Just hours after its announcement, Drake released the surprise album Honestly, Nevermind on June 17. The dance and house-inspired record, his seventh studio effort, further proves the pop icon's transcendent abilities and his willingness to extend his artistry to its furthest limits.

On the 14-track project, Drake casts his boisterous rap persona aside and flows over the reverberating sounds and soothing piano keys of South African house and American club music. Collaborators Black Coffee, Noah "40" Shebib and Gordo (formerly Carnage) steer the Toronto rapper and singer on a course of creative free flow, allowing his wistful lyrics and airy vocals to shine on "A Keeper," and "Falling Back."

Despite his stature — and ability to seemingly shift the course of hip-hop and pop at will — Drake has never dedicated an entire project to embark on a new musical pathway. But after being the face of mainstream hip-hop and pop for over a decade, there was no better time to delve into a state of experimentation. Enter, Honestly, Nevermind.

From hip-hop love ballads to strip club anthems and Afro-Caribbean tunes, the four-time GRAMMY winner is responsible for some of the era’s greatest hits. Whether melding melodic bridges and hooks with rap, or dabbling in Afrobeats and British grime, Drake has morphed the pop music soundscape to his liking without compromising his creative intuition — a habit that sprouted the moment he gleamed under the industry spotlight. 

Drake came into the spotlight at an auspicious time, when hip-hop heavyweights like Jay Z, Eminem, Kanye West, Rick Ross and his mentor Lil Wayne sat atop the hip-hop leaderboard and an intense auto-tune phase met its end. Drake's  2009  debut EP, So Far Gone, shook the world by fusing the timbre of slow-grind R&B with the spirit of braggadocious rap.

The EP’s break-out single, "Best I Ever Had," peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and garnered his first of many GRAMMY nominations — one for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Solo Performance. The "Nice For What" artist had officially created a distinct sound that elevated him to early superstardom.

Drake wasn’t the first artist to sing and rap on his songs, but in an interview with the Jewish Chronicle in 2012, he declared himself the first person to do it at a high level. "There were people who incorporated melody before me, but I would deem myself the first person to successfully rap and sing."

Backed by the Young Money Entertainment hype machine, Drizzy continued his success in 2010 with his first studio album, Thank Me Later. The project boasted concert-ready hits like "Over" and "Fancy," and threaded moments of soul-stirring emotion and honesty on "Fireworks" and "Shut It Down." With its commercial and critical success, the great Canadian hope fulfilled the colossal expectations set upon his shoulders.

Off the heels of his debut project, Drake endeared rap fans with his vulnerability. But this was a pocket he had to carve out for himself and fend against the "soft rapper" label that loomed over his early career. 

"I wish that we lived in a time and a generation where people would stop viewing my honesty as overly emotional," Drake told GQ in 2011 ahead of the release of his second album, Take Care. "People always act like I spend my life crying in a dark room. I don’t, I’m good. I’m a man. I want to be remembered as an artist that gave you a piece of me, as opposed to some surface bulls<em></em>*t. I don’t think people realize that we die, we leave here, and either they forget about you or remember you. And how they remember you is up to you. I just want to be remembered as a poet that was open and honest because I wake up every morning and I’m me." 

But instead of disrupting his accent, the vulnerable Take Care earned Drake his first GRAMMY Award for Best Rap Album and cemented his name among hip-hop’s elite with "Headlines," "Marvins Room" and "The Motto." While Thank Me Later was a respectful debut, Drake felt the latter project offered a firmer grip on his artistry and was a better reflection of the culture of his hometown.

"I came back home and reconnected with my friends… and just realized that we have a true opportunity to again establish ourselves separately from everybody else," Drake said in a sit-down with Elliot Wilson and B.Dot of Rap Radar in 2019. "So, that was when we were truly hellbent on we’re going to have our sound, that sounds like our city, and it’s going to be dark and it’s going to be moody and it’s going to sound like how cold it feels outside."

From his debut Thank Me Later to Nothing Was The Same, Drake reconfigured the limits of rap. His work continued to expand the genre to the outer banks of R&B — paving the way for other rapper-singers like Tory Lanez, Post Malone and the late Juice WRLD.

But it wasn’t until 2016’s Views that Drake veered from his signature sound and began exploring yet another genre. The seeds of "AfroDrake" were sown on album standouts "Controlla," "Too Good" and "One Dance," (his first No. 1 record), further inspiring other artists to delve into the Afrobeats, reggae and dancehall lane.

Drake’s fascination with Afrobeats and dancehall continued on the sonic mishmash More Life in 2017, where songs like "Blem" and "Madiba Riddim." Perhaps a prelude to the sounds of Honestly, Nevermind, the then 30-year-old artist also ventured into UK drill with "Gyalchester" and the Giggs-assisted "KMT" on the project, and made room for British grime maven Skepta to shine on "Skepta Interlude."

Drake has traversed between varying sounds throughout his discography, flirting with house and dance as early as 2011 with the Rihanna-assisted "Take Care." The artist later delved into synth-soaked house cuts on 2013’s "Hold On, We're Going Home," foreshadowing a shift to 100-BPM electro tunes.

