The Day the Music Died: The 1995 Source Awards

keone · Aug 29, 2015

[/“None of us were the same after that day.” - Questlove (of The Roots)   In 1995, hip-hop music was at its pinnacle. It was in the midst of a second golden age that saw incredibly talented new artists burst onto the scene and create some of the best music the genre had ever produced. The pioneers were legends and the generation that grew up listening to them had grabbed the torch and continued to march further. No longer dismissed as a “fad,” hip-hop was becoming one of the most popular and most profitable musical genres in America. At the time, there was really only one hip-hop publication that mattered: The Source. Before the Internet, before Twitter, before XXL, before Benzino’s hijacking, The Source really was The Hip-Hop Bible. Yes, Vibe had come onto the scene in 1993 but it had more of an R&B slant and was still trying to gain its foothold. The Source was the be all and end all. Their album ratings – based on a scale of 1 – 5 mics – was everything. Receiving a 5-mic review in The Source was the equivalent of a comedian being asked by Johnny Carson to come over and sit on the couch. It meant that you produced a classic and if The Source gave its stamp of approval, no one would argue with it. <img class="image image-story " style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.ihatejjr.com/sites/ihatejjr.com/files/images/Nas.story.jpg" alt="" height="250" width="205"> On August 3, 1995, The Source held its second annual awards ceremony at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Just like the magazine itself, the awards were the only ceremony that celebrated hip-hop music. The BET Awards were still six years away and VH1 Hip-Hop Honors wouldn’t start for another nine years, so The Source Awards were the hip-hop version of the Grammys, the Oscars, and the Golden Globes all rolled into one. Before it changed hip-hop forever for the worse, the show boasted some amazing performances. Wu-Tang Clan – “Bring the Pain” [Method Man solo] <iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RG75nMRZW-8?rel=0&autoplay=0" frameborder="0" height="278" width="450"></iframe> [Hear the complete audio of the 14 minute performance <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPEh_ZvIdBs">here</a>.] Bad Boy’s  medley Puff Daddy’s Intro Craig Mack – “Flava in Ya Ear” Faith Evans – “You Used to Love Me” Total f/The Notorious B.I.G. – “Can’t You See” Junior M.A.F.I.A. f/The Notorious B.I.G. – “Player’s Anthem” The Notorious B.I.G. – “One More Chance” [Remix] <object class="video-filter video-dailymotion video-center vf-xh4vaubadboyrecords1995sourceawardsmusic" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/xh4vau_bad-boy-records-1995-source-awards_music" height="358" width="450">
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 [See the complete performance <a href="http://www.thesource.com/articles/10140/Notorious-B.I.G.-At-The-1995-Source-Awards/">here</a>.]   Death Row’s medley Dr. Dre - “Keep Their Heads Ringin’” Tha Dogg Pound - “What Would U Do” The Lady of Rage - “Afro Puffs” Nate Dogg - “Ain’t No Fun” Sam Sneed - “U Better Recognize” DJ Quik - “Dollars & Sense” Snoop Doggy Dogg - “Murder Was The Case” [Remix] <iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ux1tDZkFyF0?rel=0&autoplay=0" frameborder="0" height="278" width="450"></iframe>   Of course, the night would be marred by controversy in several ways. Upon accepting the award for Soundtrack of the Year, Death Row Records CEO Marion “Suge” Knight (who executive produced every Death Row album) said, “Any artist out there that wanna ba an artist and wanna stay a star and don’t wanna have to worry about the executive producer being all in the videos, all on the records, dancing, come to Death Row!” He was, of course, talking about Puff Daddy (long before he was Diddy). He was booed by the New York crowd, but things would only escalate and the media-hyped East Coast – West Coast War had begun.<img class="image image-story " style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.ihatejjr.com/sites/ihatejjr.com/files/images/Suge.jpg" alt="" height="180" width="320">Snoop Doggy Dogg (long before he was Snoop Lion), not liking the way he was received by the crowd upon winning an award, challenged the crowd: “The east coast ain’t got no love for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg?” When the crowd began screaming “No!” he repeated the question, “The east coast ain’t got no love for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg and Death Row? Y’all don’t love us? Y’all don’t love us? Well, let it be known then! We know y’all east coast! We know where the fuck we at! East coast in the muthafucking house!” Finally, Puff was presenting an award and defended himself: “I’m the executive producer a comment was made about a little bit earlier. But, check this out – Contrary to what other people may feel, I would like to say that I’m very proud of Dr. Dre, of Death Row, and Suge Knight for their accomplishments. And all this east and west? That needs to stop.” <iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JpgpS3ogvMM?rel=0&autoplay=0" frameborder="0" height="278" width="450"></iframe>   While Puff tried to be magnanimous, he wasn’t completely innocent. Everyone knew that he compared himself and Bad Boy to Suge Knight and Death Row and, at the start of Bad Boy’s performance, he had said, “I live in the east and I’m gonna die in the east.” That wasn’t by accident. Of course, we all know what transpired over the next 18 months:   -          In December, 1995, shots would be fired at Tha Dogg Pound’s trailer as they recorded the video to their song, “New York, New York.” Their video shows Godzilla-sized versions of Snoop, Daz, and Kurupt walking around Manhattan and kicking over buildings. -          New York artists Capone-N-Noreaga, Mobb Deep, and Tragedy Khadafi record a song called “L.A., L.A.”  