Apart from the early success of TPAB, the highlight of the show was Kendrick’s manic performance. Surrounded first by prison imagery, shackled to a chain gang, and then later by Afrocentric iconography, the Compton MC blazed through “The Blacker The Berry,” “Alright,” and a third untitled song while illuminated by pyrotechnics and blacklight.

Also on display, via a camera crew in New York, was a performance by the cast of the when-did-schoolhouse-rock-get-dope Broadway smash Hamilton. It was the kind of thing where I was half expecting them to try and teach me how a bill becomes a law at any second, but I didn’t mind. The rappers involved were talented, and creator Lin Manuel Miranda clearly has a true love of hip hop. This he made clear when he later rapped an acceptance speech for Best Musical Theater Album on behalf of the cast.

TPAB cleaned up in the rap-centric awards, but when it came to the general categories, K Dot came away notably empty handed. “Alright” lost Song Of The Year and Record Of The Year to Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” and the Mark Ronson/Bruno Mars mega-hit “Uptown Funk,” The real snub came later in the night though. “Alright” was a great song, but To Pimp A Butterfly was never meant to stand as anything less than a full collection. As a complete work, it is worth way more than the sum of its parts. So when it lost Album Of The Year to Taylor Swift’s 1989, some eyebrows were raised.

So how do you win a Grammy? Kendrick made an epic, thought-provoking, artistic triumph about modern blackness in America. Taylor’s 1989 was a collection of unconnected radio hits, and it sold five times as many copies. From this it would appear that commercial success is what the Grammys are trying to gauge. But when the Carter III was up for the award, it lost to the Robert Plant/Allison Krauss collab Raising Sand that sold only a fraction of what Weezy’s masterpiece sold.

So what’s the answer? How much a Grammy really cost? I guess the answer is: whatever you’re going to pay for it. It’s worth as much as you let it be. And when it comes to Kendrick? I think he gon’ be alright.

complete list of winner can be found here.

Now in 2015, with The Documentary 2 looming on the horizon, The Game has a wider variety of digital routes to connect with fans. Instagram seems to be his favorite by far. Personally, I can’t think of a better IG account. Way too many artists just use their social media to push whatever project they’re currently working on, but The Game seems to genuinely be having fun with his.

We get all the usual stuff

Cars, models, Game being a dad…

But then we get into the fun stuff. Game just clowning. Here is demonstrating his hustle, drive, and ambition with a photo of himself recording while taking a shit.

When I listen to the album I’m gonna spend the whole time wondering what song this take ended up on.

Here he is acting out his lyrics for the crew. Notice the one dude in the back getting so into it that he’s also holding an imaginary piece, even though I’m willing to bet he’s not mentioned by the lyrics in question.

Here we see his boy Marcus running through Chicago in his underwear in the aftermath of a lost bet. You can laugh, but for $10k i’m betting most of us would do the same. Game just gonna game.

Were you aware that The Game is his own #ManCrushMonday? He makes a semi-regular point of this.

Speaking of which, I notice that The Game posts a ton of shirtless pics of himself. Dude clearly works out so I get it, but what’s most interesting are his captions:

Bro, that is an album’s worth of writing right there. In the time you spent thinking up hashtags you could’ve finished The Documentary 2, 3, and 4.

Overall though, the game is just being real. Being real and eating pancakes:

The audit finds that The Game’s Instagram earns him a 10 point Street Cred boost

Costume 1: Dr. Dre

Dre was in the news a lot this year, not because he finally put out Detox but because he fucking CLEANED UP when Apple bought Beats By Dre.

This should be a pretty easy costume for most of you to put together last minute. You have the basic black tee or thermal, The beats that your parents already bought you for christmas last year, and the stack of fake money (If you can’t print/buy some try to tweet at Soulja Boy and maybe he’ll send some over). Bonus points if you can find a Chronic cassette tape to really put the outfit over the top. While this costume is easy and effective, be forewarned that if you’re being a fuckboy someone WILL try to jack your headphones. You may want to stick to your suburban house parties with this one.

Costume 2: Lil Wayne

Lil Wayne has slid back into the next this year with some notable collaborations and the impending release of Tha Carter V. Even though people have been rocking this costume since 2009, you can still wear it while remaining somewhat topical.