As Drake has ascended to icon status in the past 13 years, he’s continued to experiment with various sounds and musical subcultures, reshaping them to fit his own musical taste. But accusations of cultural appropriation began to swirl with the release of the UK funk and dancehall smash "Once Dance," despite the song featuring Afrobeat artist Wizkid, one of the biggest names in the genre.

Drake dismissed the claims in a 2019 interview with Rap Radar.

"The definition of appropriating a culture is not supporting that culture, doing songs with people who are deeply rooted in that culture, giving opportunity to people who are in that culture, that’s not appropriating," he said. "Any time I embark on one of those journeys, I ensure that I'm not only paying all due respect verbally but like I make a point to give opportunity to people that I respect."

Following the success of More Life, Drake's 2018 effort, Scorpion, was a further declaration of his genre-hopping prowess. Songs like the stadium-filling "God’s Plan," sorrowful "Jaded," and the eerily soothing Michael Jackson collab on "Don’t Matter To Me” evenly split the double-sided album into R&B and rap tracks.

Between the 2020 mixtape Dark Lane Demo Tapes and his 2021 studio album Certified Lover Boy, Drake continued to exercise his range, releasing Atlanta trap anthems, brooding R&B songs, and Afrobeat and UK drill records. He developed a formula that generated massive streaming numbers, as his lyrics and songs like "Toosie Slide" and “Way 2 Sexy” became the subject of TikTok videos and Instagram captions. Still, Drake's sound had grown increasingly redundant and the artist was in need of a creative audible. From that standpoint, Honestly, Nevermind delivered.

The album is by far the biggest sonic leap Drake has taken in his nearly 15-year career. Like Kanye’s Yeezus, Drake’s latest effort adopts a sound untouched by hip-hop acts of his caliber while dividing his allies and skeptics. Honestly, Nevermind's dive into house and dance music — both sonically and in its use of producers — further fueled a sense of confusion among rap fans who are unaware of the queer, Black history and influence of the two genres.

The creative detour has birthed lengthy Twitter debates and memes of the highest virality, with folks giving their take on the success or failure of Drake’s artistic pivot. Since its release, Honestly, Nevermind has largely received mixed reviews, with an assemblage of fans either praising or mocking Drizzy’s genre shift.

Publications have been split on the album, with Pitchfork’s Alphonse Pierre writing, "It’s light and breezy, and the songs flow right into each other like a DJ mix, not unlike 2017’s More Life." While the album should work, Pierre opined that Honestly, Nevermind "feels a little empty for one glaring reason: Drake’s writing lacks its former zest." Other music critics have applauded the massive departure, with Rolling Stone Senior Editor Jeff Ihaza writing that Drake created "a collection of blissful dance tunes constructed for embrace and abandon." Honestly, Nevermind, Ihaza continued, is Drake leaping beyond his peers for a "refreshing sign of what’s to come." 

Drizzy appears unbothered by the criticism that’s come with the new release. "It's all good if you don't get it yet. It's all good. That's what we do. That's what we do," Drake said during the album's release party, per Complex.

Honestly, Nevermind is projected to sell between 210,000-230,000 album-equivalent units based on early projections by HitsDailyDouble. And according to Billboard, the album has broken the record for most first-day streams by a dance album on Apple Music, only taking one hour to achieve the feat.

Whether it alienates his listeners or draws in a new legion of fans, Honestly, Nevermind signifies Drake’s willingness to take creative risks and, like Kanye, allow those artistic pursuits to grow in favor over time and inspire other mainstream hip-hop acts to explore the depths of hip-house.

The Magic Of 'Melodrama': How Lorde’s Second Album Solidified Her & Producer Jack Antonoff As Global Stars

Nicki Minaj is making some serious moves right now. Within the same week, the 10-time GRAMMY nominee released her first single of the year, "Red Ruby Da Sleeze," and announced that she has started her own record label — which has already signed several artists, including Rico Danna, a rapper from her hometown neighborhood of South Jamaica in Queens.

This multi-hyphenate star is clearly stepping on the gas for 2023. But as her Barbz know, Minaj has been hustling for more than 15 years, and it's still paying off: Just last year, the rapper landed her third No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Super Freaky Girl" — her first unaccompanied chart-topper. 

As the latest Nicki chapter begins, get familiar with the essential songs in her discography that brought her to this point. Starting with the standout track from her very first mixtape, GRAMMY.com presents a roadmap to understanding the music of Nicki Minaj.

"Can't Stop, Won't Stop" (2007)

Minaj collaborated with Lil Wayne — an early mentor — on her first mixtape, Playtime Is Over. It's the first hint of the musical chemistry between the two, as they trade rhymes over the instrumental of "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" by Young Gunz.

"Now, it's not hard to find me/ Top behind me/ You be Harry Potter, and I'll be Hermione," Minaj rapped to Tunechi on the track, foreshadowing how big they'd become together in the years to come.

"Itty Bitty Piggy" (2009)

The breakout song from her third mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty, Minaj declares that she's "the baddest in the game" on "Itty Bitty Piggy."

