Award shows these days are trash. But back in 95? S*** was iconic. Its the night that changed rap as we know it. This show was right at the peak of "East vs West" and took place at the iconic Madison Square Garden. Source awards were the only award show that celebrated hip hop at the time. BET awards were still 6 years away. This show has been viewed as either the end of the golden era, the day "real" hip hop died, or the beginning of a new, more open minded generation. The big moments that happened during this show included:

Suge throwing shots at Puff/Bad Boy with his now legendary speech:

Snoop got heated when Dr. Dre and him got booed after winning an award and going up to the stage. He took the mic and had some words for the East Coast crowd.

Another historic moment was when a certain Southern rap group won "Best New Artist" and got booed, simply for being from the South...some dude named Andre took the mic and gave the crowd a piece of his mind...

Outkast said everything changed after that^^. A not so talked about sub-plot of this show was that Biggie won all of the major awards over Nas. Nas was heartbroken Illmatic didnt win anything and Ready To Die basically swept the awards. Questlove, sitting with Wu Tang, Mobb Deep, Busta and more; a few seats behind Nas..said:

"Nas’ body language that day told the whole story of where we were about to go. The more he got ignored for Illmatic, I literally saw his body melt in his seat. Almost like he was ashamed. He just looked so defeated. I was like, ‘Yo, he’s not gonna be the same after this s***.’ None of us were the same after that day. I feel like the true underground lost its oxygen that night."

If you google the 95 Source Awards, you'll get all types of articles. From glorifying the night to saying it was the night that killed hip hop. One thing is consistent: they all say it was the night that changed rap forever.
complex.com/music/2015/08/how-the-1995-source-awards-changed-rap-forever
medium.com/@​pierzy/the-day-the-music-died-5a975edb9ab1

The Award winners of that night:
Artist of the Year, Solo: Snoop Doggy Dogg
Artist of the Year, Group: Wu-Tang Clan
New Artist of the Year, Solo: The Notorious B.I.G.
New Artist of the Year, Group: Outkast
Single of the Year: “Flava in Ya Ear” — Craig Mack
Album of the Year: Ready to Die — The Notorious B.I.G.
Lyricist of the Year: The Notorious B.I.G.
Producer of the Year: Dr. Dre
R&B Artist of the Year: Mary J. Blige
Reggae/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year: Mad Lion
Video of the Year: “Murder Was The Case” — Snoop Doggy Dogg
Live Performer of the Year: The Notorious B.I.G.
Soundtrack of the Year: Above the Rim
Best Acting Performance: Ice Cube — Higher Learning
Lifetime Achievement Award: Eazy-E
Pioneer Award: Run-DMC

Performances included: Bone Thugz n Harmony, Craig Mack, Faith Evens, Biggie and The Bad Boy Family, Snoop Dogg, Method Man.

Those names What an era

The South Got SOMETHING to SAY!

goat thread

shoutout all my old heads

We're here!

Ludacris in that Outkast video

ATLiens 25th year of greatness

Such a great thread

@p_p

Was born this year

Represent, my millennial friend

GOAT year bro, you were a baby when this was going on

Amazing and iconic

Same breh. I was literally just out the p**** the day before this. I remember watching this with a cigar in my hand and my diaper full

Hadn't heard much about Nas's feelings toward Big that night. Crazy that Ready To Die won all those awards just a year after Illmatic. Big just took over East Coast rap right after Nas had dropped arguably the best rap album ever. Thats f***ing impressive.

F*** Suge Knight man

Dope thread. I've never heard about Nas' reaction to Big winning before this.

Quality thread

Legendary Iconic Classic

i feel bad for nas lol

Didnt expect nas to be this shook over an award show makes sense he lost the plot following this

then again dude was 19

Ready To Die was and is better than Illmatic tbh

Ready to Die has misses illmatic does not

Neither project have misses imo, Ready To Die is 40 minutes longer and a much more ambitious project, both are top 10 rap albums of all time but Biggie achieved a lot of things Nas couldnt with Ready to Die.

nah

& at the very least nas should've won lyricist of the year