Compton, California rapper Kendrick Lamar leads the pack of Grammy Awards nominees with a total of 11 nominations.
Kendrick is nominated in every rap category at the Grammys. Among those categories are Best Rap Performance, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap Album.
The albums nominated for Best Rap Album include Kendrick’s To Pimp A Butterfly, J. Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive, Dr. Dre’s Compton, Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, and Nicki Minaj’s The Pinkprint.
The Best Rap Song nominees include Kanye West’s “All Day,” Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright,” Drake’s “Energy,” Common and John Legend’s “Glory,” and Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen.”
A number of R&B artists were nominated for the Record Of The Year category, which includes songs from the following artists: D’Angelo, Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, and The Weeknd.
Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift, who collaborated together on Swift’s “Bad Blood” record, will go up against one another in the Album Of The Year category. Other artists nominated in that category include Alabama Shakes, Chris Stapleton, and The Weeknd.
The Grammys are scheduled to air on February 15, 2016.
A list of nominations can be found below.
Record Of The Year
“Really Love” – D’Angelo And The Vanguard
“Uptown Funk” – Mark Ronson Featuring Bruno Mars
“Thinking Out Loud” – Ed Sheeran
“Blank Space” – Taylor Swift
“Can’t Feel My Face” – The Weeknd
Album Of The Year
Sound & Color – Alabama Shakes
To Pimp A Butterfly – Kendrick Lamar
Traveller – Chris Stapleton
1989 – Taylor Swift
Beauty Behind The Madness – The Weeknd
Song Of The Year
“Alright” – Kendrick Lamar
“Blank Space” – Taylor Swift
“Girl Crush” – Little Big Town
“See You Again” – Wiz Khalifa Featuring Charlie Puth
“Thinking Out Loud” – Ed Sheeran
Best New Artist
Courtney Barnett
James Bay
Sam Hunt
Tori Kelly
Meghan Trainor
Best Rap Performance
“Apparently” – J. Cole
“Back To Back” – Drake
“Trap Queen” – Fetty Wap
“Alright” – Kendrick Lamar
“Truffle Butter” – Nicki Minaj Featuring Drake & Lil Wayne
“All Day” – Kanye West
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
“One Man Can Change The World” – Big Sean Featuring Kanye West & John Legend
“Glory” – Common & John Legend
“Classic Man” – Jidenna Featuring Roman GianArthur
“These Walls” – Kendrick Lamar Featuring Bilal, Anna Wise & Thundercat
“Only” – Nicki Minaj Featuring Drake, Lil Wayne & Chris Brown
Best Rap Song
“All Day” – Kanye West
“Alright” – Kendrick Lamar
“Energy” – Drake
“Glory” – Common & John Legend
“Trap Queen” – Fetty Wap
Best Rap Album
2014 Forest Hills Drive – J. Cole
Compton – Dr. Dre
If You’re Reading This Its Too Late – Drake
To Pimp A Butterfly – Kendrick Lamar
The Pinkprint – Nicki Minaj
KING KENDRICK!!!!!!!!!! FUCK DRAKE LOL
Run the Jewels
There is simply no competition. Kendrick is walking away with the best album and best rap album. Mutha fcka know he started from the bottom!
Wow interesting how Drake introduces the world to Kendrick Lamar and Weeknd 3 years ago on Take Care and now these are the two biggest artists in hiphop/R&B. Kendrick will win absoutely cuz American dont want no Canadian winning. But its TPAB is the greatest album no one actually really listens to. Drake had the biggest tracks and spins but everyone is in such denial so it what it is. If Drake wins for Back to Back, that will cement it as one of best diss track ever. but u know, haters gone hate.
You are foolish. Drake had nothing to do with Kendrick. There names shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same sentence. Drake is a fraud
Drake didn’t introduced the world to Kendrick and The Weeknd, they blew up on their own. Kendrick will won because he has the best album out the lineup. People are still listening to TPAB. Having a big sales doesn’t make you the best, it just means you’re popular and Aubrey is not the best and he never will be. Back To Back will never be the best diss track either.
Canadians have won Grammies before.
Dude you went full retarded with drakes dick in your mouth. You do understand that the Weeknd is from Toronto, CANADA also right? As for Drake and Kendrick, Kendrick will win because his music influences the generation to do something. You can go and tell all your friends that Drake will win for Back to Back and it was the best diss track, when it was the most POPULAR/POP Track. Dude went at Meek Mill, not anyone special or deadly. When he can name drop Kendrick or write a whole track going at Kendrick, I’ll give his props, because all he is a soft pussy ass nigga. Im from Toronto and I dont bump Drakes garbage shit
Lupe Fiasco albums is 30 times better and he did not get one nomination screw the grammies. Since Lil Wayne won all the grammies that one year the grammies lost all creditability smh.