"It's me — I win, you lose!" she taunts on the track. Elsewhere, Minaj also shows off her confidence by offering to sign her fans' boobs and inviting other female rappers to pick her fruit out and to be her personal shoppers.

"Up Out My Face (Remix)" (2010)

Mariah Carey recruited Minaj for this sassy duet that serves as an early warning shot that she was ready for her pop music close-up. She distinguishes herself by rapping about cheaters and scrubs in American and English accents.

"My Chick Bad" (2010)

Minaj's sports and horror icon-laden verse on Ludacris' "My Chick Bad" shows how she was morphing into an outsized pop culture character of her own.

"Running down the court, I'm dunkin' on 'em, Lisa Leslie," she rapped, namechecking a WNBA star. On the track, she also compares herself to Friday the 13th movie killer Jason Vorhees and Freddy Kreuger from Nightmare on Elm Street.

"Moment 4 Life" (2010)

"Moment 4 Life," which features a guest verse from Drake, is the song that catapulted her from the early fame of appearing on songs from other artists to becoming recognized as a solo artist in her own right. The sixth collaboration between the two friends is also the most acclaimed of their work together, as the song was nominated for Best Rap Performance at the 54th GRAMMYs.

"In this very moment, I'm king," she proclaimed on the song.

"Roman's Revenge" (2010)

A week after dropping jaws with her guest verse as her alter ego "Roman Zolanski" on Kanye West's "Monster" (which also features Jay-Z, Rick Ross and Bon Iver), Minaj released her own full-length song called "Roman's Revenge." It's an electric duet featuring Eminem that finds her spitting lyrical fire like "a dungeon dragon."

"Super Bass" (2011)

Minaj's first solo top five hit — landing at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 — solidified her pop star status with its catchy, sung chorus. The endearingly bouncy love song has earned a rare Diamond certification for sales of more than 10 million in the U.S. — her only single to achieve the feat to date.

"Starships" (2012)

Though Minaj had flirted with EDM-style tracks alongside David Guetta in 2011, her own club track "Starships" has the most soaring energy. Produced by RedOne, the song showcases Minaj's versatility with singing and rapping for an international audience.

"Anaconda" (2014)

A playful interpolation of Sir Mix-A-Lot's 1992 booty-popping hit "Baby Got Back," "Anaconda" is one of many examples of Minaj's sampling prowess. On the fun, uptempo track, she celebrates the pleasures of "missing no meals" and shouts out bodies that have extra to grab. The cheeky tune nabbed Minaj her first GRAMMY nomination for Best Rap Song in 2015.

"Bang Bang" (2014)

An infectious hit that earned Minaj her sole nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, "Bang Bang" positioned Minaj as a pop star alongside Jessie J and Ariana Grande. As she raps on the song, she brings "Nicki full throttle" with her verse, with dextrous rhyming as well as vocals that keep up with the powerful pipes of her collaborators.

"Truffle Butter" (2015)

Arguably the highlight of Minaj's collaborations with Drake and Lil Wayne, "Truffle Butter" finds the three rappers flowing over a slowed-down and pleasingly off-kilter dance beat, which was sampled from Maya Jane Coles' 2011 house music stunner, "What They Say." "Truffle Butter" earned Minaj one of her three GRAMMY nominations in 2016, and her second for Best Rap Performance.

"Chun-Li" (2018)

In this boom-bap-style track, Minaj takes on the role of Chun-Li, the woman in the Street Fighter video game series, spitting her verses over a horn riff that propels the listener into an action adventure. Though the character is not an antagonistic player in the game, Minaj crafts Chun-Li as a villain, spitting, "They need rappers like me/ So they can get on their f—ing keyboards and make me/ The bad guy, Chun-Li."

"Tusa" (2019)

Recognizing Minaj's global appeal, Colombian reggaeton artist Karol G reached out to collaborate on "Tusa." The bilingual song brought some significant firsts for Minaj: it was No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart in the United States, topped pop charts all over South America and was nominated for both Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year at the Latin GRAMMYs in 2020.

"In her verse, she says: 'It's me and Karol G, and we let the rats talk.' I died, I revived, I died and revived again until I understood Nicki Minaj had said my name in her verse," Karol G excitedly told Billboard.

"Do We Have a Problem" (2022)

Minaj's versatility as an MC shines on her recent collaboration with Lil Baby, which is accompanied by a mini movie where she plays a sexy and fearsome double agent. Her lyrical fierceness is distinct from her pop songs, and is a welcome return to her earliest approach to rapping — with her voice taking multiple tempo twists and turns along the way.

"Red Ruby Da Sleeze" (2023)

Minaj's Trinidadian roots shine through as she weaves patois into her rhymes on "Red Ruby Da Sleeze." The beat and vocals are sampled from Lumidee's song "Never Leave You (Uh Oh)," As her first release of 2023, "Red Ruby Da Sleeze" helps Minaj make a strong statement that she's still at the top of her game — and has the staying power of a true queen.

