As you know, the Grammys announced the list of nominees for the 2019 gala, with several hip-hop performers picking up multiple nods. But soon thereafter, a chorus of boos started to emerge, from you guessed it: fans of artists left off the list. So we've decided to air on the side of objectivity before the chorus section grows "too-too" loud. Here are some of the artists we think the "Recording Academy" is guilty of overlooking.
Before we get into specifics, there are a few artists that received some recognition, but not in a general category worth mentioning. Travis Scott's Astroworld is widely considered one of the most impactful albums to drop this year, and yet it only figures in the conversation for "Best Rap Performance" alongside the other credited performers on "Sicko Mode:" Drake, Swae Lee, Big Hawk (for the sample).
But more shocking than Travis Scott missing out on a "major category" is the glaring omission of the young messiah himself, Mr. J. Cole. His 2018 album KOD took the top spot on our Year End Top 30, a conclusion we came to without much deliberation.
Say what you will about Tha Carter V, but Lil Wayne deserved a nod for clearing the gravitational backwater, so to speak. His long-awaited project did little something for everybody in the weeks following its release and even produced the closest thing to an "A Millie" we had seen in years. I'm talking about "Uproar" and the dance craze that ensued. And on that level, you can build a case for Eminem's inclusion, based on the same criteria.
Last but not least Teyana Taylor deserves a mention because she defies categorization, or at least that's the only reason I could see for her exclusion from the Grammy party. Her Kanye-produced K.T.S.E, was quietly one of the better projects to emerge from the clattering of sequential G.O.O.D. Music drops. "Ambiguity" is no reason to dock her points, quite the opposite in fact.