The 2019 Grammy nominees are in and Hip-Hop is dominating, again. It’s that time of year where music’s brightest stars from all genres get judged for the music they put out this year by the one and only Recording Academy. It’s up to those voting members to see who is the best of the best, of course, by their “standards.”
In the decades Hip-Hop has been around, only twice did artists within the Hip-Hop community win album of the year. In 1999, Lauryn Hill won for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and 2004 was OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, which are both very deserving albums. Hip-Hop is more in the mainstream each day, evident by the chart positioning of Astroworld, Dummy Boy and Scorpion all ruling Billboard’s Top-10. I mean who other than maybe Ariana Grande has had a bigger year than Travis Scott? Or how about Drake just becoming the number one selling artist in the U.S. of all-time according to RIAA. The Recording Academy better put some respect on our name. Whether people want to admit or not, Hip-Hop IS popular music and we should hope that the coveted Grammy awards recognize this, which means a lot of our artists should take home some mini-gold phonographs for their mantles.
So who are some of the top nominee’s?
For category 1 – “Record Of The Year”, five of the eight nominees are hip-hop acts. That includes Childish Gambino for “This is America,” Cardi B, J. Balvin and Bad Bunny for “I Like It,“ Drake for “God’s Plan,” Post Malone’s “Rockstar,“ featuring 21 Savage and Kendrick Lamar and SZA for “All The Stars.”
“Album Of The Year”, again we have five artists from the hip-hop community, six if you count Janelle Monáe as part of our community, out of the eight acts nominated. Nominees include Drake for Scorpion, Cardi B for Invasion of Privacy, Post Malone Beer Bongs And Bentleys, H.E.R. for her self-titled debut album and lastly, the Black Panther soundtrack which comprises mostly of Hip-Hop.
“Song Of The Year” which is the songwriters biggest award, we hold four of the eight spots for nominee’s including Childish Gambino for “This is America,” Ella Mai for “Boo’d Up,” “God’s Plan” by Drake and again, “All The Stars” from K. Dot and Miss SZA. Some other notables in the Hip-Hop/Rap specific categories are “SICKO MODE“ for “Best Rap Song,” Swimming by Mac Miller, Victory Lap by Nipsey Hussle, Daytona by Pusha T, Invasion of Privacy by Cardi B and Astroworld by Travis Scott, are atop the nominees for “Best Rap Album.” 6lack and J. Cole even got a nod for best rap performance with “Pretty Little Fears.”
Hip-Hop is absolutely dominating the general field at the upcoming Grammy awards, and we should be damn proud about it. We have come along way from not being considered a genre, to most likely dominating the whole show in 2019. People often state that the Grammy’s are based on politics and not generally the best music that’s out there. It’s been said that you need a lot of working parts to win such a prestigious award; like major label support (unless you’re Chance The Rapper), millions and millions of streams and downloads, major placements in film and TV and you have got to have the right relationships in place. Either way, we’re glad to have a seat at the table, kicking our feet up, and being offered seconds and thirds to eat and we even brought the desert ourselves. We’re killing sh*t, let’s be honest and I’m sure Hip-Hop acts will win multiple awards this year. Who do you think will take home the most awards come Grammy season? Let us know on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thesource