The degree of difficulty for this costume is a step higher than Dre, but you have the benefit of not getting robbed on your walk home. All you’ll need to be the dopest (read: only) Lil Wayne on the block is a Rasta/Dreads wig, some random colored sunglasses, a fake gold chain, a fitted, and a wife beater. This costume will give you plenty of opportunity to practice your lil wayne voice, try to skateboard, and explain to drunk girls that you’re not Bob Marley. This costume also gives you an automatic in to hook up with whichever thick white girl goes to the party dressed as Nicki Minaj. Bonus points if you bring a fake Carter V CD and drop it on the ground.

Costume 3: Young Thug

Don’t try. No matter what you do you won’t be able to pull off Young Thug. Young Thug can barely pull off Young Thug.

Costume 4: Trinidad James

This costume is slightly less topical than it was twelve months ago, but it is a thousand times more topical that it will be at this time next year. This might be your last chance to appear as Trinidad James. Don’t let it slip by! It’s pretty simple to put together as well. Here it is in 3 easy steps:

1. Gather all your worldly possessions

2. Buy one bucket of gold paint

3. Go to town on that shit.

Costume 5: Pusha T

This one is a little harder since King Push doesn’t have as recognizable a signature look as some of these other rappers. Braids and a snapback are pretty much all you can do. Fortunately there is a way to get around this and make it clear what your costume is: make sure every single conversation inevitably turns back to the fact that you used to sell dope. Every. Single. One.

Conversation about football? “Marshawn Lynch run that ball like I run the block”

Girl wants your number? “Shawty this my true number, cause the burner just for re-ups”

Looks like it’s gonna snow next week? “Snow is another word for cocaine… Which I used to sell”

Costume 6: Kanye West

Kanye is a recurring favorite every Halloween, but in the past year we’ve seen a different side of Kanye so it’s as fresh as ever. The bonus of this costume is that your girl gets to go as Kim (Spoiler alert: prepare to be disappointed). Here’s what you’ll need to make this costume work:

1. Leather clothes. Kanye’s been into leather a lot this year.

2. A goatee and close-cut hair.

3. A willingness to speak angrily and emphatically to complete strangers about a variety of topics for ten minutes non-stop

4. A 20-foot tall stage-mountain

This is non-negotiable

Note that you will lose points if you’re still trying to pull off a Kanye costume with just a backwards cap and stunna shades.

Hopefully this guide will help you turn an otherwise shitty Halloween into something memorable. Lastly, we would like to close with a message to our white fans:

Look guys, when your costume is finished and you look in the mirror there’s going to be something missing unless you go as Shady or Riff Raff. The costume might seem incomplete without some pigmentation, but I know what you’re thinking.

Don’t. Just don’t do it.

Frankly, I shouldn’t even have to tell you this. And if I hear one more person bring up Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder I am going to lose it.

• At the going price of $9.99 on iTunes, Dre could purchase 52 million copies of The Chronic: 2001, making it the best selling album of all time, and still have enough left over to buy 51 million copies of “Forgot About Dre” (at $1.29 apiece) to make it the best selling single of all time.

• US farmers produce roughly 26 million metric tons of sugar beets annually, or 9.6% of the global annual output. California beet farmers yield nearly 160 tonnes per hectare and the average price of irrigated farmland in California is $29,640 per hectare. This means that if Dre spent all of his Beats money on a new farming venture, there could be a 13% chance your salad is made with Beets By Dre.

• For the “I Need A Doctor” music video Dre let a film crew crash his Ferrari Modena. Judging by his reaction he actually kinda enjoyed it:
  Assuming a $250,000 price tag, Dre could total a Ferarri every day for the next 6.8 years if he wanted. Maybe a full seven if he took a break on federal holidays.

• Last May, Dr. Dre and Beats co-founder, Jimmy Iovine donated $70 million to the University of Southern California to establish a new undergraduate major for students with interest in the arts and entrepreneurship. USC honored Iovine with an Honorary Doctorate of Music. Dre however, while also present at the 2013 commencement, was not and still does not have any legitimate basis for calling himself “Dr.”  If that ever bothered him, Dre could afford to enroll in one of USC’s 126 Doctoral Programs… or all of them. He could first complete the 106 Undergraduate majors and 131 Masters  Degree programs as pre-requisites and would still have 90% of his Beats money intact.

• The cost of renting a 10 foot U Haul in Long Beach, CA and driving it to Nebraska City, NE is $1,465. The population of Compton CA is around 94,000. For less than 25% of his yearly income, Dre could literally move every single person straight outta Compton

To wrap this up: In the words of JT’s character from The Social Network “A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? Releasing Detox”