June 27, 2024, New York City – The 2024 ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards are presented by ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, the sole non-profit performing rights organization in the United States.
Lil baby, real name Dominique Armani Jones), rose to prominence following the release of his 2017 mixtapes Harder than Hard and Too Hard, the former of which spawned his first Billboard Hot 100 entry with its lead single, “My Dawg.” Lil Baby’s second album, My Turn (2020) was his first to debut atop the Billboard 200, received quadruple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and became the best-selling album of that year. The following year, his collaborative album with Chicago rapper Lil Durk, The Voice of the Heroes (2021) became his second to peak the Billboard 200, while he won the Grammy Award for Best Melodic Rap Performance for his guest appearance on Kanye West and the Weeknd’s 2021 single “Hurricane”. Lil Baby’s third album, It’s Only Me (2022) was met with continued success and peaked the chart once more.
This year’s ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Songwriter of the Year is Lil Baby, who concluded his “It’s Only Us” national tour last year. With victories for “Forever,” “Freestyle,” and “Heyy” off his third studio album “It’s Only Me”, the diamond-certified rapper had a great year. At an invitation-only celebration honoring the winners of the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards for this year in Los Angeles, Lil Baby got his trophy today.
Rap, R&B/Hip-Hop, and Song of the Year awards go to SZA’s performance of “Snooze.” After spending an unprecedented 30 weeks at the top of the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, the song, co-written by Leon Thomas and released by Sony Music Publishing and Eclectic Collective Publishing, achieved a historic milestone. Being the sole song to stay on the Billboard Hot 100 for the whole year 2023, this achievement was the greatest any song has made in the list’s 31-year existence.
For songs such as “Calm Down” (Rema & Selena Gomez), “Fukumean” (Gunna), “Good Good” (Usher), “Hotel Lobby” (Quavo & Takeoff), “Rich Baby Daddy” (Drake), “Spin Bout U” and “Rich Flex” (21 Savage & Drake), and “What It Is” (Doechii featuring Daphne), Warner Chappell Music was named ASCAP Rhythm & Soul publisher of the year.
Photo Credit: Compliment
According to a news statement, Usher was presented with the prestigious ASCAP Voice of the Culture Award, which is granted to those who “have had a major influence on music and culture.”
“Goodness of God” (Cece Winans), which was co-written by Brian Mark Johnson and Jennifer Louise Johnson and released by Bethel Music Publishing, is the ASCAP Gospel Song of the Year.
The ASCAP Vanguard Award went to Victoria Monét in recognition of her “innovative work that is helping to shape the future of music.” In addition, Monét won a Grammy for most-performed song for her song “On My Mama,” which was nominated for record of the year in 2024.
Per ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards regulations, the authors and publishers of the most-performed songs of the previous year are honored. This is based on Luminate statistics for terrestrial and satellite radio as well as streaming platforms.