EBONY celebrated Black excellence by honoring the best in Black culture with the return of it’s annual EBONY Power 100 event over the weekend.
Presented by Verizon, the star-studded awards ceremony took place at The Beverly Hilton, and honored the incredible achievements of African Americans across various realms. The event also marked the brand’s 75th anniversary year and it’s rebirth.
The iconic brand has no plans of slowing down, and plans to continue to be an authoritative voice around Black culture and Black voices while truly speaking to the Black experience and telling our stories.
The Ebony Power 100 award categories included Entertainment Powerhouse, Music Impact, Social Justice Champion, Excellence in Journalism, Ceiling Breaker, Game Changer, Innovation Leader, Community Builder, Breakthrough Creators, and NextGen.
Honorees included D-Nice, Timbaland, Swizz Beatz, Trae Tha Truth, Lil Baby, Quest Love, Rapsody, Travis Scott, Anderson Paak, Harvey Mason Jr., Isaac Hayes III, Law Roach, Chloe & Halle Bailey, and many more.
The prestigious event also featured performances from Lucky Daye, Justine Skye, Erica Campbell, and Deon Jones.
AllHipHop had a chance to speak with Ebony’s CEO Michelle Ghee about the esteemed event.
AllHipHop: We are so excited to see the return of Ebony Power 100! So much Black excellence is in the building. What are you most excited to see because you’ve seen the inner workings and the behind the scenes before the event?
Michelle Ghee: You know really painstakingly going through who should be honored tonight because remember we are in trying times and social justice community service. Our Next Gen really stepped up. It was like how are we gonna pick the people and honor them. So we really put together a group of people to select those individuals. We are really happy and proud of the list. Secondly, I’m proud that there are some people on the list that you’ve never heard of. That’s important too. Celebrity is great, and people want to see that, but I want to see the young brother who is the President of Harvard. I want to see those people too, and we did that, so I’m excited about it.
AllHipHop: Speaking of Black excellence in music, who are your Top 5 rappers dead or alive?
Michelle Ghee: You gotta say Biggie, you gotta say Tupac. You gotta say Dre, Lil Baby, and Drake.