Hip-Hop Shut Out of Best New Artist Nominations for 2019 Grammy Awards
Rising rap superstars like Juice Wrld and 6ix9ine, among others, have been shut out of the Best New Artist category for the 2019 Grammy Awards.
Today (Dec. 7), singers Shawn Mendes, Janelle Monáe, Alessia Cara and Apple Music's Zane Lowe revealed the nominees for Best New Artist as well as other top Grammy categories including record of the year, album of the year, song of the year on CBS This Morning. The nominees were revealed, but none of today's newest, chart-topping rappers made the list.
Instead, R&B and pop singers Chloe x Halle, H.E.R., Jorja Smith, Dua Lipa, Bebe Rexha and more were nominated. The Academy seemingly left out artists like Juice Wrld, who dropped his debut album, Goodbye & Good Riddance, via Grade A Productions/Interscope Records back in May. Since then, the album's lead single, "Lucid Dreams," scored a No. 2 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart and has garnered more than 380 million streams on Spotify. The song has sat in the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 for about six months this year. His two other songs from the album, “All Girls Are the Same” and “Lean Wit Me,” also entered the Hot 100 in 2018. As for the album, the project has also sat in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart for more than six months.
Also missing from the Best New Artist category is troubled rapper 6ix9ine, whose Dummy Boy album may hit the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart due to a discrepancy in processing chart data. Many of his songs, including "Fefe" featuring Nicki Minaj, hit the Billboard Hot 100 this year. If the rapper would've been nominated, it would've been hard for him to attend the show considering he's currently sitting behind bars.
At the moment, he's facing more legal issues and new threats from gangs in jail as he awaits his upcoming trial, which is set to go down in September 2019.
Do you think Juice Wrld or 6ix9ine
See Every Hip-Hop Song That Topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2018