Ace Hood got the best Christmas gift any independent artist could ask for.
On Friday (Dec. 25), the Broward County native unwrapped his Christmas gifts and received two commemorative plaques to celebrate his recent success as a fully independent artist. One plaque is dedicated to his 2017 album Trust the Process, which has garnered over 100,000,00 streams, and the other is dedicated to Trust the Process II: Undefeated, which accrued over 78,000,00 streams. Ace couldn’t help but shed some tears as he gazed at the plaques he deserves. His wife, Shelah Marie, captured the touching moment and posted it to her Instagram timeline.
“When @acehood was last on a major recording label they were excellent about celebrating wins,” Shelah wrote in her caption. “Ace has so many plaques in the house from that era. Since Ace went independent, he hasn’t received any plaques for his projects. Ace is too damn talented not to have his flowers while he can smell them.”
After spending nearly a decade releasing music under DJ Khaled’s We The Best Music and Universal Music Group, Ace Hood left the labels behind in 2016 to release music independently. Since then, the “Cash Flow” rapper dropped a handful of projects including Starvation 5, Body Bag 4, and Body Bag 5 via his Hood Nation imprint and Empire Records. On Christmas Day, Ace’s wife made sure the indie rapper knows that his music is appreciated on every level.
“I got plaques made for his first two releases (Trust The Process 1 & 2) since going independent because in this house we don’t wait on the validation we want — we give it ourselves. I love you @acehood,” Shelah wrote in her caption.
Back in May, Ace Hood released his fifth studio album Mr. Hood via Hood Nation/Empire. The album has 14 tracks including collaborations with Jacquees, Slim Diesel, Alexdynamix and OZ.