Virgil Abloh, the visionary fashion designer behind Off-White, passed away Saturday at the age of 41 after a private two-year battle with cancer. He was a major influence on the music world, particularly the hip-hop community. Yesterday, Kanye West’s Sunday Service choir performed Adele’s Easy On Me in his memory. Below are some of the album covers he helped create.

The Recording Academy released their nominations for the 2022 Grammy Awards. Jon Batiste leads the pack with 11 nominations — Billie Eilish, Doja Cat, H.E.R., Justin Bieber, and Olivia Rodrigo follow close behind. JAY-Z picked up three nominations this year, bringing his career total to 83, surpassing Quincy Jones and Paul McCartney for the most of all time.

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Decades before Drake arrived on the scene, rap and R&B were on a collision course — which makes sense given hip-hops roots are in Sugarhill Gang’s highly melodic Rapper’s Delight. In the 80s, rappers started to become comfortable showcasing their often terrible vocals on tracks like Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh’s La-Di-Da-Di and Biz Markie’s Just A Friend. By the 90s, their singing prowess had improved, and rap groups like Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Cee Lo Green’s Goodie Mob were building their careers on the back of their melodies. Female rappers like Queen Latifah, Lauryn Hill, and Missy Elliott were adept at performing both their verses and their choruses. By the 2000s, singing had become commonplace for rappers — see André 3000 on Roses, Kid Cudi on Day ‘N’ Nite, or Kanye West on the entirety of 808s & Heartbreak. Yet, during this time, Ja Rule was routinely mocked for singing his own hooks, and on D.O.A., JAY-Z told rappers they were “singin’ too much.”