94

Kanye West wants to pose nude, lose some fans

Kanye West told Vibe that not only does he want to pose nude, but he also would like fewer fans. However, he doesn't plan to do the former to achieve the latter. (Although that might work.)

"I made a decision. I wanna make popular music, but I want less fans," West said in the only cover story he's used to promote 808s and Heartbreak. "I want the freedom of having less fans. It's like the freedom of having less money. If you have less money, you have less responsibility. It's like Björk. If she wanted to pose naked, you'd be like, 'Oh, that's Björk.' But if I wanted to pose naked, people would draw all type of things into it. I definitely feel like, in the next however many years, if I work out for two months, that I'll pose naked. I break every rule and mentality of hip-hop, of black culture, of American culture."

Of course, he made no mention of the true pioneer in the field, Big Daddy Kane.

Kanye West takes New Year's Eve off

Hoping to see Kanye West perform on New Year's Eve? Got a card that promises an after-party appearance by Ye to ring in 2009? Don't count on it.

"If there's any parties on New Year's Eve with my name on it, don't you believe it!" West wrote on his blog. "I'm staying at home for the first time in five years. We did 98 shows this past year. I just want to chill, hoop and watch some movies."

Kanye West not on Twitter

From Dec. 10: That heavily circulated Kanye West Twitter response to Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert? It wasn't him. West, who was credited with saying "Who the f--- is Stephen Colbert?" in many media reports, responded on his blog with the equivalent of "What the f--- is Twitter?"

West posted "I don't know anything about this…This is not me!" with a screen shot of the Twitter page with his likeness, which has since been taken down. Colbert launched "Operation Humble Kanye" on his show to entice his viewers to buy his album and move it past West's 808s and Heartbreak. Both lost the week to Britney Spears.

Rolling Stone said the Twitter account wasn't updated enough to be credible, since Kanye blogs frequently every day.

Review: KANYE WEST, 808s and Heartbreak

"While you was in limbo, I raised the bar up," Kanye rapped on last year's "The Glory." Now West's back after a tough year personally, and he's delivered by far his most personal album yet. It's not immediately clear if this disc represents a limbo of his own or an elevation to the next level. But one thing is for certain: He's not afraid to take risks. And the payoff this time likely will be a new trend that gives birth to a new breed of copycats. We expressed concerns with last year's classic, Graduation, because we could see the road to Diddy pop from there. But he shot right past the Puffy tendencies, through the Ja Rule-singing phase and squarely into Roger Troutman talk-box territory (although technically different). T-Pain blazed the trail to the sound's return, but what Kanye is doing is unprecedented for an established, successful artist. The results might disappoint fans of his previous albums, but not fans of the man.

Despite the fact I knew this sonic shift was taking place and we were all given an accurate preview in the first single -- the drumline-destined "Love Lockdown" -- it wasn't until Kanye wailed his tenth "Hey, hey, hey, hey" or so that I realized that he'd really gone through with it. This was the album. And three minutes into that first song, "Say You Will," the lyrics end and the beat rolls on for another three to give you a chance to breathe, prepare yourself for the rest of the album and appreciate just how insane of a genius West is. What seems crazy at first becomes commonplace by the time the orchestral and absurd "RoboCop" finishes with Kanye belting out a playful-but-ridiculous solo that would have forced a mandatory eject any earlier in the record. But by then you've rode along on an assortment of acceptable tracks that somehow manage to stick, with a backdrop of bass that I haven't experienced since there was a tube in my trunk as a teen. (The TR-808s apparently have been missed.) Among them is "Amazing" featuring Young Jeezy, "Paranoid" (which has a beat I could swear was inspired in part by music from "NBA Jam"), the aforementioned first single and "Heartless," the only track that might have blended into one of his previous efforts unnoticed.

"Welcome to Heartbreak," in which Kanye revisits his theme of family vs. fame, finds Kanye countering a friend's "pictures of his kids" and their "report cards" with "pictures of my cribs" and his "sports cars." Certainly the death of his mother and the split with his fiance contributed to this continued internal conflict. He addresses the former in the final track, "Coldest Winter." Because of his loss, you feel like giving the guy a break for his apparent break from sanity. But it's unnecessary, because against all odds it works. Lil' Wayne even jumps into the Auto-Tune party on "See You in My Nightmares." The remainder continues in the same vein -- with the "808s" supplying the beats and Kanye's lyrics providing the "Heartbreak." It's an instant guilty pleasure with the potential to be much more. I can't hand Kanye a fourth consecutive $50 with a clean conscience, even if it ends up being the album I listen to the most this year (and it could). His other albums might be better, but none might end up being more influential. We'll have to see. Click here to find out how to buy this album.

-- Mason Storm

Around the Way
allmusic: 2
Entertainment Weekly: A-
HipHopDX: 4
Pitchfork: 7.6/10
Rolling Stone: 3.5

Kanye West archive 1994-2008

The following news, reviews and interviews were published in The 411 between 1994 and 2008:

Kanye West News Jay-Z Forbes' 'cash king' 50: I'll quit if outsold by Kanye Common No. 1 for first time Common's 'Finding Forever' gets release date Kanye West orders British takeout -- from New York Ludacris wins best rap album, song at Grammys Kanye sued by Evel Knievel Kanye West upstaged by 'Borat' Kanye West a sore loser Nas gets Kanye for new album Jay-Z sets date for 'Kingdom Come' It's official: Jay-Z is back 10 years without 2Pac Kanye sounds off on Lollapalooza Kanye, Common highlight Lollapalooza Jay-Z album by Thanksgiving? Ice Cube upset with Oprah T.I. is 'King' of the charts See Cee-Lo at Lollapalooza Kanye, Common added to Lollapalooza Kanye adding spice to tour? Common wants Kanye, Dre Kanye starstruck by Prince Kanye: Jay-Z will return Kanye West wins 3 Grammys R. Kelly leads Soul Train nominations Kanye latest to pose as Jesus The 411's Best of 2005 The 411's Best of 2004 Reviews KANYE WEST, Graduation, Roc-A-Fella KANYE WEST, Late Registration, Roc-A-Fella KANYE WEST, The College Dropout, Roc-A-Fella

Discography 2004 Kanye West The College Dropout Listen to samples Buy the album 2005 Kanye West Late Registration Listen to samples Buy the album 2007 Kanye West Graduation Listen to samples Buy the album 2008 Kanye West 808s and Heartbreak Listen to samples Buy the album