Lu should’ve got some nominations, at least one for BRA. People continue to sleep, though.
Drake dropped a “mixtape” in 2015, not an “album”. I HATE the Grammys.
Forest hills drive should be in the Album of the year before TPAB in my opinion. Wtf?
You said it yourself, in your opinion. In my opinion, Forest Hills Drive is not even in TPAB’s league. Nowhere close. And I guarantee you that even Cole secretly believes that as well.
Go Kendrick!.
lol these articles are jokes, grammys dont mean shit in hip hop. People who vote and actually decide who wins dont know what theyre doing… All of Drake’s works were free mixtapes, so he shouldn’t even be on there. Kendrick’s TPAB is a clear winner. Although Tetsuo and Youth is the best album this year. If you disagree, please actually listen to that album again and read lyrics (youre gonna need that). Just keep in mind that these grammy people dont know what theyre doing, solely doing based off album sales.
None of Drake’s works were free mixtapes, they were digital retail releases sold at the full price an album.
LOL at Fetty Wap getting nominated twice.
what about asap rocky’s “a.l.l.a”?
Absolutely f#%king ridiculous that Tetsuo & Youth didn’t get one nod. Not sure why I’m surprised…lol. That album shits on all the nominations except TPAB, but it’s actually better than TPAB by a little bit. Those two are close, but Tetsuo had my vote. Kendrick should walk away the winner with ease.
drake deserves album of the year IMO but i know Kendrick will clean up at the Grammys. My dad is 60 years old and can listen to Kendrick’s album. Its very easily disgestable by all. Grammy awards generally get music 20 years later and TPAB sounds like a 93/94 hiphop record like OC “Word…Life” or like a Pete Rock and CL Smooth album. it actually reminded me of Outkast Aquemini. i aint salty Kendrick lamar is a great artist and should be honored but frankly, i didnt find his album all that innovative. Drake’s album was more innovative but hey, we wait another 20 years.
No, Drake doesn’t deserve album of the year for that lazy bullshit he put out. What’s so innovative about it? Kendrick’s album easily disgestable? How? Mainstream rappers now are hopping on the South’s trends rapping over trap beats while Kendrick is mixing funk and jazz with TPAB. No mainstream rapper is doing what he’s doing. Easily disgestable is the best description of Aubrey’s weak ass “mixtape,” which jacks flows and styles from everything in mainstream rap.
I’m a massive Kendrick fan but I just didn’t enjoy TPAB in fact I probably preferred Drakes album (The joint project with Future was awful, really, really bad). However, there was absolutely nothing innovative about Drake’s album, good tracks but as generic as they come and certainly not something which will be remembered in5 years never mind 20.
You say TPAB sounds like OC, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, and Outkast. If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late sounds like a slower version of a Southern/trap album.
@ SMH. funk and jazz have been mixed with hiphop for years. In fact, James Brown is he foundation for a lot of the early hiphop albums in the 80s from Lord Finesse to Public Enemy. And Dr Dre brought p-funk records to the forefront with The Chronic. George Clinton has been all over west coast hiphop for years and jazz likewise – Digabel Planets, Tribe Called Quest, Gangstarr, Pete Rock and the Roots? Jazz has been fused with hiphop for years. Whats new about that? its a great album but ive heard it before. Everyone understands what Kendrick Lamar is doing. Its very easily digestable. The chords, the arrangements etc. Any listener can find comfort in the sounds becuase they have been around for 20+ years. Take a Drake song like “6 God” or “Legend”. The arrnagements are weird. The choruses hard to identfy. it sounds new and different. Thats how ” Enter the 36 Chambers” sounded 20 years ago and what “The Chronic” sounded like. It was fresh and original. people werent taking old records like that and remixing them like that. Drake is taking 90s R&B and remixing it while Kendrick is taking 70/s music which we have already heard mixed with hiphop. Kendrick is a great artist but to me, his greatest and most innovative songs are still Cartoons and Cereal and ADHD. I keep waiting for him to surprise me like that. anyways, no point arguing. i know the deal with Drake haters – they are stuck in the past
Yet no one in mainstream rap is mixing jazz and funk in their music, that’s what makes Kendrick such a great artist, he’s a risktaker. TPAB is full of layers. Not everyone understood what he’s doing. It’s not easily disgestable (especially for modern rap fans), the chords and arrangements are out of this world. There’s nothing weird about the arrangements of 6 God and Legend and the choruses are easy to identify. There’s nothing new or different about Drake’s music and you can’t compare it to The Chronic or Enter The 36 Chambers. People have already took old records and remixed them, that’s how hip-hop has been since the beggining, what Aubrey is doing isn’t anything new. Artists have already remixed 90s R&B before Aubrey. You haven’t said one thing factual, it’s just a bunch of biased Drake fanboyism mixed with pseudo-intellectual pretentiousness. You don’t even know what you’re talking about. If you truly do like Kendrick and if you truly think he’s a great artist, then you should appreciate what he’s doing with TPAB.