15 Must-Hear New Albums Out This Month: Boygenius, Kali Uchis, Lana Del Rey, Miley Cyrus & More

If a rapper staying atop the mainstream for more than a decade is a herculean feat, then a producer doing the same is downright sisyphean. Boi-1da, the 36-year-old Canadian producer who netted four nominations at the 2023 GRAMMYs — including the coveted Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical — has risen to the very top of the industry, and remained there because he hasn’t lost the perspective from when he first started rolling the boulder up the hill

"I feel like my awareness is a lot of the reason I’ve been doing this for a long time, because I’m very socially aware of what’s going on and I can see," he tells GRAMMY.com. "In some rooms, you’ve got to find out what role you play. Sometimes, you've gotta play a bigger role. I find, working with newer artists, you have to play more of a mentoring role. But I find with other people, it’s about finding your use and being a utility." 

Boi-1da initially rose to prominence as one of Drake’s trusted beatsmiths and has his thumbprint on hits like "Best I Ever Had," "Over," and the GRAMMY-winning "God's Plan." His credits grew to include Rihanna's "Work" and Kanye West's Donda. Yet, even by these standards, 2022 was a banner year: Boi-1da contributed to Beyoncé’s Album of the Year nominee Renaissance ("Heated"), scored a pair of credits on Kendrick Lamar’s progressive, polarizing AOTY hopeful Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers ("N95," "Silent Hill"), and crafted the understated, elegant instrumental for Jack Harlow and Drake’s Best Rap Song contender "Churchill Downs." 

Hip-hop producers are often pigeonholed, but Boi-1da’s three biggest records from last year have virtually no sonic overlap. This malleability is the cornerstone of the self-described "young veteran"’s success, as he realized that eschewing one signature sound was the best way to remain in the zeitgeist.

"There have been many times where I’ve created sounds and it gets emulated and everybody starts doing it," he says. You’re liable to hear Boi-1da in every phylum of contemporary rap and pop music, from the horror movie menace of Nardo Wick’s "Wicked Freestyle," to Alessia Cara’s emphatic kiss-off "Lie to Me" to the bristling boom-bap of Freddie Gibb’s "Space Rabbit." More than 15 years into his career, Boi-1da continues to reinvent himself, and is gearing up to release his first solo studio album later in 2023.

Ahead of Music's Biggest Night, the GRAMMY-winning producer shared stories about working with Drake, Beyoncé, and Kendrick, as well as the importance of mentoring young talent, and why even after more than a dozen nominations, getting GRAMMY recognition still feels special.

This is your second time getting the Producer Of The Year nod after being nominated in 2019. What does that recognition mean to you and are there any ways it feels different than the first time?

I feel like it’s the highest honor as a producer. So I was extremely honored the first time and to be here again is even more of an honor. I’m not gonna lie, the first time I did it, I was going crazy and I was like, Man, that was so hard to even get nominated. I didn’t win the first time, so I was like, I’m gonna try equally hard and see if I can get back here. And by the grace of God, I’m back here again. You know, it just took a lot of hard work, a lot of putting my head down and making a lot of sacrifices.

What do you think has changed the most about the way you’ve approached making music since you were last nominated?

I think the growth point is truly the way I listen to music and the way I intake music. I’m learning to do that differently. I think the approach of creating is always the same for me, other than adding new elements, new sounds and whatnot. 

I feel like music is so different and it’s rapidly changing, so there’s a lot of adjustments. I feel like that’s the only thing that has really changed for me. I’ve been doing this for a long time; I feel like I’m kind of like a young veteran. Right now, there are a bunch of new kids growing up in this generation of music and their taste and style is totally different. I like to come left-field and do stuff unorthodox and different, so figuring out how to pivot and keep yourself relevant is what I’ve been doing.

The Daft Punk sample on that Drake and 21 Savage song "Circo Loco" feels like something the Boi-1da of 10 years ago wouldn’t have done.

Definitely. What I find today with a lot of music is people love extremely familiar samples over really straight-to-the-point beats. Not a lot of detail, something familiar, which is basically what we did with a song like "Circo Loco." The type of producer I am, I like to make beats; I’ll make one of five types of beats that sound the same, or use ideas that sound the same, and then I’ll move on.

That’s the way I’ve been able to stay relevant for so long, moving on from sounds. There have been many times where I’ve created sounds and it gets emulated and everybody starts doing it. You can be mad and sit there and be like, "Yo, everybody’s biting my style." I feel like I’m just that creative where I can move onto the next thing and be like "Okay, cool, you guys can have that. I’ll make something else."

It shows, because the three biggest songs you produced this year, "Heated," "Churchill Downs," and then "N95," those are wildly different poles in rap/R&B/pop music production. Were you and Drake already working on "Heated" when Beyoncé reached out?

Drake had been working with B; that was just an idea that we had started with Drake and he and B ended up finishing up the idea with me. I think Beyoncé added to the production as well.

I wasn’t around for the process of Beyoncé making that song, but I was heavily involved in the production. Whenever I work with Drake or someone like Beyoncé, it’s on easy mode. You have something they like, they usually know exactly what they want to do with it and you just trust ‘em completely. Sometimes, I’m hands off, I’m like, "Cool, y’all like it? Here you go. I know what you guys do and you guys do that."

