Post Malone, Lil Nas X and Lizzo: Hip-Hop or Not?
If you're reading this, you already know it's time for this week's edition of Hip-Hop Moments of Clarity, XXL's podcast dedicated to trying to answer hip-hop's toughest questions while deciphering trending news stories.
For today's episode (Nov. 22), hosts discuss the genre-classifications of artists like Post Malone, Lizzo and Lil Nas X, the newly released nominations for the 2020 Grammy Awards, Jay-Z's purported involvement in setting up Colin Kaepernick's aborted NFL-sanctioned workout, Kanye West's upcoming Jesus Is King sequel and more.
This week, XXL's Editor-in-Chief Vanessa Satten, hip-hop entrepreneur Rahman Dukes and veteran hip-hop journalist Shaheem Reid are joined by special guest Uncle Murda, who pops in XXL's Manhattan office to discuss his forthcoming project, share some funny stories and weigh in on this week's biggest topics. This is the lineup for this week's show, but the roster is subject to change from week to week.
On Wednesday, the 2020 Grammy Award nominations were announced with rappers like DaBaby, Tyler, The Creator, Nipsey Hussle and more earning nods. Lil Nas X found himself with five nominations, including Album of the Year. While some fans were excited to see the 20-year old get nominated for such a huge award, plenty of others questioned his placement in this category. Of course, Lil Nas X's nomination also makes fans wonder how, exactly, they should classify him and other genre-fluid artists like Lizzo and Posty.
In other Grammy-related news, Dreamville, Tyler, The Creator, Meek Mill and 21 Savage were nominated for Best Rap Album.
Hosts also talked about Jay-Z's alleged role in setting up Colin Kaepernick's NFL-orchestrated workout, which Kaepernick eventually ended up skipping because of some paperwork he wasn't interested in signing. According to recent reports, the rapper helped arrange a workout with teams across the league in order to repair his reputation after agreeing to partner with the NFL. It was later reported that Jay believed Kaepernick's turned his workout into a publicity stunt, though Roc Nation reps deny Jay spoke with any sources about that.
Following the release of his latest album, Jesus Is King, Kanye West, who recently said he would be taking his religious album on tour, used his Twitter account to announce that Dr. Dre would be working with him to create Jesus Is King Part II.
Listen to XXL's Hip-Hop Moments of Clarity podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher. Check out the latest episode of the podcast on YouTube below.
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