Their video shows them taking a Kurupt lookalike, bounding and gagging him in the trunk, and throwing him off the Queensboro Bridge. -          Suge Knight bails 2Pac out of jail and signs him to Death Row. -          2Pac, convinced that Puff and B.I.G. had set him up in his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupac_Shakur#1994:_Thug_Life.2C_Thug_Life:_Volume_1_and_November_shooting" style="font-size: small;">1994 robbery and shooting</a>, immediately began making songs dissing Bad Boy and most of the East Coast. -          Dr. Dre sees what’s happening and leaves Death Row. In exchange for leaving, Suge Knight demands that Dre leave everything – his masters, his equipment, everything – behind at Death Row. Dre complies. -          2Pac’s double album All Eyez on Me is the hit of the year. -          2Pac is involved in an altercation at the Mike Tyson – Bruce Seldon fight and, hours later, is shot and killed on the Las Vegas strip. Suge Knight, who was driving the car, was grazed in the head.-          2Pac’s final album, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, released under the alias Makaveli, is released posthumously two months later. -          Snoop’s sophomore album, The Doggfather, features no beats from Dr. Dre and is considered a major disappointment. -          The Notorious B.I.G. records a double album, Life After Death, on which he finally responds to 2Pac’s unending taunts without calling him by name on the song “Long Kiss Goodnight.” -          After a party in L.A., B.I.G. is shot and killed in his car, much like 2Pac six months earlier.<img class="image image-story " style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.ihatejjr.com/sites/ihatejjr.com/files/images/2Pac & Biggie memorial.story.jpg" alt="" height="241" width="350"> After that, everything changed. The deaths of the culture’s two biggest stars in such a short time scared everyone and created a vacuum that has lasted to this day. -          Snoop left Death Row for No Limit and became much more positive in his music. Even on his more hardcore albums, he has more R&B and hope throughout. Also, despite his earlier “Death Row 4 Life” claims, he began <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBDIMkE3Qeg" style="font-size: small;">dissing Suge Knight</a>.-          Bad Boy became the biggest label in the world in 1997, making Puff Daddy a star as an artist, but it was not sustainable. -          Dr. Dre is a giant in the industry, creating a label in Aftermath that dwarfs anything he did at Death Row. Plus, the headphones. -          Many artists that had not been able to get on until that point, such as DMX, <a href="http://www.ihatejjr.com/content/2pacs-impact-15-years-later-0" style="font-size: small;">suddenly hit it big</a>. -          Jay-Z filled the void left by the deaths of ‘Pac and B.I.G., creating his own drama with Mobb Deep when he said, “It’s like New York’s been soft ever since Snoop came through and crushed the buildings.” -          Perhaps looking to lighten up, the music went through several different phases, from crunk to bling bling to trap to the pop-R&B-rap fusion thing that is happening right now. -          It became a big deal for rappers to not shoot each other if they were in competition. There had been decades of rappers dissing each other – KRS-One vs. MC Shan, LL Cool J vs. Kool Moe Dee, the list goes on – but after the deaths of B.I.G. & ‘Pac, it was just expected that violence would erupt. The fact that Jay-Z and Nas not only didn’t kill each other, but managed to work together and <a rel="shadowbox[gallery]" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k1SVEZJhvok/TzJ661NyLpI/AAAAAAAACnM/H5qJEx6PbMU/s1600/nasjayz.jpg" style="font-size: small;">become friendly</a> went a long way in repairing the damage that happened that August night in 1995. It will never be fully repaired, but it’s better. Speaking of Nas, it wasn’t just the Death Row – Bad Boy drama that happened that night. Something else, something more musical and less violent, but just as profound, happened that night. And it’s the reason why so many of us from age 29 – 40 wonder what happened to our music and why it’s not coming back. <a href="http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/8031-uestlove-15-years/" style="font-size: small;">I’ll let Questlove explain</a>: “The ideology of what I considered ‘real’ hip-hop died at the 1995 Source Awards. I was literally at its funeral-- I sat three rows behind Nas. In the audience, the Bad Boy camp was on the far right, all the West Coast and the Southern rappers were in the middle, and on the far left were all the New York underground rappers like Wu-Tang, Mobb Deep, Nas, Busta Rhymes, and us. That was the day when Suge called out Puffy, and there were fights in the audience. I felt like a bomb was going to detonate. Nas' body language that day told the whole story of where we were about to go. The more he got ignored for Illmatic, I literally saw his body melt in his seat. Almost like he was ashamed. He just looked so defeated. I was like, ‘Yo, he's not gonna be the same after this shit.’ None of us were the same after that day. I feel like the true underground lost its oxygen that night.” Nas, <a href="http://www.complex.com/music/2012/11/50-things-you-didnt-know-about-nas/source-awards" style="font-size: small;">realizing that his critically acclaimed album was being overlooked</a> in favor of much more radio-friendly records, changed his musical approach that day. After that, he called himself Escobar, released The Firm album, and began reaching for radio airplay. Ironically, <a href="https://twitter.com/Pierzy/status/300800569717690368" style="font-size: small;">he’s still being snubbed</a> at awards shows. Here is the rundown of the winners from the ’95 Source Awards: Artist of the Year, Solo: Snoop Doggy Dogg Artist of the Year, Group: Wu-Tang Clan New Artist of the Year, Solo: The Notorious B.I.G. New Artist of the Year, Group: Outkast Single of the Year: "Flava in Ya Ear" -- Craig Mack Album of the Year: Ready to Die – The Notorious B.I.G. Lyricist of the Year: The Notorious B.I.G. Producer of the Year: Dr. Dre R&B Artist of the Year: Mary J. Blige Reggae/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year: Mad Lion Video of the Year: "Murder Was The Case" -- Snoop Doggy Dogg Live Performer of the Year: The Notorious B.I.G. Soundtrack of the Year: Above the Rim Best Acting Performance: Ice Cube -- Higher Learning Lifetime Achievement Award: Eazy-E Pioneer Award: Run-DMC   Look at the names on that list. What a show. What a great era in hip-hop. If only it could have continued. All good things must come to an end, but it’s hard not to wonder what could have been… The hip-hop that I grew up with and loved died on August 3, 1995. Rest in Peace. ]

