On Saturday, November 18th Variety held its inaugural Hitmakers Brunch to celebrate those profiled in the Hitmakers issues on newsstands and Variety.com starting November 21st. Kendrick Lamar (Artist Hitmaker Of The Year) and DJ Khaled (Media POWERPLAYLIST Award) are two of the artists profiled.
iHearmedia and Mediabase, Circoc French Vanilla, Shuttershock and BuzzAngle Music sponsored the event. DJ Stretch Armstrong provided music for the crowd that included Diplo and Machine Gun Kelly among the music industry attendees. Variety’s Senior Music Editor Jem Aswad presented Kendrick Lamar with the Hitmaker Of The Year Award. Lamar accepted the award and said,
“I’ve been doing this for a long time, since I was 13, 14 years old. To hone in the title of a hitmaker means a lot because we put a lot of time and a lot of effort [in the studio]. “I thank each and every one of you for allowing me to evolve and let me make these weird a— songs that y’all like. These songs represent me and who I am. I want to continue to push that envelope and hopefully, I continue to have y’all ears to do so.â€