The liner notes on a lot of your songs, like "I Got a Shot" off Jack’s album, that has a ton of people credited. Is there a level of ego sublimation with that where it’s like "You might not be able to hear my contributions in the final product, but I know that I did my part to get this song where it needs to go?"

[Jack Harlow] likes it to be a room full of producers. It’s like a band. We’d construct stuff and put it together. I have no ego when it comes to collaborating. I really just want the song to sound exactly how I want it to sound. If it takes 50 people to do that, then so be it. I’d rather it sounds the best that it can sound than like, "Oh, no, I’m getting lower publishing on this song."

It’s so fun to be in there with a bunch of people. You get that feeling of doing something and you see somebody else’s reaction and it just motivates you to be like, "Yeah, okay, I know what I’m doing." When I was younger, I’d sit in a room by myself and make music. That’s cool and all and I still do it, but it’s so much fun to be in a room of people with different energies. 

How did the "Churchill Downs" record come together?

When it comes to "Churchill Downs," I worked pretty closely with Jack. He and Drake are very good friends. Jack would always say, "Yo, I wanna do a song with Drake. Let’s make an idea." We were really and truly figuring it out. We were working in L.A. for some-odd weeks and I ended up going back home.

I went to a friend’s birthday party and he told me, "I’ve been working with this producer, I want you to hear some of his stuff." He gave me a flash drive…and it was full of samples. The first sample I heard was the one for "Churchill Downs." It sounded like a harp and a woman singing. I got home and chopped it up and did a little bounce to it and sent it over to my boy [TT] Audi, and he added some stuff to the beat and it was complete. 

I had sent it to Jack because he was still in the studio. He immediately fell in love with the beat. He played me his part in the song and said, "I really want Drake on this record." I was like, "S—, you’re homies with Drake, too. Just hit him. I’m pretty sure he’ll rock with this. It’s hard." They met up on their own and recorded that song together.

I was amazed looking back through stuff you were doing 10, 11 years ago that there were songs of yours that Kendrick was on back then. How has your creative relationship with Kendrick changed over the decade that you’ve known each other?

I’ve known Kendrick Lamar for a long time. I knew him actually before Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City. I had met him through one of my good friends who actually signed him.  Our relationship hasn’t changed. Kendrick is one of the coolest guys ever. Me and him always lock in and create music together. We have tons of music that we’ve made together and he’s just a great dude. 

Kendrick really makes folks wait and wants to come with something that feels totally different and distinct with each new body of work. What was the direction that he was trying to push on Mr. Morale, and what did you bring to it?

When it comes to me working with Kendrick, it’s really just raw ideas and raw thoughts. A lot of the time, I’m not sure where it’s going or what he’s gonna do with it because I’m not really around for the song recording process. I like to sometimes just give artists…their own creative space and free-flow and whatnot. That’s why he’s one of my favorite guys to work with, because you go in there and it’s like, "Alright, what are we doing?" 

I didn’t really know what was gonna happen with ["N95"] and where he was gonna go with it lyrically. I just recall me, Jahaan [Sweet] and Sounwave in there, we had cooked up the idea and I was like, "Man, this sounds really dope but I’m not sure where it’s going." 

I ended up hearing it right before the album came out. We had done that before the pandemic and the pandemic happened and nobody saw each other for the longest time…and he did what he did to it. It’s always fun working with Kendrick because it’s just raw, it’s literally everybody doing whatever they wanna do and it meshing together.

You’ve done a lot through collaborations with Splice and people like Jahaan Sweet and WondaGurl, who’ve come up as proteges of yours. Why is taking that active role in mentorship and demystifying the production process important to you?

I didn’t have a mentor. I didn’t have YouTube, I didn’t have tutorials, I had to figure out everything [on my own]. I lived in Durham, Ontario, there was absolutely nothing to do, nothing going on. There was no way of reaching out to artists or reaching out to producers. So it’s like, if I could be some kind of mentor or do anything for anybody, I do it because I never had it. I know how it feels to be not heard and have to fight, tooth and claw, to get to where you gotta get to.

The feeling of serving and giving back is always rewarding, more rewarding than getting, to be honest. Remember, I had nothing, I came from Canada. People didn’t know we made hip-hop music in Canada or take us seriously. I’d go to America and people would ask me if there were polar bears where I live. But that’s the reason why I do it and I love it and I still continue to do it. I give bursaries to the highest music marks of my high school. I just always stay in tune and check stuff out. I love music and I love being around it and inspiring as much as I can.

You gotta stay in tune with the young guys, that’s the future right there. You’ve gotta [be] tapped in with them, because at the end of the day, it’s like you’re making music for them.

You’ve been nominated for 19 GRAMMYs, that’s staggering. Does that ever stop feeling special for you and the people in your circle, like Drake and 40?

No, it always feels great to be nominated and even win awards, as well. It just goes to show that sometimes, everybody that’s a human being will get into their head, especially as a musician. Especially someone like myself who has been doing it for a really long time, you sometimes question if you’re still doing the right thing, if you’re still dope. So literally being nominated for awards is a great feeling and [one] that will never get old to me. It lets me know that I’m still doing stuff that people love and heading in the right direction. 

