The Recording Academy recently announced that four music stars are slated to be honored during an event hosted by them in collaboration with the Black Music Collective.
On Feb. 02, the Academy will celebrate the accomplishments and impact on the music industry of Dr. Dre, Missy Elliott, music executive Sylvia Rhone and Lil Wayne during the Recording Academy Honors Presented By The Black Music Collective event. Held during the week of the Grammys at the Hollywood Palladium in L.A., the event- held for the second year in a row- will present all four stars with the Recording Academy Global Impact Award in honor of their success.
Multiinstrumentalist, Emmy winner and first-time Grammy nominee in the running for “Best Traditional R&B Performance,” Adam Blackstone, will serve as the musical director for the event. Meanwhile, Rico Love, the Vice Chair of the Recording Academy Board of Trustees, will serve as the Chair of the event for the second time.
“I am so thrilled to honor and celebrate these four giants in the music industry,” said Harvey Mason Jr., the CEO of the Recording Academy, in a statement. “Last year’s inaugural event was such a highlight during GRAMMY Week and now, with Dre, Missy, Wayne and Sylvia there to pay tribute to this year, it’s definitely going to be another night to remember.”
“I continue to be proud of the work of our Black Music Collective as it’s a vital part of what we do here at the Academy,” he added.
Throughout the years, all of the honorees have broken new ground in their careers. Besides being a multiplatinum, award-winning artist himself, Dr. Dre helped discover many big hip-hop musicians, such as 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar, by signing them to his Aftermath Entertainment label. He’s also famously known as the founder of Beats, an audio products manufacturing company.
Often referred to as the “Queen of Rap,” Missy Elliott has consistently put out certified RIAA albums, with all six of her albums being certified Platinum or higher. In 2019, she became the first female rapper and the third rapper, in general, to receive an induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Meanwhile, Lil Wayne has charted on the Billboard Hot 100 a total of 183 to gain the title of the third artist to achieve this feat. As founder of the label Young Money Entertainment, he’s helped launch the careers of some of the biggest names in the contemporary hip-hop scene, including Nicki Minaj and Drake.
As a music executive, Sylvia Rhone has been a trailblazer behind the scenes, helping break barriers as the first woman and first Black person to be named the Chairwoman and CEO of Elektra Entertainment Group in the 90s.
She also became known as the first woman and first Black woman to serve as the CEO of a big record label that’s owned by a Fortune 500 company when she assumed the title of CEO of Epic Records. Throughout her years in the music industry, she’s helped kickstart the careers of many big names, including Missy Elliott and Lil Wayne.
