The Roots & Erykah Badu onstage to accept their Grammy award
Like I always say, Grammy time is payback time! Sure you got a jillion youtube views and make Mitt Romney's annual salary for a one-night celebrity DJ gig in Vegas. But try to take home a Grammy with that auto-crooned, crowd-sourced faux-EDM bullsh*t you call music, you sonically illiterate sons a beeyatches. Grown folks are talking. Now gimme the goddamn mic. Ok, sorry. I got a little carried away. But last night's Grammy nod to The Roots (best rap album) Frank Ocean (record of the year) and Miguel (song of the year) among many other okayplayers got me feeling myself a little bit. In fact although every year the Grammys are (rightly) a time to recognize musical quality separate (at least partly) from market forces, this year the presence of artists we cover on this here blog is so ubiquitous I daresay "we" own almost every category outside Pop and Dance. In fact rather than try to summarize all the people we need to shout out, I have taken the trouble to include a list of nominations for okayplayers and okayplayer-relevant artists after the jump (to see who they're up against get the full list of nominations here). Please forgive if I overlooked anybody--there's a LOT. You might want to get some popcorn or something.
Record Of The Year:
Lonely Boy - The Black Keys
Track from: El Camino [Nonesuch]
Thinkin Bout You - Frank Ocean
Track from: Channel Orange [Def Jam]
Album Of The Year:
El Camino - The Black Keys [Nonesuch]
Channel Orange- Frank Ocean [Def Jam]
Blunderbuss - Jack White [Third Man/Columbia Records]
Song Of The Year:
Adorn - Miguel [RCA/Bystorm Entertainment; Publisher: Art Dealer Chic]
Best New Artist:
Frank Ocean
Best Rock Song:
Lonely Boy - The BLack Keys
Track from: El Camino [Nonesuch]
Best Rock Album:
El Camino - The Black Keys [Nonesuch]
Wrecking Ball - Bruce Springsteen [Columbia Records]
Blunderbuss - Jack White [Columbia Records/ Third Man Records]
Best R&B Performance:
Thank You - Estelle
Track from: All Of Me [Home School/Atlantic]
Robert Glasper Experiment Featuring Ledisi
Track from: Black Radio [Blue Note]
Adorn - Miguel [RCA Records / Bystorm Entertainment]
Climax - Usher
Track from: Looking 4 Myself [RCA Records]
Best Traditional R&B Song:
Wrong Side Of A Love Song - Melanie Fiona
Track from: The MF Life [SRC]
Best R&B Song:
Adorn- Miguel [RCA/Bystorm Entertainment; Publisher: Art Dealer Chic]
Refill - Elle Varner
Track from: Perfectly Imperfect
[RCA Records/MBK Entertainment]
Best R&B Album:
Black Radio - Robert Glasper Experiment [Blue Note]
Back To Love - Anthony Hamilton [RCA Records]
Best Rap Performance:
N****s In Paris
Jay-Z & Kanye West
Track from: Watch The Throne
[Roc-A-Fella Records, LLC]
Daughters - Nas
Track from: Life Is Good [Def Jam]
Mercy - Kanye West Featuring Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz [G.O.O.D. Music / Island Def Jam]
I Do - Young Jeezy Featuring Jay-Z & André 3000
Track from: TM: 103 Hustlerz Ambition [Def Jam]
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration:
No Church In The Wild- Jay-Z & Kanye West Featuring Frank Ocean & The-Dream
Track from: Watch The Throne [Roc-A-Fella Records, LLC]
Tonight (Best You Ever Had) - John Legend Featuring Ludacris [Epic Records]
Cherry Wine - Nas Featuring Amy Winehouse
Track from: Life Is Good [Def Jam]
Best Rap Song:
Daughters - Nas
Track from: Life Is Good [Def Jam]
Lotus Flower Bomb - Wale Featuring Miguel
Mercy - Kanye West Featuring Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz)
[G.O.O.D. Music; Publishers: Please Gimme My Publishing/EMI Blackwood/RLFG Music/FF to Def Pub./Neighborhood Pusha/Sony ATV Songs/Ty Epps Music/Copyright Control/Roynet Music/Dub Plate Music]
N****s In Paris - Jay-Z & Kanye West
Track from: Watch The Throne [Def Jam]
Best Rap Album:
Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, Pt. 1 - Lupe Fiasco [Atlantic]
Life Is Good - Nas [Def Jam]
Undun - The Roots [Island Def Jam]
Best Jazz Vocal Album:
Radio Music Society - Esperanza Spalding [Heads Up International]
Best Reggae Album:
Rebirth - Jimmy Cliff [UMe/Sunpower]
Best World Music Album:
Folila - Amadou & Mariam [Because Music / Nonesuch]
Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media:
Marley (Bob Marley & The Wailers)
[UMe/Island/Tuff Gong]
Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s):
City Of Roses
Thara Memory & Esperanza Spalding, arrangers (Esperanza Spalding)
Track from: Radio Music Society
[Heads Up International]
Best Historical Album:
Opika Pende: Africa At 78 RPM
Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical:
Diplo
Climax (Usher) (T)
Get Free (Major Lazer Featuring Amber Coffman) (S)
La La La (Snoop Lion) (S)
Lies (Marina And The Diamonds) (T)
Look At These Hoes (Santigold) (T)
Push And Shove (No Doubt Featuring Busy Signal & Major Lazer) (T)
Slight Work (Wale Featuring Big Sean) (T)
Thought Of You (Justin Bieber) (T)
Too Close (Alex Clare) (T)
Markus Dravs
Salaam Remi
Back To Love (Anthony Hamilton) (T)
Between The Cheats (Amy Winehouse) (T)
Girl On Fire (Alicia Keys & Nicki Minaj) (S)
How Many Drinks? (Miguel) (T)
Life Is Good (Nas) (A)
Like Smoke (Amy Winehouse Featuring Nas) (T)
Running (Melanie Fiona Featuring Nas) (T)
Sins Of My Father (Usher) (T)
A Song For You (Amy Winehouse) (T)
Best Short Form Music Video:
Jay-Z & Kanye West Featuring Frank Ocean & The-Dream
Romain Gervais, video director; Mourad Belkeddan, video producer
[Def Jam]
Best Long Form Music Video:
Sade
Sophie Muller, video director; Roger Davies, Grant Jue & Sophie Muller, video producers
[Epic]
Radio Music Society
Esperanza Spalding
Pilar Sanz, video director; Esperanza Spalding, video producer
[Heads Up International]