Is there anything else you want to mention about what you’re working on in 2023?

I’m working on a compilation album right now. It’s gonna be really dope, a lot of your favorite artists, a lot of new artists you’ve never heard of. A lot of dope music and I’m really excited to finish it and put it out. 

It’s been in the works for a while. I’ve started and stopped it a few times because I’m really a perfectionist and I want to get it right. I’m not caring about numbers, I want to make the best project. I want people to hear it and be like "Wow, this is amazing." I care more about that than anything, which is why I’ve started and stopped it so many times. Music changes and I really just want to get it perfect.

Babyface Reflects On Collaborating With Whitney, Toni, Ella Mai & More: How The Legendary Hitmaker Learned To "Speak In Their Voices"

Mary J. Blige’s tireless work ethic, extraordinary singing talent and soul-level relatability are the secret ingredients to her longevity as a recording artist. Her discography includes nine GRAMMY wins and 37 nominations, and the multi-hyphenate artist continues to demonstrate that there's no limit to her creativity.

Blige is nominated for six awards at the 2023 GRAMMYs, including Album Of The Year and Best R&B Album for Good Morning Gorgeous (Deluxe). The title track is nominated in three categories: Record Of The Year, Best Traditional R&B Performance and Best R&B Song, and "Here With Me" is up for Best R&B Performance.

Good Morning Gorgeous encapsulates the true self-love Blige felt after healing from divorce, abusive relationships and depression. As she explains on an album interlude "good morning gorgeous" is the affirmation Blige now says to herself in the mornings — and, for the first time, she believes it. And when it comes to the odds of adding to her GRAMMY wins on Feb. 5, it’s safe to wager that Blige thinks they’re sound.

"Bet on me, why not?" Blige sings in the chorus of the album’s "On Top." "Don’t act like I never left on top."

For her resonant musical messages, Blige has been crowned the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul. But  she’s also an industry professional who deftly sets and iterates on trends, keeping even her earliest releases relevant and exciting. 

Blige became a record label boss when she released Good Morning Gorgeous as a joint venture between Lyor Cohen’s 300 Entertainment and her own Mary Jane Productions. She’s a frequent executive producer of her albums and multimedia projects and is set to executive produce two fictional films for Lifetime in 2023 through her production company Blue Butterfly. Real Love and Strength of a Woman are both named for her songs. Real Love is described as a romantic drama set in an upstate New York college. 

After more than 30 years of recording, Blige has amassed an acclaimed and extensive discography of consummate original classics, deep soundtrack cuts, scene-stealing covers and remixes. Press play on the Amazon Music playlist above and use the below guide as a diving board into a career full of the empathetic pain, healing, promise and happiness that she has shared with unflinching honesty and vulnerability.

The Queen Of Hip-Hop Soul

Blige was living in a housing project in Yonkers, N.Y. when the late Andre Harrell signed her to his Uptown Records, which released her 1992 debut album, What’s The 411? Harrell coined the nickname Queen of Hip-Hop Soul to describe the fresh way Blige's music melded rap beats with R&B hooks.

Harrell and his then-intern Sean Combs gave her a rugged style to match her music, with boots and baseball caps instead of heels and sparkles. Young women from the inner city saw themselves in Blige's aesthetic and in her rawness.

Yet admiration for Blige’s powerful vocals and unique tone grew before her name was ever recognized. Blige was first heard as a backup singer for Father MC’s 1990 hit "I'll Do 4 U" and, the following year, her own single "You Remind Me" (from the Strictly Business soundtrack) gave Blige some street buzz to lead into What’s The 411? The hip-hop swagger of "Real Love" — which samples "Top Billin'" by Audio Two, a beat highly familiar to New York City fans at the time — served as her formal introduction to the world and remains a calling card decades later.

The My Life Era (Extended Mix)

Contrary to the music industry’s sophomore slump stereotype, Blige’s second album is a seminal work. 1994's My Life became career-defining, and an album that she has subsequently reflected on to show her growth.

The album is a reflection of her volatile relationship with singer Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey, Blige explained in Mary J. Blige’s My Life, a documentary she executive produced for Amazon Studios in honor of the album’s 25th anniversary. Throughout, Blige keenly pairs heights of happiness with depths of her despair on songs like "You Bring Me Joy," "I’m Goin’ Down," "I Love You" and "Be Happy." 

"The whole 'My Life' album is, 'Please love me, don’t go, I need you,'" she said in the documentary. Combs, then known as Puffy, continued: "When she made that album, she was fighting for her heart." (Combs and Harrell served as executive producers of My Life.)

Blige and Combs never collaborated quite so closely again, though they remained friends. Combs didn’t produce 2011’s My Life II… The Journey Continues (Act 1), but he appears in a telephone skit to open the album, similarly to how he did on My Life. The sequel features guest stars such as Nas, Beyoncé and Drake.