Anyone who thinks Drake’s music is innovative, fresh, and original obviously doesn’t listen to much music and doesn’t have that much knowledge in music. Your head is WAY up your ass. 6 God and Legend, along with the rest of Drake’s music, are generic as fuck and interchangable with most of modern rap.
@ SMH. Kendrick risktaker? Really? How? Not saying I completely disagree. Maybe in the sense that he made a record that went back to hip hop’s roots when most of artists could have made a more current sounding album. Sure. I can agree with you there. Like I respect Lenny Kravitz for going towards a 70s sound when no one else was. That was cool but it had still been done before. Its much easier to work from something already done. If you are correct about an easily identifiable chorus in 6 God, tell me where the chorus starts and ends, Im curious? remember choruses are repeated.
@ Steve. I respect your opinion and thank you for not being some reflexive Drake hater. At least thats your opinion but like I said I just tend to disagree. “Star 69”, “6 God” and even say “Preach” are just weirdly arranged songs. I dont even know how they are called pop music. Pop music is verse, chorus, verse chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus. Drake makes music that hits the radio somehow but it isn’t in my experience very pop in its approach. I mentioned 6 God because its the weirdest. I mean, his flow is just strange. In my experience over the years, if an artist is both popular and innovative, there are usually remembered because the copycats elevate them as an influence over the years.
Making an album like To Pimp A Butterfly in an era where most rappers are making heavy-808 trap beats that sounds straight outta Atlanta is a huge risk and it’s paid off for Kendrick, who stayed himself without biting anyone. Yeah, the style of TPAB is nothing new, but there’s little to no original styles anymore, just variations. Kendrick still remained himself and didn’t bit flows and styles like Drake does. P.S. what Drake is doing has been done before, too. Also, it turns out 6 God is just one long verse, no chorus. This kind of thing has been done before in hip-hop as well.
(“Star 69”, “6 God” and even say “Preach” are just weirdly arranged songs.) No, they’re not. There’s nothing weird about these songs at all. )I dont even know how they are called pop music.) Because they’re generic as fuck. (Pop music is verse, chorus, verse chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus.) Not all pop songs are structured like that. (Drake makes music that hits the radio somehow but it isn’t in my experience very pop in its approach.) They are pop in their approach in being generic. (I mentioned 6 God because its the weirdest. I mean, his flow is just strange.) Again, there’s nothing weird about 6 God, it’s just another generic rap song. The flow is only strange if you don’t listen to much rap where’s there’s a bunch of rappers with that flow that Drake jacked. (In my experience over the years, if an artist is both popular and innovative, there are usually remembered because the copycats elevate them as an influence over the years) Unfortunately for you, Drake is just popular, not innovative. Quit reading too much into simple shit.
Wesley’s Theory, For Free, For Sale, u, Momma, Mortal Man.
Who cares about innovation? Just enjoy the music. At the end of the day, it’s all about good music. Clearly, TPAB is better than IYRTITL. Drake is just getting lazy and letting the fame get to his head.
Uhh, no. Drake’s album doesn’t sound risky, it sounds safe as any mainstream rap album. It’s basically nothing more than Drake stealing styles, flows, and content from other rappers and every song sounds the same. TPAB is out-of-the-box for mainstream hip-hop because no one else now is making a record like it. There’s a ton of records that sound like Drake’s album. I don’t see how TPAB is like Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill, it isn’t that easily recognizable. If you’re liking for artists unafraid to challenge the mainstream, Drake is not that guy. He does everything a mainstream rap artist does. All of his big hits are generic pop rap shit. And this comment, “Kendrick is appreciated now but will less remembered later and i feel Drake is hated now but will be appreciated years later” you got it backwards. Kendrick will continued to be remembered years later because he’s made modern-day classics while Drake will be less remembered years later because he has no classics to his name, he’s reached a point of overexposure, and he is currently making lazy bullshit. Aubrey’s not as hated as you think as critics and audiences love him (though not on the same level as Kendrick); his albums have gotten positive reviews and every time he releases something, Twitter goes nuts. In other words, you’re wrong… again. I can never respect your opinion because it’s full of shit; it reeks of bias against Kendrick and bias for Drake. You’re the one with conventional thinkings of an extreme Drake fanboy.
