Move it on over, Usher, and take your killer abs with you. Hip-hop newcomer Kanye West, who produced songs for such rap heavyweights as Jay-Z and Ludacris before grabbing a mike and taking center stage himself, has just become the hottest story in the music biz.
West, whose debut album, "The College Dropout," mixes humor, intricate beats and inspired hooks, and mostly forgoes rap's penchant for bang-bang theatrics, scored a whopping 10 nominations yesterday for the 47th annual Grammy Awards. The ceremony will be held Feb. 13 in Los Angeles.
Kanye West became a breakout hip-hop star with his debut album, "The College Dropout," nominated for the top prize.
(Eric Jamison -- AP)
|
|
As well as being nominated for best new artist, the 27-year-old will also compete for the biggest award of all: album of the year. "The College Dropout" will go up against Green Day's pop-punk opera "American Idiot," Ray Charles's posthumous duets collection "Genius Loves Company," Alicia Keys's soulful "The Diary of Alicia Keys" and Usher's bump-and-grinder "Confessions," by far the biggest-selling album of the year with more than 7 million sold.
West's total is just two away from the all-time record: Both Michael Jackson (1983) and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds (1996) scored 12 nominations.
"I think there was surprise that [West] was the nominations leader, but there wasn't surprise that he was nominated," says Daryl P. Friedman, a National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences vice president. "This was a breakout year for Kanye."
Keys -- who took home five awards at the 2001 Grammys when she was a newbie like West -- and Usher tied this year for the second most nominations with eight. Their chart-topping duet "My Boo" will compete for best R&B song.
Unlike other music awards shows that base nominations on album sales, the Grammys pride themselves on being a peer-based system, with members of the academy voting for favorites -- and usually a few legends, too. "Genius Loves Company," for example, is a lukewarm collection. Nevertheless, Charles, who died in June, garnered seven nominations.
Other warm-and-fuzzy stories? At age 69, Nashville icon Loretta Lynn, whose album "Van Lear Rose" will no doubt boot-scoot its way onto myriad year-end best-of lists, garnered five nominations, including best country album. And oft-troubled Beach Boy Brian Wilson, whose once-aborted, just-released "Smile" was essentially 37 years in the making, is up for best pop vocal album.
If there's a legend who has good reason to gripe, it's Prince. Although His Royal Badness scored five nominations, including best R&B album, for the supremely funky -- and thankfully not too nutty -- "Musicology," he won't find his name in the top general categories.
Jay-Z might be a little ticked off, too. He was nominated for three awards, including best rap album, but many had been speculating before the announcements that his "Black Album" would be recognized as an album-of-the-year contender.
The D.C. area will be represented at the Grammys by Richard Smallwood, whose "Praise & Worship Songs" is nominated for best traditional soul/gospel album, and Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, whose "cELLAbration! A Tribute to Ella Jenkins" is up for best musical album for children. This is Fink and Marxer's 10th nomination.
The buzz among Grammy officials yesterday was about this year's eclectic pop music pairings. "Only at the Grammys could Ray Charles be up against Green Day," Friedman said.
Green Day, which received six nominations, and Charles will also battle for record of the year. (A quick primer: Record of the year is awarded to a song's performer, producers and engineers; song of the year is awarded to songwriters only.) The title track from "American Idiot" and "Here We Go Again," a duet between Charles and Norah Jones -- nominated for six awards on her own -- will fight it out with Usher's crunk-juiced "Yeah!," Los Lonely Boys' roots-rocking "Heaven" and Black Eyed Peas' truly annoying "Let's Get It Started."
(Curious footnote: "Let's Get It Started" was originally called "Let's Get Retarded" before the NBA co-opted and cleaned up the tune to use in TV ads promoting the league.)
An even more eclectic mix -- and a good sign for the future of pop music -- is the field for best new artist: Along with West, it's "Texican rock-and-rollers" Los Lonely Boys, alt-pop brooders Maroon 5, teenage British soul singer Joss Stone and country phenom Gretchen "Redneck Woman" Wilson, whose Tanya Tucker-inspired debut, "Here for the Party," is up for best country album.
Per usual, the selections for best alternative music album are some of the best albums of the year, genre be darned: Bjork's "Medulla," Franz Ferdinand's self-titled CD, PJ Harvey's "Uh Huh Her," Modest Mouse's "Good News for People Who Love Bad News" and Wilco's "A Ghost Is Born."
Although West's success could signal a softer, gentler phase in the rap world, look for another vital trend that might come out of the 47th Grammy Awards: the return of hair metal!
That's right: Velvet Revolver, the hirsute merging of Guns N' Roses and Stone Temple Pilots, is nominated for best rock song ("Fall to Pieces") and best rock album ("Contraband").
Of course Velvet Revolver will have to beat out discs from such other swaggering tough guys as Hoobastank, Green Day, the Killers and Elvis Costello.
Wait: Elvis Costello?
Only at the Grammys, indeed.
