Who won the first ever MTV Award for Favorite Rap Artist?

DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince won the first Favorite Rap Artist award.

The Philadelphia duo—DJ Jazzy Jeff, born Jeff Townes, and rapper Will Smith, then known as the Fresh Prince—became mainstream stars in the late 1980s. Their 1988 album He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper produced the crossover hit “Parents Just Don’t Understand,” helping rap move into the pop-music awards spotlight.

The award is often confused with the MTV Video Music Awards. The duo did win MTV’s first Best Rap Video award in 1989 for “Parents Just Don’t Understand,” but Favorite Rap Artist was an American Music Awards category. They also won Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album at the 1989 American Music Awards.

Their Grammy win for Best Rap Performance in 1989 was another landmark: “Parents Just Don’t Understand” became the first rap recording to win that Grammy. The duo later scored another major hit with “Summertime” before splitting in the mid-1990s.