2023 Vermont Hip Hop Awards: The Final Ballot

Good morning & welcome to the final stretch. This is a public announcement of the Nomination Round results; big ups to all the winners. Each of these categories is down to the top five nominees, listed here in alphabetical order. I've got some notes at the end, but let's get straight to it, yeah?

Artist of the Year

Conswank
Charlie Mayne
Pleasant Boys
Real Ricky
Yung Breeze

Most Improved

Conswank
FOZ.
Funky Diabetic
FLYWLKR
Xistential

Best Emcee

Jarv
Konflik
Maari
Rivan
Yung Breeze

Best Producer

Caleb Lodish
Es-K
Rico James
SKYWISE
THEN WHAt

Best Group

99 Neighbors
Juicebox
Konflik & Nastee
Pleasant Boys
Street Religion

Best DJ

Dakota
David Chief
DJ Kanga
Mendica
Nastee

Best Graf Artist

CAPES
eSKae1
FORTUNE
SORTER
WISDOM

Best Verse

Conswank - Mad Life
Fabo - Corn on the Cob
Obi the Voicegod - Do’s and Dont’s
Rivan - BIG Tom Hanks Freestyle
Yung Breeze - Chicken Strips

Best Song

Caleb Lodish ft. HakimXOXO - “Postman”
Conswank - “Blunt Packed to my Head”
Konflik ft. Termanology - “Don’t Let ‘Em”
Raw Deff ft. The Aztext - “‘98 Dust Pockets”
Rivan ft. Fabo - “VT Vahbe”

Best Album

Caleb Lodish - I Expect Nothing In Return
Conswank - Low Point Retreat
Freddie Losambe - The Leaves Still Dance
Nahte Renmus - FUNK.95
Yung Breeze - Ja’Lani Skye

Best Music Video

Charlie Mayne - “Funk Like This”
Conswank ft. North Ave Jax - “Wrong Choices”
Fabo - “Corn on the Cob”
Fabo ft. Rivan - “VT Vahbe”
Yung Breeze - “Brain Matter”

Best Live Performance

99 Neighbors
Boxguts
Charlie Mayne
Konflik & Nastee
Yung Breeze

Andy “A_DOG” Williams Good Citizen Award

Big Homie Wes
Charlie Mayne
DJ Kanga
FLYWLKR
Kelly Butts-Spirito

Voting is open until midnight on Sunday, January 7th and the final results will be posted Monday, January 8th. Peace!

Some Notes At The End: 2023 was not 2022. Some big changes this year, and everyone who earned a spot had to work hard for it. Visibility requires albums with singles and videos. It requires hard, constant work, which is why you see so many names recurring across so many categories.

It was fun to watch this come together and reconnect with so many of you. There were also a lot of great suggestions on categories and presentation.

Out of a bigger voting pool than ever, I got 81 nominations back. Most voters chose to submit multiple nominations for each category, so it was a big spread and a very revealing look at the current scene. ("Best Song" alone got almost a hundred different nominations.) Most of our big winners were early winners. Even as everything changes, any music scene is a story, and that story only has room for so many main characters.

Rivan himself got hit by the Rivan Rule twice this time: in Best Verse and Best Music Video, he scored multiple nominations. In both cases, I kept the nomination with the most votes. This also happened to Conswank, who recieved multiple nominations for damn near every song and video he slowly dropped this year. That's not just "smart marketing," it gave every track time to really connect with his fans -- and convert some new ones doing it. New Hampshire rapper Raw Deff is a longtime honorary 802 hip hop head, but I had to disqualify old boy for the Best Emcee category, despite the fact he got (way more than) enough nominations to make the ballot. His song with The Aztezt, however, does make the cut.