Though her earlier works hinted at the potential, My Life most firmly established Blige as a beacon for hurt hearts everywhere. In a 2021 interview with Trevor Noah, Blige described how childhood physical and mental abuse, as well as her relationship with Hailey, led to substance abuse and depression. When she used the songs on My Life as a way of saying she needed help, "four million people responded and said, ‘'We need help, too.'"

Covers, Collaborations And Remixes

Cover songs have been an acclaimed — and long-lasting — part of Blige’s career ever since she sang "Sweet Thing" by Rufus featuring Chaka Khan on What’s The 411? Blige released her hugely popular version of Rose Royce’s "I’m Goin’ Down" in 1994, which reached No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, and she beat Beyoncé to the punch in 2000 with her take on Maze’s "Before I Let Go."

But her ascension to rock star status has a lot to do with her scene-stealing covers of songs of stadium-level acts. Blige has delivered epic versions of songs by Led Zeppelin ("Stairway To Heaven") and Sting ("Whenever I Say Your Name"), and when she collaborated with U2 on a new version of "One," there’s an audible battle with Bono as to whose song this is now.

Blige collaborates with rap, R&B, rock, country, electronic and classical artists with equal ease, and her discography includes work with late legends, including "Holdin’ On" with Aretha Franklin and a cover of Stevie Wonder’s "As" with George Michael. She won her first career GRAMMY in 1995 for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group for "I'll Be There For You / You're All I Need To Get By," a collaboration with Method Man that covers Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. 

A dance music collaboration with London duo Disclosure called "F for You" in 2013 helped to catalyze an entire album from the Capital of England called The London Sessions. The 2014 album features a second collaboration with Disclosure ("Right Now"), a cameo from UK garage DJ/producer MJ Cole ("Nobody But You") and guest vocals from Scottish singer Emeli Sandé ("Whole Damn Year").

Blige has long understood the potency of both hip-hop and dance music remixes, which remain a part of her single roll-outs. Over the years, she created a remix album of songs from What’s The 411?, and in 2002 released club-focused reworks of songs from No More Drama, Mary and Share My World on Dance For Me. 

Blige's remixes also pay homage. On her cover of First Choice’s "Let No Man Put Asunder," Blige honors singers who came before by featuring guest vocals from the group's lead singer, Rochelle Fleming.

Her Rap Alter Ego

Blige has rapped a few times on her albums, beginning with a verse in "Love," from 2001’s No More Drama. She won her first solo GRAMMY for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 2003 for "He Think I Don't Know" from No More Drama. By the time she rhymed on "Enough Cryin’" and "Take Me As I Am" (both from 2005’s The Breakthrough), her rap alter ego had a name: Brook Lynn.

Her cadence caught the ear of her friend Busta Rhymes, who recruited Blige for his "Touch It (Remix)" the next year. "The haters plot and they watch, lookin’ all pale/While I’m on a yacht overseas, doin’ my nails," she raps alongside Busta, Missy Elliott and Rah Digga.

Brook Lynn took a hiatus for a few years after that, but she came back blazing in 2011. "Homegirls love me and we be ridin' Phantoms/Mad chicks hate me 'cause I be writin' anthems," she rhymes on "Midnight Drive" from My Life II… The Journey Continues (Act 1). 

The Soundtracks

Since "You Remind Me," her first Top 40 entry, appeared on the soundtrack to Strictly Business, Blige has written stunning original songs such as "I Can See in Color" for Precious (2009). She has also licensed other hits to dozens of movies.

After years of contributing to soundtracks, Blige created her own as executive producer and performer of the soundtrack for Think Like a Man Too (2014), which includes a cover of Shalamar’s "A Night to Remember" and guest appearances by Pharrell Williams and The-Dream.

Blige has been cast in several acting roles since she guest starred in an episode of The Jamie Foxx Show in 1998 and has played fictional characters as well as real life figures Betty Shabazz (Betty and Coretta) and Dinah Washington (Respect). She received Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Song for her work on 2017 film Mudbound.

More than 30 years into her recording career, Blige appears happy, energized and ready to add more hits and heartfelt anthems to her songbook.

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In 2022, rap seemed to be slowly evolving into something new. It was a year when long-gestating regional and cultural trends reached a new fever pitch. Savvy listeners seemed more focused on the emerging voices who were breathing fresh life into the form, even though established stars continued to earn critical and commercial acclaim.

This trajectory resulted in the sense that the past year has been one of transition, and that 2023 will be an even better season where the genre's freshmen are poised to take over. Only time will tell, but while you wait for the first fire releases of the next year, revisit six rap trends from 2022 that spawned from multiple generations of artists.

Jersey Club Goes Beyond The Garden State

Every few years, the rap community rediscovers the pleasures of flowing over electronic beats. In 2022, the sound of the moment was Jersey club, a hybrid of house and bass music that fueled scene leaders such as Bandmanrill (who released his debut album Club Godfather), DJ/producer Uniiqu3, and Unicorn 151 aka Killa Kherk Cobain. Meanwhile, a parallel wave developed in Philadelphia with tracks like 2Rare’s "Cupid" and Zahsosaa, D Sturdy and DJ Crazy’s "Shake Dhat."

