The nominees for the 2024 Grammy Awards were announced Friday, November 10. Here’s a list of artists up for top hip-hop and R&B categories:
Leading the pack with nine nominations, the most of any artist this year is SZA, who’s up for Album of the Year for SOS and Record and Song of the Year for “Kill Bill.”
She’s followed by Victoria Monét who earned six nods, including Record of the Year for “On My Mama,” Best R&B Album for the song’s LP, Jaguar II, as well as Best New Artist.
Also up for six awards is Jon Batiste, recognized in Record of the Year for “Worship,” Album of the Year for World Music Radio, and Song of the Year for “Butterfly.”
As for first-time nominees, Coco Jones and Ice Spice are both up for Best New Artist, while Jones earned a Best R&B Album nod for What I Didn’t Tell You (Deluxe). The latter category also recognizes Summer Walker’s Clear 2: Soft Life EP and Girls Night Out by Babyface.
On the producer side of things, Metro Boomin, Hit-Boy, and Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II earned nods for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical.
Following the announcement, the list revealed many expected award honors but also some, fans say, that might’ve been missed.
While R&B is represented in three of the top categories: Song, Album, and Record of the Year — mostly by way of SZA’s nine nods — the Recording Academy failed to acknowledge any rap music in the big groups.
Seeing as 2023, also the year of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary, saw chart-topping work from Drake, 21 Savage, Nas, Travis Scott, and more, social media users quipped about the awards shows’ snubs when it comes to rap.
Tweets like “Smh. Grammys have never taken hip hop or rap seriously” and “Once again grammys never have respected rap and probably never will” circulated after the announcement.
Now, onto the rappers who were nominated.
For the first time in seven years, Nicki Minaj’s name is included in the mix. With all three of her nods tied to “Barbie World,” fans aren’t sure a first win, on behalf of newcomer Ice Spice, is the most honorable way to acknowledge the superstar.
As for the dedicated rap categories — Best Performance, Album, and Song — Drake & 21, Nas, Scott, Metro Boomin, Killer Mike, Lil Uzi Vert, Doja Cat, Coi Leray, Kendrick Lamar, and Black Thought are all up for awards.
Lil Durk scored his fourth nomination: He’s up for Best Melodic Rap Performance with “All My Life,” which also adds to feature J. Cole’s 16 past nods.
A Best Melodic Rap nod also goes to Burna Boy, who additionally earned recognition for Best African Music Performance, Best Global Music Performance, and Best Global Music Album.
The 2024 Grammys will air on February 4 on CBS.
Source-ABC
