Once a work is entered, reviewing sessions are held, involving the advisory board, to determine whether the work is entered in the correct category and with the exception of the Honorary award and Song of The Year award, using their expert knowledge and prior artist acknowledgements and achievements so that they can be judged on merit.

At the 1st South African Hip hop Music Awards, hip hop artist AKA released a statement distancing himself from the event because of a lack of communication and mismanagement, because he had eight nominations he felt that he should have been asked to perform at the event something which was meant specifically to promote the genre he represented mostly.

It was thought that the duo were snubbed despite their single garnering one million views on YouTube and blazing local charts for weeks on end.

However, the SA Hip hop awards organisers took to Twitter to set the record straight and said that Cashtime Life had asked to be excluded from the nominees and they had "kindly obliged".

[27] In 2017, rapper Nasty C did not submit his music for consideration in the 2017 South African Hip-Hop Awards as he believed the organisation did not properly acknowledge his success.

Hip Hop masses that were in attendance were entertained with special tributes to Ben Sharpa, Pro Kid and HHP.