Much to the excitement (and frustration) of music fans across all genres, the GRAMMY nominations were announced early Friday morning (Dec. 7th). The GRAMMYs have previously been notorious for their lack of inclusion, especially in regards to the hip-hop music industry, but this might be the year that changes.
Fans were particularly upset at the 60th annual showing, when The Record Academy snubber Jay-Z of an award, despite the success, merit, and overall quality of his album ‘4:44’. The GRAMMYs are making an effort this year to be more inclusive, and even announced that they diversified the choosing committee for this particular purpose. They have also decided to add 3 more nominations to each category, bring it up from the original 5 nominees per category to 8.
The changes seem to reflect in the choices that were made for this year’s nominations. Among the nominees from the hip-hop industry were Kendrick Lamar, Cardi B., Mac Miller, Drake, Post Malone, Childish Gambino and Janelle Monae. Kendrick Lamar is the artist with the most nominations this year, picking up 8 nominations for several tracks off of the Black Panther Soundtrack. Cardi B. has broken records once again, becoming the first female rapper to be nominated for a Grammy. Cardi snagged 5 nominations, the most impressive of which is album of the year for her debut album ‘Invasion of Privacy’. Mac Miller was also nominated for Best Rap Album, the first GRAMMY acknowledgement the artist has ever received.
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Ella Mai, Jorja Smith, SZA, Toni Braxton and H.E.R. were among the R&B artist nominations. H.E.R. is actually up for 5 different GRAMMY nominations, an impeccable number considering how new the up and coming artist is to thhe industry. Legendary vocalist Toni Braxton has also been nominated for 5 awards.
Though it surely has a long way to go, the award show has managed to include many artists that they may have previously overlooked. The 61st GRAMMYs is set to take place at the Los Angeles Staples Center on February 20th, 2019. Be sure to tune in to see which of your favorite Hip-Hop and R&B artists will be taking home an award.
