Never Loved Us: 25 Rap Greats Who Never Won Grammy Awards - Page 3

This past weekend, the nominations for the 56th Annual Grammy Awards were rolled out in high-level fashion.

Naturally the elephant in the room was the Hip-Hop faceoff between Macklemore/Ryan Lewis and Kendrick Lamar. After the former ran away with several American Music Awards, leaving K. Dot empty-handed, many speculate that it will be déjà vu at the Grammys.

Both are nominated for the most coveted award of Album of the Year. The voting process has been proved itself to be wishy-washy over the years with all due respect to the subjective nature of the concept.

Should Kendrick’s good kid, m.A.A.D. city take the L to the Seattle duo’s The Heist, it won’t be the end of the world. He’ll join a prestigious list of rappers that have never won a Grammy Award.

To be fair, two is not a winner and nobody remembers a trio. Yet and still, if you consider the amount of quality that’s come out of the Hip-Hop sector over the past 25 years, you would think more legendary MCs would have shared the Grammy wealth than what we’ve seen.

Which is why here’s 25 rappers who never won Grammys. This is the world we live in.

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Photo: Jamel Martin & VDot Photography

Photo: Danny Moloshok/Invision

Public Enemy

A handful of classic albums and Rock N Roll Hall of Fame Inductation wasn’t enough to earn these legends a golden gramophone.

Photo: Instagram

Busta Rhymes

That’s right. After 11 nominations, The Dungeon Dragon has yet to score a Grammy victory.

Photo: Facebook

RZA

As an accomplished rapper, producer, actor and screenwriter, The Abbott has yet to feel the love from music’s top award show.

Photo: Maury Phillips

Raekwon

The Chef has never been known for his commercial prowess but that’s never stopped the committee from throwing a monkey wrench in the grand order of things. What gives?

Photo: Instagram

A Tribe Called Quest

The “Award Tour” was beneficial for Trugoy in 2005 but ATCQ probably won’t reach that plateau, since Q-Tip says they’re a done deal.

Photo: Johnny Nunez

Mobb Deep

Apparently the Queensbridge duo’s brand of murderous music wasn’t ever welcomed enough to even earn a nomination.

Photo: Instagram

Game

After 10 million albums sold, the Grammys have repeatedly hit the snooze button on everything Jayceon does.

Photo: Los Angeles Times

MC Lyte

Nicki Minaj has yet to win a Grammy herself but when she does, the L-Y-T-E needs to be thanked in the acceptance speech.

Photo: Tumblr

DJ Quik

Surely a producer with a sound as diverse as the c-less Quik could muster up a least one win in 20+ years. Nope.

Rakim

It’s safe to say that the original god MC’s contributions to the culture helped make a rapper’s career possible to be lucrative.

Photo: CBS

Mos Def

Mighty Mos’ crossover appeal has yet to result in a salute from the Grammy committee.

Photo: Maia Stern

E-40

The Bay Area legend has 17 albums (and counting) so one would think a Grammy would have fallen in between all those recordings.

Photo: Corbis

Run-DMC

The Kings from Queens paved the way for many a rapper before the mainstream even considered the culture actual music.

Photo: Houston Press

UGK

“Int’l Players Anthem (I Choose You),” “Big Pimpin'” and “Sippin’ on Some Syrup” all received the long diss goodnight.

Photo: Instagram

Scarface

No real surprise here but it just goes to show that one culture’s hero is another one’s zero.

Photo: Instagram

Fat Joe

Joey Crack switched his style up numerous times in hopes of landing on the Grammy’s radar. No dice.

Gang Starr

Well, it’s not like the Grammy’s even knew Guru existed to begin with.

Photo: Jerod Harris

Ice Cube

He never had dinner with the president and he’ll probably never win a Grammy. Cold game.

Photo: Flickr

KRS-One

The T’cha instructed us on more golden topics than any award recognition could ever hope for.

Photo: XXL

DMX

Before he rewrote The Book of Struggle, DMX was on a tear, critically and commercially. He still never got the gramophone stamp of approval, though.

Photo: Tumblr

EPMD

Rappers of today should thank these legends of yesterday for the work they put in.

Photo: Def Jam

NaS

Here’s a little funny fact for the never-ending debate: Jay Z has 17 Grammy wins. Nas has nil. You are now free to curse.

Photo: Tumblr

The Notorious B.I.G.

Even with the obviousness of his passing, there was no way No Way Out should have beat out Life After Death in 1998 for Best Rap Album.

Photo: Tumblr

2Pac

The late Tupac Shakur was very much alive to see his marquee albums get nominated for the Grammy Awards. Sadly, he still died without a win.