Mariah Carey has been at the top of the music world for a while — four decades, to be specific.

At just 20 years old, the singer/songwriter topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart five times with singles from her self-titled debut album. The eponymous album earned Carey five GRAMMY nominations at the 33rd Annual GRAMMY Awards in 1991, including two wins for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her single "Vision Of Love."

Watch the newest episode of Black Sounds Beautiful below to learn how the five-octave singer continued to reach new heights throughout her career.

Coming from Irish, African American and Afro Venezuelan descent, Carey faced peculiar criticisms regarding her racial identity throughout her career. She sang about how the commentary affected her on her 1997 track "Outside."

"It's hard to explain," the 34-time GRAMMY nominee sang. "Inherently, it's just always been strange/ Neither here nor there/ Always somewhat out of place everywhere."

"Outside" was the outro song on Carey's Butterfly album, which would earn the megastar three GRAMMY nominations for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best Rhythm & Blues Song.

Watch the video above to see how Carey made a home for herself at the top of the charts and how she's using her success to give back to the community. Keep checking GRAMMY.com for more breakdowns on some of the top Black artists in music.

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Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly. Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly.

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube. This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle. This is for Illmatic, this is for Nas. We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

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Lil Nas X became a global sensation practically overnight, but it wasn't an accident.

The American singer and rapper — born Montero Lamar Hill — became fluent in music and pop culture at an early age, becoming a meme aficionado. His love for internet culture cultivated the perfect recipe for his debut single, "Old Town Road," to become one of the most viral hits in music history; the song also prompted a necessary conversation about the bounds of genre. 

"Old Town Road" rose to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and still holds the record for most time spent at No. 1 at 19 weeks. The single later helped Lil Nas X snag two GRAMMY Awards for Best Pop/Duo Group Performance and Best Music Video. (To date, he's won 2 GRAMMYs and has received 11 nominations overall.)

Aside from his immense musical talent, Lil Nas X — who came out as gay on social media during his Hot 100 reign — has been a fierce champion for LGBTQIA+ and Black communities.

"It's just acceptance of gay people. And they see that as a bad thing, like, They're trying to normalize it. You know what? Yeah. That's actually what I'm trying to do," he told GQ in 2021.

At just 24 years old, Lil Nas X has plenty more history-making and game-changing moves in store. As he revealed during his March 2023 campaign with Coach, "My next big chapter is coming."

Press play on the video above to learn more about Lil Nas X's industry-altering career, and check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of Black Sounds Beautiful.

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Born Megan Pete, the Houston native was introduced to music at an early age because her mother — an underground hip-hop artist who went by the name Holly-Wood — brought her to recording sessions. Megan began regularly writing lyrics and freestyling, which led to a clip of a rap battle going viral, jump-starting her career.

By 2020, Megan earned her first two Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers, "Savage" and "WAP" featuring Cardi B. The former caught the attention of fellow Houston-bred diva Beyoncé, who later hopped on the track for a remix, and snagged Megan two GRAMMY wins in a full-circle moment — during her acceptance speech, Megan revealed her dream was to become "the rap Beyoncé."

Beyond Megan's massive musical achievements, the rap princess has also been a champion of Black women internationally.

"It's ridiculous that some people think the simple phrase 'Protect Black women' is controversial,"  she wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times. "We deserve to be protected as human beings. And we are entitled to our anger about a laundry list of mistreatment and neglect that we suffer."

Press play on the video above to learn more about Megan Thee Stallion's groundbreaking career, and check back to GRAMMY.com for more episodes of Black Sounds Beautiful.

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As Jagged Edge and Nelly asked in 2001, where the party at? On May 6, it's at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds thanks to Lovers & Friends.

The star-studded festival largely celebrates the R&B and hip-hop stars of the '90s and 2000s, with a lineup that boasts Missy Elliott, Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, Usher, Christina Aguilera, Nelly, and 50 Cent, among countless other hitmakers. With a jam-packed roster, it's hard to believe the fest is only one day. But one thing is guaranteed: it's going to be a day full of bangers.

There's also a good chance that there will be some viral moments from the second annual Lovers & Friends fest. Several of the stars on the bill have delivered some smash hits together, and they may just take the stage together to perform them — whether it's Chris Brown and Busta Rhymes for "Look At Me Now," Frankie J and Baby Bash for "Suga Suga," or, yes, even Jagged Edge and Nelly for "Where The Party At."

Even if you didn't get a ticket to this year's sold-out fest, that certainly doesn't mean you can't get in on the nostalgia. GRAMMY.com has curated a 50-song playlist to highlight all 50 performers on the Lovers & Friends 2023 lineup (which also includes current stars like Summer Walker, Bryson Tiller and Partynextdoor), and it will undoubtedly get you pumped up.

Below, jam out to GRAMMY.com's Lovers & Friends 2023 playlist, or listen to it on Apple Music, Amazon Music or Pandora.