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Soulja Boy Proposes Awards Show to Honor Rappers He Says Were Snubbed by the BETs and Grammys
Soulja Boy announced plans for an awards show to honor rappers he says were snubbed and launched Rapper University, opening applications filmed in Atlanta.
Prince Williams/Getty ImagesSoulja Boy attends BET Experience 2024 Fan Fest at Los Angeles Convention Center on June 28, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Turning a sense of being overlooked into a new platform
Soulja Boy floated a blunt, unapologetic idea on social media this week: if mainstream ceremonies won’t give certain rappers their due, he’ll build a stage that does. The Atlanta native used X on June 30 to suggest launching an awards show specifically for artists he believes have been consistently passed over by institutions like the BET Awards and the Grammys.
“Might start my own awards show and give it to rappers who never got they credit,”
“NBA Youngboy, Chief Keef, Kodak Black, etc. no reason they never won a BET Award or a Grammy.”
The timing is telling. Soulja’s post landed days after the 2026 BET Awards, an annual moment that often sparks conversations about who gets recognized and who doesn’t. His proposal is less a polished plan than a provocation — a public airing of a longtime grievance that doubles as an invitation to reimagine where culture hands out accolades.
Elsewhere: Rapper University
This isn’t the first time Soulja has reacted to exclusion by creating an alternative. In recent weeks he announced Rapper University after being left out of Kai Cenat’s Streamer University. That move felt consistent with the playbook of artists who, when ignored, flip the script and build their own institutions.
When XXL ran a piece about the new venture and the conversation he had with DDG around it, Soulja left a plainspoken comment:
“They ain’t invite me, so I built my own university.”
The Rapper University application is live and, according to its site, will be filmed in Atlanta and streamed on Soulja’s Twitch channel. Applicants must upload a one-minute YouTube audition explaining why they should be selected and then paste that link into the application portal. Though the name suggests a focus on MCs, the open call explicitly welcomes producers, creators, teachers, mentors, guest judges, managers, promoters and other industry roles.
There’s no announced premiere date yet. What’s clear is the throughline between the two moves: whether it’s trophies or curricula, Soulja Boy is staking a claim on the right to define recognition on his own terms.
For now, the awards show remains an idea voiced on X; the university is already taking applications. Both, however, underscore a recurring argument in contemporary hip-hop culture: official validation is not the only path to influence.
