Megan Thee Stallion won a leading four awards Sunday at the BET Awards -rapper won best female hip-hop artist, best collaboration and best video of the year for 'Wap' with Cardi B, and the viewers’ choice award for 'Savage' with Beyoncé. Chris Brown won best male R&B/Pop Artist, and Oscar winner H.E.R. won female R&B/Pop Artist. The annual awards celebrate the year in Black music, TV, film, sports and social impact and this edition touted the “year of the Black woman,” with Queen Latifah receiving the Lifetime Achievement BET Award. Billboard lists all the nominees and winners.

The history is now
March 15, 2021

Taylor Swift and Beyonce make Grammy history

Taylor Swift has become the first woman in Grammy Awards history to win album of the year three times - the 31-year-old songstress took home the top prize last night with 'Folklore'. Swift previously won album of the year in 2010 for 'Fearless', at that time, the youngest artist ever to do so, and in 2016 for '1989'. The only other musicians to win thrice are Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, and Paul Simon, USA Today reports. Beyoncé became the most-decorated woman in Grammys history with her 28th win, while her daughter Blue Ivy Carter, at 9 years old, became the second youngest person to win a Grammy, according to CBS News. Billie Eilish accepted the Grammy for Record of the Year for her song 'Everything I Wanted', Megan Thee Stallion won Best New Artist, H.E.R. took Song of the Year for 'I Can't Breathe', Check out all the nominees and winners here. BBC picks out five special moments from the ceremony, including Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion simulating sex onstage (a Scissor Sisters moment, right!?).

Megan Thee Stallion was the big winner at the 15th annual BET Hip Hop Awards taking home three awards -- hip-hop artist of the year, best collaboration (for 'Savage' with Beyonce) and hustler of the year. Rapsody became the first woman to win for lyricist of the year. Roddy Ricch’s 'Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial' won hip hop album of the year, the first time that an artist’s first studio album has won that award. Pop Smoke won best new hip hop artist posthumously. Check out the complete list here.

Black women matter
October 15, 2020

Megan Thee Stallion: I’m not 'the new' anyone

"Black women struggle against stereotypes and are seen as angry or threatening when we try to stand up for ourselves and our sisters. There’s not much room for passionate advocacy if you are a Black woman" - Megan Thee Stallion wrote in an opinion piece in the New York Times, adding - "In every industry, women are pitted against one another, but especially in hip-hop, where it seems as if the male-dominated ecosystem can handle only one female rapper at a time. Countless times, people have tried to pit me against Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, two incredible entertainers and strong women. I’m not 'the new' anyone".

Rapper Tory Lanez, real name Daystar Peterson, has been charged with shooting rapper Megan Thee Stallion in his car in the Hollywood Hills earlier this year, New York Times reports. Lanez is charged with one felony count each of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle. He also faces a gun allegation and that he personally inflicted great bodily injury shooting Megan Thee Stallion at her feet. If convicted as charged, Lanez faces a possible maximum sentence of 22 years.

Acclaimed rapper CeeLo Green has spoken out against music created by Nicki Minaj and Cardi B who he suggested are crying out for attention at any cost. “We are adults. There should be a time and a place for adult content. As adults and artists, we should at least attempt to be each other’s accountability partners in some regard. The stereotypes that are celebrated and perpetuated, ultimately make the perception a reality. It is disenfranchising and it has caused a great deal of problems” - he told Far Out Magazine. “Attention is also a drug and competition is around” he adds - “Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, they are all more or less doing similar salacious gesturing to kinda get into position. I get it, the independent woman and being in control, the divine femininity and sexual expression. I get it all but it comes at what cost?”.

Megan Thee Stallion suffered multiple gunshot wounds, saying she’s “lucky to be alive”, but is expected to make a full recovery. The incident occurred Sunday morning (July 12) in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. Police officers at the scene recovered a gun the rapper allegedly had in a vehicle. Canadian rapper/singer Tory Lanez was arrested in connection to the incident.

Beyonce / Chris Brown / Megan Thee Stallion

Big winners at the 2020 BET Awards included Migos (Best Group), Lizzo (Best Female R&B/Pop Artist), Megan Thee Stallion (Best Female Hip Hop Artist), DaBaby (Best Male Hip-Hop Artist), Roddy Ricch was named Best New Artis while his album 'Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial' won Album of the Year, and Beyonce’s 'Brown Skin Girl' (HER Award). Chris Brown won Best Male R&B/Pop Artist and Best Collaboration ('No Guidance' featuring Drake), and DJ Khaled won Video Of The Year for 'Higher' featuring Nipsey Hussle and John Legend. Check out the full list of nominees and winners at Deadline. Public Enemy joined forces with Nas, The Roots’ Questlove and Black Thought, YG, and Rapsody for a special performance of 'Fight the Power' to kick off the 2020 BET Award - watch here, and Alicia Keys gave a powerful performance of 'Perfect Way to Die'.

Megan Thee Stallion / Cardi B / Doja Cat

Women in hip-hop have been pitted against each other since 1980s, and even as recently as 2018 Cardi B threw a shoe at Nicki Minaj during a red carpet confrontation. Just two years later, however, the mood has changed and this kind of spat is rare and feels undignified, Guardian writes in an article about a change of stance in lady's hip-hop. Now displays of friendship and support, along with in-jokes on social media timelines are much more common. Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Doja Cat, Stefflon Don, and Ms Banks and tens of other female rappers are breaking through by embracing sisterhood and shaking off the prejudices of the past...

Lil Uzi Vert debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 'Eternal Atake', with the biggest streaming week for an album since 2018 - the album starts with 288,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in last week, with 278,000 of it in SEA units, which translates to a whopping 400 million on-demand streams for the set’s 18 tracks, the Billboard reports. That’s the fourth-largest streaming week ever for an album, and the largest week for any album since Lil Wayne’s 'Tha Carter V' started with 433 million clicks in October 2018. Elsewhere on the Billboard 200, Jhené Aiko scores her highest charting album ever, as 'Chilombo' debuts at No. 2 with 152,000 equivalent album units. Korean pop group NCT 127 lands its first top 10 effort, as 'NCT #127: Neo-Zone, The 2nd Album' debuts at No. 5 with 87,000 equivalent albums. Closing out the top 10 is Megan Thee Stallion, who scores her second top 10 effort with 'Suga'; 41,000 equivalent album units earned.