...

JJWALKER · Aug 29, 2015

And you should see the nominees list that didn't even win a award. The nominee list was stacked with great artists. I miss music in the 90's.

keone · Aug 29, 2015

JJWALKER said:
And you should see the nominees list that didn't even win a award. The nominee list was stacked with great artists. I miss music in the 90's.

nas didn win shit :confused:

geechiedan · Aug 29, 2015

Thats why I call it The Dark Age of Hip Hop..

NWA arguably put west coast rap music on the Hip-Hop radar, while there were already numerous Hardcore rappers and rap groups they were mainly on the east coast. Thanks to a rise in the profile and awareness of west coast gang culture spotlighted by the film Colors, Eazy E and his crew were able to marry rage over social injustice with a gangbanger sensibility in a way that I don't think anyone ever saw before. But what impact did that have on Hip-Hop as a culture? It killed the political movement. Audiences, enamored with the ultra-violent verbal imagery and hyper-masculine swagger, gravitated toward it almost immediately. As a result, there was less joy in the music as everything had to have a harder edge. Years ago I remember someone recalling it as "When the wheels of NWA crushed the daisies of De La Soul, that's the day diversity in rap died."

The shadow of that change fell over everything in the culture and music and it spawned new artists who embraced the harshness (Snoop Dogg, Oxny for example) and in order to try to stay relevant many established artists took on a darker edge. Hell MC Hammer went from Can't Touch This, Pray and 2 Legit to Quit to the Funky Headhunter and a faux gangster pose. Even female rappers like MC Lyte scored a Grammy nomination (the first ever for a female rapper) with a gruff song about how she needed "Ruffnecks". In the early to mid 90s things got dark and I mean REALLY dark in rap music and Hip-Hop culture culminating to the most infamous moments in the history of the music, the murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G within six months of each other. And it's no coincidence that you can do a six degrees of separation between them and NWA. And looking back at the beef between those two rappers, who it involved, how it escalated and played out it was just the next logical step from how NWA acted just three or four years earlier.

