The 2024 Grammys were on Feb. 4, and as usual, didn’t fail to generate both drama and controversy. But perhaps the moment that caused the most controversy would come as a surprise to many — the moment when rapper Killer Mike’s 2023 album “Michael” won Best Rap Album. His song “Scientists and Engineers” from the same album also won the awards for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance, marking a very successful night for a rapper who won his first Grammy more than 20 years ago (for a feature on Outkast’s “The Whole World”).

But the controversy came in the reaction to his victory. Although reactions were mixed, with fellow artists publicly congratulating Killer Mike on his win, the sentiment from many hip-hop fans was wildly different. Perhaps best exemplifying many hip-hop fan’s reactions was popular streamer Kai Cenat, who reacted to Killer Mike’s victory with shock, saying “Who decided this mother—- ? I don’t know who this is”. And unfortunately, many hip-hop fans seemed to agree. 

So why is this reaction from fans so disappointing? Shouldn’t they be allowed to disagree with the Grammy committee’s decision? Of course, they can. Being outraged after a Grammy night is practically a rite of passage for hip-hop fans. Who could forget when Taylor Swift’s “1989” won Album of the Year over Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly”, or when Cardi B won the Rap Album of the Year over Travis Scott’s “Astroworld”? 

The problem comes like the outrage. To disagree with the committee’s decision is fine, to think that Travis Scott’s “Utopia” (which was a phenomenal album in its own right) deserved to win instead is fine, to think that Killer Mike did not have the Best Album of 2024 is completely fine. Personal music taste is subjective, you can’t force someone to have the same opinion. But many of the reactions are similar to Kai Cenat’s, pretty much saying “Killer who?”. Many people make the argument that Killer Mike is too unknown or irrelevant to win a Grammy. 

There are two reasons why this argument is wrong, as well as disappointing. Firstly, a Grammy isn’t given for the most popular album of the year, or the most viral album of the year, or the most hyped album of the year, it’s given to the BEST album of the year. The popularity of “Utopia”, coming from a massive artist like Travis Scott, has nothing to do with its quality. And it is interesting to see fans use this popularity argument when in the past hip-hop fans have begged the Grammys to consider less popular albums for the prestigious award. Again bringing up the example of the 2019 Grammys, many people (as well as I) felt Cardi B’s “Invasion of Privacy” only won over Travis Scott’s (who was less famous than he is now) album due to her popularity at the time. So for hip-hop fans to pivot and ask for more recognition of popular albums seems a bit hypocritical to say the least. 

But the second reason perhaps says much more about the hip-hop community currently. And that is, simply put: Killer Mike is anything but unknown. As mentioned earlier, he’s been a Grammy-winning rapper for more than two decades. He has released four solo albums before “Michael” all fantastic albums which received critical acclaim. His long solo career is impressive enough on its own, but what truly set him apart from the rest were his collaborations with fellow rapper El-P under the rap group “Run the Jewels”, one of the best rap duos of the last decade. 

Senior Yannick Habiyaremye summarized it well, saying “He’s not unknown, that’s the thing. Killer Mike is so influential when it comes to rap, not only his work with Run the Jewels but just in general, and people who don’t know who he is are just not really tapped in with rap like that.”

Frankly, the people who dismiss Killer Mike’s win with cries of “Killer who?” show more about themselves than anything else. Of course, no hip-hop fan can be expected to keep up with every artist, and expecting anyone who calls themselves a hip-hop fan to be able to have listened extensively to every critically acclaimed rapper’s discography is ridiculous and incredibly pretentious. 

But not knowing who Killer Mike is is not an invitation to discredit his accomplishments. In my opinion, anyone who calls themselves a hip-hop fan (or a fan of any music genre) should at the bare minimum be willing to learn and expand their knowledge and taste. I invite anyone unfamiliar with Killer Mike and unhappy with the Grammy’s decision to listen to the artist they criticize. 

If they listen and decide that his style of rapping isn’t for them, or that Travis Scott’s album was still better than his, that’s completely fine. At least now they can defend their opinion, instead of foolishly pretending that rappers like Killer Mike are irrelevant. And if they’re not even willing to do that, I don’t think they have much of a right to call themselves a hip-hop fan at all.