Hip-Hop and R&B Grammys
Best R&B Performance
Nominees: “Drunk in Love” – Beyoncé featuring Jay Z, “New Flame” – Chris Brown featuring Usher & Rick Ross, “It’s Your World” – Jennifer Hudson featuring R. Kelly, “Like This” – Ledisi, “Good Kisser” – Usher
Al Manarino: Beyoncé wins in a landslide. Does that really need any further explanation?
Bill Bodkin: Bey all the way.
Best R&B Song
Nominees: “Drunk in Love” – Beyonce f./Jay Z (Shawn Carter, Rasool Diaz, Noel Fisher, Jerome Harmon, Beyoncé Knowles, Timothy Mosely, Andre Eric Proctor & Brian Soko, songwriters)
“Good Kisser” – Usher (Ronald “Flip” Colson, Warren “Oak” Felder, Usher Raymond IV, Jameel Roberts, Terry “Tru” Sneed & Andrew “Pop” Wansel, songwriters)
“New Flame” – Chris Brown f./Usher, Rick Ross (Eric Bellinger, Chris Brown, James Chambers, Malissa Hunter, Justin Booth Johnson, Mark Pitts, Usher Raymond IV, William Roberts, Maurice “Verse” Simmonds & Keith Thomas, songwriters)
“Options (Wolfjames Version)” – Luke James f./ Rick Ross (Dominic Gordon, Brandon Hesson & Jamaica “Kahn-Cept” Smith, songwriters)
“The Worst” – Jhene Aiko (Jhené Aiko Chilombo, Mac Robinson & Brian Warfield, songwriter)
Bill Bodkin: Gut feeling – Jhene Akio takes it.
Best R&B Album
Nominees: Islander – Bernhoft, Lift Your Spirit – Aloe Blacc, Love, Marriage & Divorce – Toni Braxton & Babyface, Black Radio 2 – Robert Glasper Experiment, Give The People What They Want – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Bill Bodkin: Sharon Jones’ record was amazing and deserves it. Also her story, beating cancer and all, is deserved of a Grammy.
Best Rap Performance
Nominees: “3005” – Childish Gambino, “i” – Kendrick Lamar, “0 to 100 / The Catch Up” – Drake, “Rap God” – Eminem, “All I Need Is You” – Lecrae
Al Mannarino: In a just world Eminem would win for ‘Rap God.’ That song is insane and although it was not necessarily radio friendly, it was an impressive and exhilarating rap that deserves to win every award possible. Personally I would like to see Childish Gambino pick up a win. ‘3005’ is doing well on the radio and he is a fantastic musician, but I think Kendrick might have it locked down with his popular track “i.”
Bill Bodkin: Remember how Kendrick lost to Macklemore? This year the Grammys over-compensate and Kendrick takes all the gold.
Best Rap Song
Nominees: “Anaconda” – Nicki Minaj (Ernest Clark, Jamal Jones, Onika Maraj, Marcos Palacios & Jonathan Solone-Myvett, songwriters)
“Bound 2” – Kanye West featuring Charlie Wilson (Mike Dean, Malik Jones, Che Pope, Elon Rutberg, Sakiya Sandifer, John Stephens, Kanye West, Charlie Wilson & Cydel Young, songwriters)
“i” – Kendrick Lamar (Kendrick Duckworth & Columbus Smith III, songwriters)
“We Dem Boyz” – Wiz Khalifa (Noel Fisher & Cameron Thomaz, songwriters)
“0 to 100 / The Catch Up” – Drake (A. Feeney, Aubrey Graham, A. Hernandez, P. Jefferies, Matthew Samuels & Noah Shebib, songwriters)
Al Mannarino: Please for the love of god don’t let Nicki Minaj win for ‘Anaconda.’ Besides it being a terrible song, there is no reason it should beat out ‘Bound 2’ or ‘I.”
Bill Bodkin: See my theory on Lamar, Kendrick.
Best Rap Album
Nominees: The New Classic – Iggy Azalea, Because the Internet – Childish Gambino, Nobody’s Smiling – Common, The Marshall Mathers LP 2 – Eminem, Oxymoron – ScHoolboy Q, Blacc Hollywood – Wiz Khalifa
Al Mannarino: I really don’t want to see Iggy win this category. Nothing against her, but her album was nowhere near as great as The Marshall Mather LP2 or as creative as Because The Internet.
Bill Bodkin: I-GG-Y won’t win, because the Grammys felt the flack from Macklemore last year. Eminem should take this one home.
[php] wp_link_pages(array(‘before’=>’
‘)); [/php]
============================================================================================================================================