@ anon and the rest of yall. no point continuing as we wont change each other’s minds. Kendrick Lamar’s album is great and im please the Grammy nominated him and in fact, i feel all the albums nominated other than PinkPrint are decent and worthy. I just feel Drake’s album is the only one that sounds most currentand risky to me. Im a guy who grew up listening to punk music and hiphop music tho and i dont like radio shit. Kendrick created a dope album and deserves props. Im just saying in my experience, it isnt to me out-the-box. it actually reminds me of Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Well done but easily recognizable for its conventions. I prefer an album like Yeezus, or an artist like MF Doom…someone who isnt afraid to challenge the mainstream. To me, Drake does that but somehow by some miracle ends up on the radio. everyone has their own opinion but frankly, Kendrick is appreciated now but will less remembered later and i feel Drake is hated now but will be appreciated years later. Never been wrong about this re: artists. agree to disagree people but i do respect your opinions as conventional as they are.
King Kunta’s got this. This time, no Macklemore.
Only thing Drake’s trash half-assed mixtape deserves is this L
Grammys are trash, been trash for quite a long time. Not paying attention.
Kendrick dropped the greatest album of our time tbh
I don’t think tpab will be topped.
To Pimp a Butterfly is a work of art – an angry, indulgent, romantic blast of self-critique and declaration inside a molotov cocktail. A dense jazz flourish of racial narratives, throwback soul and
confident funk, this sociopolitical barometer is better than we hoped for – and our hopes were damn high.
tpab is up there with illmatic
The guitar riffs, the piano, the beat breakdown at 3:00, the bass guitar (Thundercat?), the Flying Lotus influence, the Outkast influence, the bars he’s spitting… bitch, I liiike. Definitely not what I
expected and not what I want the whole album to sound like, but fuck… I can’t sit quietly while hearing and I fucking like it.
MASTERPIECE
tpab is most definitely the best album of he last 5 years, objectively
This is where Kendrick is head and shoulders above his peers. His metaphors are great and he does a great job of expressing emotion on record. He’s also a great storyteller and can really make you feel
for whoever he’s talking about. Whereas with Cole he seems like a kid who watches a Tarantino movie and then wants to make Tarantino movies. You can imitate the dialogue and eventually come up with some
witty shyt, but ultimately you’re going to miss the “essence” whenever you try to imitate others.
Kendrick deserves to win them all
go kendrick u had the AOTY on lock
TPAB is the most complete, complex & structured album of the past 15years
I hope he wins big, he deserves it and has no competition
to pimp a butterfly is the illmatic of our generation and should win AOTY
There will never be an Illmatic of our generation…but this is the CLOSEST thing too it. This is probably the “Ready to Die” of our generation.
Dunbest comment ever.
TBAP, to me (and seemingly critics and journalists everywhere) is just a whole ‘nother level of layered poetry.
KENDRICK BETTER WIN ALL THOSE NOMINATIONS, BECAUSE (if he doesn’t) IT’LL BE THE BIGGEST SNUB OF ALL TIME AND THE MOST-FLAGRANT MIDDLE FINGER TO BLACK CULTURE OF THE DECADE.
Thank you for your time.
Maybe the Grammys should create a “Best Mixtape Category”. WTF would you nominate a mixtape in the same category as albums. Just coz you decided to sell a mixtape to your fans it still doesnt make it an album. Its just a mixtape that was sold instead of giving your fans for free. Dum Ass Grammy. Anyway. GO KING KENDRICK AND COMPTON DRE AND J COLE FOREST DRIVE. Now those are the real albums in that nomination.
Kendrick never sounds good when he raps. Even as insightful as the music is, its hard to listen to. He will win. Run the Jewels album is he real winner!
congrats again to K DOT..but DSP by BIG SEAN was really overlooked….
TPAB needs to win ALBUM OF THE YEAR…
This clown will get the award for most overrated and gayest new rapper.
I don’t see Young Thug in this article.
2014 Forest Hills Drive – J. Cole Needs best rap album.
How the fuck is Pinkprint nominated for rap album of the year at the grammys? I expect shit like that from BET. Big Sean was more deserving.
Waaaaaaaaay More! ‘Dark Sky Paradise’ was a banger.
Big Krit has better mixtapes than any nomination in this list.
No Game, Lupe, or Run the Jewels? That’s some bullshit.
Would you consider adopting two seniors who have stumbled on hard times. We are very serious, NO joke.
“To Pimp a Butterfly”