Jersey club inspired mainstream artists as well. Drake pulled from the sound on his dance-music opus Honestly, Nevermind, and collaborated with 2Rare on the hit single "Sticky." It also fueled club-ready remixes like Coi Leray’s "Players (DJ Smallz 732’s Jersey Club Remix)."

Women Unite For Posse Raps

Anyone who fondly remembers women-only ciphers such as Brandy’s "I Wanna Be Down (Remix)" and Bahamadia’s "Three the Hard Way" will delight at how the format is making a comeback.

For "Super Freaky Girl (Queen Mix)", Nicki Minaj gathered an all-roster that included JT from City Girls, BIA, Katie Got Bandz, Maliibu Miitch, and Akbar V. On "Shabooya," producer Hitkidd gave mic time to Memphis rappers Gloss Up, K-Carbon, Slimeroni, and Aleza. Meanwhile, ShantiiP collaborated with Kash Doll, Rubi Rose, and Dream Doll on her "Abow (Remix)." The nascent trend demonstrates how women have begun working collectively again — with or without the boys’ help.

Rap's Nepo Babies Come Of Age

It’s not unusual for children of famous rappers to follow their parents into the business. Past years have seen the emergence of scions such as Droop-E (son of E-40), Lil Tracy (son of Ishmael Butler of Digable Planets), Cory Gunz (son of Peter Gunz), and Jaden Smith (son of Will Smith). But 2022 may be the first year where a second-generation rapper arguably exceeded her father’s mainstream appeal.

Coi Leray scored a Billboard top 40 hit ("Blick Blick" with Nicki Minaj) — a feat her estranged father Benzino never managed — while releasing her debut album, Trendsetter. King Combs hit number one on Billboard’s Mainstream R&B Hip-Hop Airplay chart, surpassing famed father Sean "Diddy" Combs' latest single "Gotta Move On" in the process.

Back To The Old School 

When Mount Westmore’s Snoop, Cube, 40, $hort hit the Billboard top 200 albums chart in early December, it was yet another sign that golden-era artists are issuing quality albums, albeit on a smaller scale than their career peaks.

Still, in an era when rap fans are all too aware of how middle-aged hip-hoppers seem especially prone to the ravages of time — rest in peace to DJ Kayslay, Coolio, and Don Newkirk — it was heartening to see musicians in their 50s continue to hone their craft. Examples include Chill Rob G of "The Power" fame, who dropped Empires Crumble on Chuck D’s SpitSLAM label; KRS-One’s IMAMCRU12, Diamond D’s The Rearview, Daddy-O of Stetsasonic’s First Team, Frukwan of Stetsasonic and Gravediggaz’s Nightmare in B-Minor, and Tragedy Khadafi’s Immortal Titans Vol. 2.  Meanwhile, Dr. Dre prefaced his triumphant showcase at Super Bowl LVI with his EP-length soundtrack for "Grand Theft Auto: The Contract."

As the genre moves into its fifth decade and beyond, here’s hoping its pioneers continue to evolve along with it — without dying before they grow old.

Here Come The Big Steppers

"Big steppers" is an old-school phrase that means exactly what it says: someone whose sheer presence leaves an impact. In recent years, the phrase has percolated through rap songs by Youngboy Never Broke Again, Young M.A ("Big Steppa"), Roddy Ricch ("Big Stepper"), and Stunnaman02 & Quakebeatz ("Big Steppin’").

The term seemed to peak in usage in 2022, thanks to Kendrick Lamar, who used the phrase multiple times — including on "Worldwide Steppers." The track is both literal through the sound of tap dancers, and metaphorical in the sense of Lamar navigating the earth through the prism of his career. Meanwhile, deep album cuts like Rome Streetz’ "Big Steppa" and Yo Gotti’s CMG Crew ("Steppers") put a vintage spin on boasts of being the big men on rap’s campus.

DJ Drama Connects With Everybody…Again

In 2022, DJ Drama was a one-man wave, reconnecting rap with its dirty South roots. The Philadelphia-raised, Atlanta-based DJ was one of the biggest names during the height of the mixtape boom in the mid-to-late aughts, hosting dozens of projects a year with soon-to-be famous acts like Young Jeezy (2004’s Trap or Die) as well as established stars such as Lil Wayne (the Dedication series) and Pharrell Williams (2006’s In My Mind: The Prequel) through his Gangsta Grillz and Aphilliates imprints.

While DJ Drama hasn’t disappeared in the years since, 2022 may be the first to find Drama approaching the productivity of his most successful era. He helmed a critically acclaimed mixtape with Baton Rouge’s Youngboy Never Broke Again (Ma’ I Got a Family), helped promote rising stars like Oakland’s Symba (Results Take Time) and Detroit’s Icewear Vezzo (Paint the City), worked with New York rap star Dave East (Book of David), and scored a chart-topper with the Dreamville crew’s D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape. He even reunited with Jeezy for Snofall, a throwback to the latter’s trap glory years. Working with artists from different regions and generations, Drama proved he still has plenty of genre-wide impact.

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