There was a sense of bad things getting more amped up year by year from 1990 on. There were too many personality clashes, too many egos, too much money, too much immaturity, too much testosterone, too many threats and way too many guns, it was only a matter of time before someone got killed. And once the two biggest names in rap music were murdered (both publicly and gang related) the trend didn't stop and hasn't stopped.

geechiedan · Aug 29, 2015

PREHISTORY (STONE AGE) ERA
1970 - 1975

earliest rappers and djs in NY

ANTIQUITY (BRONZE AGE) ERA
1975 - 1980

the music and culture is starting to organised and congeal

EARLY MODERN (IRON AGE) AGE
1980-1984

record labels pop up and increased radio play

MIDDLE AGE (GOLDEN AGE)
1985-1991

the most diversity in the culture and music

MODERN AGE
1992-1994

hip hop goes global with the social/conscious movements and the music and look gets more specific to the culture

DARK AGES
1995-2000

gangster rap takes over, Tupac and Biggie get murdered starting a bad trend thats still not let up

I stopped listening to rap/hip hop at this point.. so what do you call the periods

2000-2005??

2005-2010??

2010-2015??

Dannyblueyes · Aug 29, 2015

The real thing that killed hip hop was the 1996 FCC Telecommunications Act. It allowed media companies to swallow up radio and TV stations wholesale. Companies like Viacom and Clear Channel struck deals with major labels which made it almost impossible for independent hip hop labels to get radio or video play. It also made it nearly impossible for an artist to get a buzz on local airwaves and build their audience state by state the way they used to. It also led to Live Nation which took the indies out of touring large venues too.

Hip hop dies because of THIS evil bastard right here

LSN · Aug 29, 2015

@ whitey blaming whitey :lol:

cnc · Aug 29, 2015

dannyblueyes said:
the real thing that killed hip hop was the 1996 fcc telecommunications act. It allowed media companies to swallow up radio and tv stations wholesale. Companies like viacom and clear channel struck deals with major labels which made it almost impossible for independent hip hop labels to get radio or video play. It also made it nearly impossible for an artist to get a buzz on local airwaves and build their audience state by state the way they used to. It also led to live nation which took the indies out of touring large venues too.

Hip hop dies because of this evil bastard right here

/thread

richlove · Aug 29, 2015

Yo, Lil Kim child gone see this footage one day and be like wtf

unknownsoldier · Aug 29, 2015

Dannyblueyes said:
The real thing that killed hip hop was the 1996 FCC Telecommunications Act. It allowed media companies to swallow up radio and TV stations wholesale. Companies like Viacom and Clear Channel struck deals with major labels which made it almost impossible for independent hip hop labels to get radio or video play. It also made it nearly impossible for an artist to get a buzz on local airwaves and build their audience state by state the way they used to. It also led to Live Nation which took the indies out of touring large venues too.

Hip hop dies because of THIS evil bastard right here

RoadRage · Aug 29, 2015

Dannyblueyes said:
The real thing that killed hip hop was the 1996 FCC Telecommunications Act. It allowed media companies to swallow up radio and TV stations wholesale. Companies like Viacom and Clear Channel struck deals with major labels which made it almost impossible for independent hip hop labels to get radio or video play. It also made it nearly impossible for an artist to get a buzz on local airwaves and build their audience state by state the way they used to. It also led to Live Nation which took the indies out of touring large venues too.

Hip hop dies because of THIS evil bastard right here

Glad you wrote that, was going to make a thread about this very subject in order to break down hip hop illuminate or rap new order.. They basically the gave them the rope, to hang themselves with, and that's exactly what happened during the East vs West cost battle..

BDR · Aug 29, 2015

LSN said:
@ whitey blaming whitey

He's right tho :lol:

Dannyblueyes · Aug 29, 2015

RoadRage said:
Glad you wrote that, was going to make a thread about this very subject in order to break down hip hop illuminate or rap new order.. They basically the gave them the rope, to hang themselves with, and that's exactly what happened during the East vs West cost battle..

The coastal battle shit was stupid, but that's not what killed it.

Hip Hop's success was based on rappers being able to release a record on a small indie, sell 50,000-200,000 copies, and keep enough of the money to eat and fund the next record. If you did really well your label and its artists would blow up and form partnerships with the majors (Sik Wit It, Rawkus, Ruffhouse, Rush, No Limit, Death Row etc.)

