The First Annual Vermont Hip Hop Awards: The Results

The announcement video is taking longer than expected, so why wait? We'll call it an Official Celebration Video instead. It's still in the works and coming together beautifully, but considering the fact that voting wrapped at midnight a week ago, there's no reason to keep people waiting any longer. Let's get straight to it.

Best Emcee: Konflik

Runner-up: Learic

This was one of the clearest victories of the entire Awards slate. Konflik had a big lead early and that never changed. He's been a legend here for decades, and he just made a big return with a fantastic new album, so for Konflik to claim the title is a little inevitable, and extremely well-deserved. He's only getting started, too.

Best Producer: Es-K

Runner-up: Rico James

Best Producer was a much tighter spread. Es-K came out in the end, but props to THEN WHAt for being the early leader. When it all washed out, he was only two votes behind Rico James for the number two spot — that’s respect. As for Es-K, his work ethic and accomplishments are almost unparalleled in our small scene. Huge congratulations to a humble operator.

Best DJ: DJ Kanganade

Runner-up Tie: David Chief and Dakota

People have strong feelings about the 802's finest turntablist. Much like the Best Emcee category, Kanga's lead never moved that much. Past that, there was a lot of diversity in opinions. Not only were David Chief and Dakota tied for second place, but Big Dog and Crusty Cuts were tied for third. This is dope to see.

Best Group: 99 Neighbors

Runner-up: Cognac Cousins

99 Neighbors are a huge hip hop success story around these parts, so perhaps this was another easy win. The duo of Yung Breeze and Raw Deff were close behind, though, with their Cognac Cousins project. And right behind them? Jade Relics, the brilliantly oddball "supergroup" behind a string of killer singles.

Best Graf Artist: Scottie Raymond aka eSKae1

Runner-up: Speak

This category had a surprisingly big spread of nominees, but when it came down to the ballot, eSKae1 took a commanding lead. As he would be the first to admit, that's largely because he's one of the only graf artists that damn near every single person in the scene knows. As one of the founders of the Anthill Collective, and the brains behind the legendary long-running 3rd Thursdays hip hop showcase at The Monkey House, he's earned a lot of love.

Rookie of the Year: THREE WAY TIE. Heady Betty, North Ave Jax and Robscure

Runner-up tie: Rivan C and Shorty Bang

Absolutely the craziest outcome we had for these First Annual Vermont Hip Hop Awards. I love it. At one point on Friday night, the entire category was a five-way tie. What's even better is how wildly different these three artists are. Heady Betty is on some smoked-out funky bars, North Ave Jax is making a bid to dominate every lane in 2022, and Robscure drops experimental but defiantly old-school lyricism.

Verse of the Year: HANKNATIVE -”Rageless Hope”

Runner-up: Konflik - “Float”

These two contenders were in the lead the entire time, trading back and forth for the number one spot. In the end, it all got decided by just two votes. Sometimes, democracy is real. (Sometimes.) Both of these verses are amazing work, balancing deeply autobiographical storytelling with masterful bars and flow patterns.

Best Song: Konflik - “Project Building”

Runner-up Tie: Charlie Mayne - “Whos The Man” and Raw Deff - “Stuck”

Just like the Best DJ category, this was a clear leader, then two tie results in a row. Props to Hakim XOXO's "Smokey" and Robscure's "Echo" ft. Eva Rawlings for finishing strong in third. Yet it's Konflik pulling out ahead for yet another category win here. “Project Building” was a concept track packed with brilliant, staccato visuals.

Best Album: Konflik - Back to Basics

Runner-up: 99 Neighbors - Wherever You're Going I Hope It's Great

Konflik continued his winning streak in the Best Album category, but by a much tighter margin. This one was decided by four votes, in the end. Close behind 99 Neighbors was Coyote Reverie's Imah and Cognac Cousins' Remy Automatik, nearly tied for third. In terms of who voted for what, this was a fascinating category to watch evolve, and I was surprised by a lot of your picks. In the best possible way.

Best Music Video: 99 Neighbors “Live a Little”

Runner-up Tie: 99 Neighbors “N. Michigan Gospel” and Shorty Bang “1000 Corpses”

At first, I thought that North Ave Jax was going to sweep this for his viral hit “Trust Nobody” but things really opened up after the first day of voting. At one point (Wednesday night) this category was yet another five way tie. But 99 Neighbors finished strong in the end and Shorty Bang had a breakout finish to tie up the number two spot.

The Andy "A_Dog" Williams Good Citizen Award goes to Johnny Morris aka JL of Boomslang

Runner-up: Kelly Butts-Spirito

First and foremost, huge props to every single human being on the ballot for this one. JL took this by a consistent margin, getting votes from a huge cross-section of the scene. It is deeply bittersweet to be giving this award to a beautiful man is who longer with us, among us, coming to shows, smiling in the front row, encouraging everyone he can. This is an honor he earned.

In second place is Kelly Butts-Spirito, a young man who has made a big impact in Burlington and beyond. His energy, drive and ambition are tempered by his enthusiasm for the scene and support for the new generation of talent.

Once again, I’d like to thank the team at Friends For A_Dog for making this possible. They are a huge force for good in our scene and our community.

I am also grateful beyond words to the advisory team who helped me steer this ship and everyone who participated. We will do better next year — and bigger, too.