Hip Hop Holds The Grammy’s Hostage

The nominations are in and the winner is.... HIP HOP!

The 2018 Grammy Awards nominations were announced this morning and leading the pack is none other than rap icon (and in my humble opinion the greatest to have ever done it) Jay-Z with eight nominations, followed by hip hop stand out Kendrick Lamar with seven, and Childish Gambino, the alter ego of Emmy-winning actor-director Donald Glover, netting five nominations.

Could it be true? Is a major awards show finally an actual reflection of the current state of Pop Culture rather than just artists that stuffy old white guys like? I dare say it's true. After the snub of basically anyone who wasn't white in the four major acting categories for the 2015 AND 2016 Oscars, The Grammy Awards took notice.

This year you couldn't go more than a 24 period without hearing Redbone from Gambino, Kendrick Lamar's third studio release 'DAMN' received both critical acclaim and commercial success and Jay-Z's album 4:44 reminded me that true hip hop is alive and well. Not only have The Grammy Awards embraced the powerhouse that is rap music, they actually have chosen to recognized the good stuff, over the commerical crap that passes as music these days....although Cardi B's Bodack Yellow still earned a couple nods, but hey, no one is perfect, they had to make one mistake.

So bravo to the suits behind The Grammy Awards for acknowledging and embracing the growing influence that hip-hop and urban genre has on pop culture. I'll be watching, will you?