Since the FCC act it's "Go big or go home". Impress the majors and their focus groups and you get mass media rotation across the country. Don't impress them and you're limited to college radio and Youtube. There's no middle ground any more. It's also why it's nearly impossible to break a street record. It's also why so many rappers went pop. It was the only way they could survive the game.

slam · Aug 29, 2015

Dannyblueyes said:
The real thing that killed hip hop was the 1996 FCC Telecommunications Act. It allowed media companies to swallow up radio and TV stations wholesale. Companies like Viacom and Clear Channel struck deals with major labels which made it almost impossible for independent hip hop labels to get radio or video play. It also made it nearly impossible for an artist to get a buzz on local airwaves and build their audience state by state the way they used to. It also led to Live Nation which took the indies out of touring large venues too.

Hip hop dies because of THIS evil bastard right here

well dam...i can dig it...

u put me up on something....

shaddyvillethug · Aug 29, 2015

Fuck all cacs in this thread

ArsenalCannon357 · Aug 29, 2015

Dannyblueyes said:
The real thing that killed hip hop was the 1996 FCC Telecommunications Act. It allowed media companies to swallow up radio and TV stations wholesale. Companies like Viacom and Clear Channel struck deals with major labels which made it almost impossible for independent hip hop labels to get radio or video play. It also made it nearly impossible for an artist to get a buzz on local airwaves and build their audience state by state the way they used to. It also led to Live Nation which took the indies out of touring large venues too.

Hip hop dies because of THIS evil bastard right here

bingo one of the few things I totally hated that Bill did.

POSTERBOY · Aug 29, 2015

Dannyblueyes said:
The real thing that killed hip hop was the 1996 FCC Telecommunications Act. It allowed media companies to swallow up radio and TV stations wholesale. Companies like Viacom and Clear Channel struck deals with major labels which made it almost impossible for independent hip hop labels to get radio or video play. It also made it nearly impossible for an artist to get a buzz on local airwaves and build their audience state by state the way they used to. It also led to Live Nation which took the indies out of touring large venues too.

Hip hop dies because of THIS evil bastard right here

Problematic · Aug 30, 2015

remember all of this vividly

B-Witty · Aug 30, 2015

This thead is dear to my soul.......... brought back so many awful memories of how literally after this day MUSIC changed for EVER!

I agree with errythang stated here is my side note.....

I laughed at Nas futile attempts at POP....I clowned him sumn tough because I said he is a SELL OUT for changing his sound/image on Nastradamus......Til this day because of my lack of respect for him doing this I never considered Nas a top 5 MC..... Now I do have my reasons beyond this threads truths as 2 Y i feel the way i do about him, But I feel bad now.. HipHop is in Nas soul and they took his soul at that awards the way Quest described him..... I really am jai 2 harsh on this dude ...Maybe its becuz I know what he could/is/was capable of and I always felt like he robbed me........ " Project Windows "on Nastradamus shows that Nas still beleived in hip hop to an extent, but til this day Nas has been sitting in that very same seat slouched and disgruntled like he was at the Source awards when he makes albums.

I am sorry Nas I now overstand your stance....
Represent!

keone · Aug 30, 2015

B-Witty said:
This thead is dear to my soul.......... brought back so many awful memories of how literally after this day MUSIC changed for EVER!

I agree with errythang stated here is my side note.....

I laughed at Nas futile attempts at POP....I clowned him sumn tough because I said he is a SELL OUT for changing his sound/image on Nastradamus......Til this day because of my lack of respect for him doing this I never considered Nas a top 5 MC..... Now I do have my reasons beyond this threads truths as 2 Y i feel the way i do about him, But I feel bad now.. HipHop is in Nas soul and they took his soul at that awards the way Quest described him..... I really am jai 2 harsh on this dude ...Maybe its becuz I know what he could/is/was capable of and I always felt like he robbed me........ " Project Windows "on Nastradamus shows that Nas still beleived in hip hop to an extent, but til this day Nas has been sitting in that very same seat slouched and disgruntled like he was at the Source awards when he makes albums.

I am sorry Nas I now overstand your stance....
Represent!

The Day the Music Died: The 1995 Source Awards

WORLD WAR K aka Sensei ALMONDZ

Rising Star

WORLD WAR K aka Sensei ALMONDZ

Rising Star

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Aka Illegal Danny

Phat booty lover.

BGOL vet down since the “56k stay out!” days

Rising Star

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the voice of reason

BeatDownRecs

Aka Illegal Danny

aka * My Name Is Not $lam *

Cac Free Zone

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Young OG

Rising Star

I am on point like a tattle tell................!

WORLD WAR K aka Sensei ALMONDZ

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