The Underground Music Awards announces winners

The Underground Music Awards announces winners

It was a packed house on Sunday, October 25 at The 12th annual Underground Music Awards at B.B. Kings Blues Club Bar and Grill in Times Square. Chia Schonberg hosted the 2015 UMAs.

At the awards, MC Rah Digga was honored for her skills as a MC. Digga received the “Impact Award”. Rah Digga is an American rapper, model and actress. Until 2007, she was part of Busta Rhyme’s group, Flipmode Squad. She is also a New Jersey native, as she was born in Newark, New Jersey and attended The New Jersey Institute of Technology. Digga also performed her song “Angela Davis” at the UMAs.

“Being that I am the first female to receive this honor, I feel my duty to say something to you ladies, and it go like this: I don’t know how to begin/ how to tell you how to win…so pursue other ventures…we came a long way from the days of salt and pep,” Rah Digga said and rapped, regarding her win.

Rapper Joyner Lucas took home two awards from the UMAs. He received the award for “Video of the Year” and “Outstanding Artists of the Year”.

Throughout the night, there were numerous performances. Michael Mivins presented his up and coming group, The Beano Boys and they performed. There were also performances by Lazarus Kamran Rashid Khan, UMA alumni Omar Wilson, and Simplicity, who won the award for “Best Female R&B/Pop group”.

While all the nominees are able to attend the UMAs for free, 30 percent of nominated artists did not attend the UMAs, according to @UrbanThreshold. Still without many nominees not in attendance, the UMAs were still a sold-out event.

There were numerous awards presented at the UMAs.

R-Mean received the “Male Artist of the Year” award

William Cooper won “Indie Album of the Year” for God’s Will

Amadeus was presented the “Producer of the Year” award

Joe Gator won “Most Dynamic Solo Artist”

Joyner Lucas won “Outstanding Artist of the Year”

DJ Don Demarco won “DJ of the Year”

award for  “Best Showcase/ Tour Series” was presented to Faces in the Crowd

“Best Radio Show” was presented to Dog House Radio

“#1 Contender Award” was presented to Jonezen

E-Jake won “Best Male Rapper of the Year”

Chrissy Milan won “Best Female Rapper of the Year”

The RockBoy G’z were presented “Best Rap Group of the Year”

SPELLBYNDAZ were presented the “Best Rap Duo”

“Rap Renegade” was presented to T. Parris

“Best Midwest Artist” was presented to Beezy the Bruh

The Raskal was presented “West Coast Artist of the Year”

AV the Great was presented the “Best Southern Rapper” award

“Best R&B/Pop Male” was presented to KeithDopeMusic

“Best R&B/Pop Female” was presented to Natalia Damini

Dutch the Kid was presented “ Most Promising Male Artist”

Amanda Pollard won “Most Promising Female Artist”

The Seal Breakers were presented “Best R&B/Pop Group”

G-Stats was presented “Most Original Male Artist”

Goldilox was presented “Most Original Female Artist”

Skanks the Rap Martyr was presented “Essence of Hip Hop Award”

Diverse Character was presented “Artist to Watch”

Joyner Lucas was presented “Best Video of the Year” for “Ross Capicchioni”

Papa Doc was presented “Best Underground Mixtape/Street Album” for Wanted

Layla Khepri was presented “Best Live Performance”

Taya Simmons from Shot by a Girl Productions was presented “Best Video Director”

Bloka Bloka Boyz were presented the “Best Hip Hop Crew”

MAD Squablz was presented “Best Freestyle/Punchlines”

June Jissle was presented “Best Upcoming Producer”

LuaProc was presented “Hip Hop Titan Award”