After the entire Internet offered think pieces about what it would mean if the white, Australian rapper Iggy Azalea took home the award for best rap album for last year’s “The New Classic,” she quietly lost the honor while other stars were still preening on the red carpet.
[READ: Complete live coverage of the 2015 Grammys]
Instead, the award went to another white rapper, Eminem, for his “The Marshall Mathers LP2.” Eminem, strangely, hasn’t stirred up quite the same amount of rage, and it may well be because he predates the think piece.
[READ: White echoes: Rap, race and Iggy Azalea]
The Detroit rapper first won in 1999 for “The Slim Shady LP,” then again in 2000 for “The Marshall Mathers LP,” then again in 2002 for “The Eminem Show”…. You see where we’re going here. In all, Eminem has picked up the award six times in the 20 years the best rap album award has existed. Compare this to Jay-Z’s one win, and Kanye West’s four wins in the past decade. No woman has won the award, though Lauryn Hill shared the award with the Fugees in 1997.
Kendrick Lamar, who gained attention last year after turning in a stellar performance with Imagine Dragons and then losing the award to pop-rap act Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, did pick up a couple of awards at this year’s Grammys: His track “i” was named best rap song and best rap performance.
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