The Recording Academy announced their 2019 Grammy nominations list in full last Friday via both social and conventional media channels. Travis Scott, Drake and Kendrick Lamar (‘Black Panther’ soundtrack) were amongst the top nominees.
Surprisingly, Cardi B was featured in a main category (Album of the Year) for her debut album ‘Invasion of Privacy’. However, a conversation began brewing online as to whether the Grammy nominations were accurate for the year.
Snubs?
In regards to the prestigious Album of the Year category, widespread conversation pertaining to J. Cole‘s absence this year erupted online. The Grammy critic released ‘KOD‘ in April selling 397,000 copies during the opening week. J. Cole is frequently a Grammy topic. Year on year, he fails to secure both nominations and wins in major categories. Despite this, he is consistently placed in the dominant rapper conversations both culturally and amongst industry peers.
TDE’s Jay Rock’s nominations also fell short. Despite the group being praised for their collective wins across the nominations (mostly SZA and Kendrick Lamar), Jay Rock stumbled. Although ‘Win’ received a nod for ‘Best Rap Song’, it served as his only solo nomination. Many argue that his album ‘Redemption‘ was more a deserving choice for ‘Best Rap Album’.
Kanye West is nominated for none of the artist related awards. Instead, the multifaceted creator appears as a nominee for ‘Producer of the year (non classical)’. This works, as critics have slated his solo material for the year, but praised the likes of ‘Daytona’ and ‘NASIR’. All corners of the industry seem to agree, as there has been little to no accusations of “snubbing”.
Elsewhere, the likes of Nicki Minaj (who made 19 submissions to the board) have been subject to “snubbing” claims. However, the topic isn’t as clear-cut. Some argue that Nicki had a poor roll out and album to match; the likes of Wanna’s World temporarily paid the price for this opinion. Others believe that there is an agenda against the rapper in the industry.
Others with honourable mentions across the “snub” list include Taylor Swift (‘Reputation’ for ‘Album of the Year’), The Carters (non-genre category nominations) and Ariana Grande (non-genre category nominations).
The 61st Annual Grammy Awards will take place on February 10, 2019 at Staples Center, Los Angeles.