Nas is not only one of the greatest rappers to ever walk the earth, but he’s always been an ambassador for hip-hop, and he’s once again proving why.
The legendary Queensbridge rapper, along with Steve Stoute, Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz, and his wife, Felicia Horowitz, are coming together to pay homage and financial support to figures who contributed to the culture but didn’t get their just dues.
According to AfroTech, the first-ever Hip-Hop Grandmaster Awards is reportedly slated to recognize Rakim and Scarface. Of the event’s proceeds, 100 percent will go to the foundation’s programs “to support hip-hop greats and other creatives,” the Paid in Full Foundation’s websitestates.
“Over the past several decades, Hip-Hop music and culture rose from a local niche New York art form into a global phenomenon. In doing so, it has created countless careers, many fortunes, and, most importantly, gave hope and aspiration to a generation of young people.”
It continues, “Unfortunately, many of the most impactful original artists never received recognition proportional with their exceptional contributions to arts and culture. The Paid in Full Foundation aims to rectify that through its grantmaking program, by both honoring the people who built Hip-Hop and enabling them to pursue their creative and intellectual pursuits for the benefit of society.”
Stoute recently told the Rap Radar Podcast that the foundation will give $500,000 and healthcare to hip-hop “contributors who didn’t get what they deserved.” he also revealed that the event will be an annual one.
“What I wanna do is, all of the artists who [came in] early who signed bad deals or were taken advantage of, that the least we could do is give to them,” Stoute said. “Pay that forward and give to them. No one’s ever done this before. No one’s given the people who’ve helped move this industry forward reparations of some sort for what they’ve done but didn’t get back.”
The Hip-Hop Grandmaster Awards, which is sold-out, will take place November 17 in Las Vegas.
