Feels like yesterday that I convinced eskay to get out the house for Drake’s SOB show…

The show hasn’t even started yet but the winners in the Rap categories have already been announced.

Best Rap Album
Common – Universal Mind Control
Eminem – Relapse
Flo Rida – R.O.O.T.S.
Mos Def – The Ecstatic
Q-Tip – The Renaissance

Best Rap Solo Performance
Drake – “Best I Ever Had”
Eminem – “Beautiful”
Jay-Z – “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)”
Kid Cudi – “Day ‘N’ Nite”
Mos Def – “Casa Bey”

Best Rap Song
Drake – “Best I Ever Had”
Kid Cudi – “Day ‘N’ Nite”
T.I. & Justin Timberlake – “Dead And Gone”
Jay-Z – “D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)”
Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West – “Run This Town”

Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group
Beastie Boys & Nas – “Too Many Rappers”
Eminem, Dr. Dre & 50 Cent – “Crack A Bottle”
Fabolous & Jay-Z – “Money Goes, Honey Stay”
Kid Cudi, Kanye West & Common – “Make Her Say”
Kanye West & Young Jeezy – “Amazing”

Best Urban/Alternative Performance
India.Arie & Dobet Gnahore – “Pearls”
The Foreign Exchange feat. Muhsinah – “Daykeeper”
Robert Glasper & Bilal – “All Matter”
Eric Roberson, Ben O’Neill & Michelle Thompson – “A Tale Of Two”
Tonex – “Blend”

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
Beyoncé & Kanye West – “Ego”
Keri Hilson, Kanye West & Ne-Yo – “Knock You Down”
Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West – “Run This Town”
The Lonely Island & T-Pain – “I’m On A Boat”
T.I. & Justin Timberlake – “Dead And Gone”

There were no rap nominations in the Album of the Year, Best New Artist, or Record of the Year categories.

There’s a (very) small preview of the Shyne & Nas verses.

Victory hits stores March 2nd.

Previously: Video: DJ Khaled Talks Shyne Collaboration | DJ Khaled feat. Young Jeezy, Rick Ross & Plies – Put Your Hands Up

It was announced on Thursday that Drake, Lil Wayne & Eminem (along with Travis Barker) would be performing at The Grammy’s tonight, but Kanye West’s name wasn’t brought up. AllHipHop‘s hunch is that it’s because they snubbed Kanye’s 808′s & Heartbreaks, even though his song “Amazing” and 4 other songs that he was featured on were up nominated tonight.

Yesterday, Drake told The Canadian Press that Kanye will not be joining them because he might be working on his project, and Travis Barker told MTV he heard pretty much the same thing. Continue reading this post…

Previously: Bumpy Knuckles – 81 Bars of Murder (Cormega/Guru Diss)

As mentioned when they released the video, Mikkey Halsted & Freddie Gibbs performed this at the Leaders of the New Cool show at the Echoplex in L.A. last Tuesday. Props to LAstereoTV for shooting this.

BONUS: Freddie Gibbs & Mikkey Halsted – On My Own [Radio Rip]

Andrew says the CDQ is coming this week.

TV Guide had the chance to speak to Rashid as he arrived at the Grammy’s. Spotted at FakeShoreDrive.

Hit the jump to watch him perform The Light with Zac Brown and Colbie Callait, live at the BMI “How I Wrote That Song” showcase.

Previously: Common – Next Time (Unreleased)

Continue reading this post…

Didn’t catch any pictures of them hitting the stage, but here’s Phonte and Nicolay performing their Grammy nominated song “Daykeeper” with The Roots live at The 6th Annual Roots Jam Session at the Key Club in Hollywood last night. Footage by Okayplayer.

I hope these guys win a Grammy tonight.

Previously: Jay Electronica – Exhibit C (Live w/ The Roots & Mos Def )

Curtis performs Crack A Bottle live at the Winter X-Games 14, which went down yesterday at the Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colorado.

Sidebar: Alchemist managed to be at the rehearsal for “Forever” yesterday, perform a gig in Chicago last night and then immediately fly back for The Grammy’s. Applaud him for remaining humble about it all.

Lupe Fiasco brought out Trae The Truth at the Sprite Step Off event at the H&PE Arena at Texas Southern University in Houston, TX.

The audio quality isn’t great, but hit the jump to see him do his Say Something freestyle from Enemy of the State. He also had some kind words for Drake and tonight’s events at The Grammy’s. [via lupE.N.D.]

“Everything seamless, Worldstar never seen this, Nah Right gotta stream this, motherfucking genius…” – Lupe Fiasco on “Say Something”

Continue reading this post…