Grammy nominees lean hip-hop, R&B

In this Oct. 13, 2017, file photo, Jay-Z performs at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, Texas. Jay-Z received eight Grammy nominations.
In this Oct. 13, 2017, file photo, Jay-Z performs at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, Texas. Jay-Z received eight Grammy nominations.

Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar are the top contenders for the 60th annual Grammy Awards, leading a crop of nominations that is heavy on hip-hop and R&B and has left some mainstream pop stars, including Ed Sheeran, shut out of major prizes.

Jay-Z got eight nods for his album 4:44, which mixed dark personal confessions with meditations about race; Lamar had seven for DAMN., a critical favorite and a smash on streaming services that also addressed racial politics and self-reflection. Bruno Mars had six nominations, and Childish Gambino, Khalid, SZA and No I.D. -- Jay-Z's producer -- each had five.

With all major awards shows under scrutiny for how they incorporate diversity, the Grammy nominations are striking, as minority artists dominate the ballot in nearly all of the most prestigious categories, including record, song and album of the year.

Contenders for record of the year include Jay-Z for "The Story of O.J."; Lamar for "HUMBLE."; Mars for "24K Magic"; Childish Gambino for "Redbone"; and the Latin pop phenomenon "Despacito," by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee with Justin Bieber.

For album of the year, Jay-Z and Lamar face Mars' 24K Magic, Childish Gambino's Awaken, My Love! and Lorde's Melodrama. Nods for song of the year went to the writers of "Despacito," Jay-Z's "4:44," Mars' "That's What I Like," Logic's "1-800-273-8255" and Julia Michaels' "Issues."

Notably absent is Sheeran, whose tropical-tinged song "Shape of You" has been one of this year's biggest hits. In 2016, Sheeran took home song of the year for "Thinking Out Loud," but this time his two nods are outside the top fields: "Shape of You" for pop solo performance; and Divide for pop vocal album.

The best new artist category includes the rapper Lil Uzi Vert, the singers Khalid and Alessia Cara, and two women, SZA and Michaels, who have developed successful songwriting credentials in addition to their own work as performers. Cara and Khalid are also the featured singers on Logic's "1-800-273-8255," whose title is the phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

The 60th annual awards will be broadcast from Madison Square Garden on Jan. 28, the first time the Grammys will have been held in New York in 15 years.

The nominations this year all but guarantee that a nonwhite performer will win at least one of the major awards, which would reflect the current pop market but has been far from a given at the Grammys. At the 2017 awards, for example, the awards were criticized when Adele beat Beyonce for all three top trophies.

Neil Portnow, chief executive of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, the organization behind the Grammys, called the mix of nominees "a really terrific reflection of the voting membership of the academy." Those voting members, who number around 13,000, are "professionals who listen objectively to music and make a judgment," he added.

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AP/Invision/AMY HARRIS

In this July 7, 2017, file photo, Kendrick Lamar performs during the Festival d'ete de Quebec in Quebec City, Canada. Lamar was nominated for seven Grammy nominations on Tuesday, Nov. 28.

A Section on 11/29/2017

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