Hip-Hop Locked In At The VMAs While Rap Gets Overlooked

The VMAs are splitting hairs between hip-hop and rap this year, and it's telling you something about how the awards show sees the culture. Six heavy hitters are duking it out in the hip-hop lane — Drake, Cardi B, and Megan Thee Stallion among them — which means competition is thick. But here's the thing: while that category overflows, the broader rap categories are looking hollow.

Meanwhile, Clipse and Kendrick are hunting in the collaboration space, which makes sense given the way features and crew work hits these days. But the split between "hip-hop" and "rap" at an awards show still feels like MTV trying to separate sounds that fans never really separated in the first place.

It's the same old game — water down the main event by slicing it into smaller pieces, then act like you're giving the culture more shine. Six nominees sounds like abundance until you realize that's the only real hip-hop shine on the menu. Worth checking how this plays out when votes are counted.

Read the full story at AllHipHop → https://allhiphop.com/news/rap-misses-top-vma-categories-as-six-stars-compete-for-best-hip-hop/