Shawty Lo was crowned MYSPACE Music’s Rookie of the Year at the 2008 BET Hip Hop Awards held on Saturday, October 18th at the Atlanta Civic Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Beating out nominees Ace Hood, Flo Rida, Maino and Rocko, Shawty Lo was joined onstage by members of his D4L crew, as well as Lil Wayne. “It’s a blessing and an honor to be able to win this BET award and I hope this shows people that you can definitely turn a negative situation into a positive one if you keep God first and stay focused.”
Shawty Lo has had a banner year winning “Breakthrough Artist” at the 2008 Ozone Awards and having 5 nods at Radio One’s annual Dirty Awards, to be held on November 24th at the Georgia International Convention Center. His debut album “Units In The City” (D4L Records/Asylum), spawned chart-topping hits such as “Foolish”, “Dunn Dunn” and the breakout single, “Dey Know”. Currently putting the finishing touches on his sophomore disc, the D4L boss is gearing up to release his new DJ Scream-assisted mixtape, “I’m Da Man 2009″.
In addition to touring and clocking long hours in the studio, Shawty Lo, who recently participated in the American Diabetes Association’s annual Step Out to Fight Diabetes walk, is working on launching a diabetes health network. “I’ve gotten a lot of posts on my myspace page where people tell me about their struggle with diabetes or have lost family members or friends to it and it made me realize that everybody has a testimony when it comes to diabetes.” Although still in the planning stages, the network will feature personal videos, as well as health-related articles from the rapper as it relates to his struggle with the disease and will also encourage others to share their stories on diabetes as well.