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Listen Up — It's Grammy Nomination Season

Jay-Z. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP)
Jay-Z. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP)

The 2018 Grammy nominations are out. Rap and hip hop dominate. We talk about everything from classical to Albita’s Cuban big band sound to Jay-Z, who — with his album 4:44 — led all musicians with eight nominations.

This show airs Friday at 11 a.m. EST. 

Guests:

Dee Lockett, associate editor at Vulture. (@Dee_Lockett)

Felix Contreras, host of NPR’s Alt Latino. (@felixatjazz)

Mark Swed, classical music critic for the Los Angeles Times. (@markswed)

From Tom’s Reading List:

NPR: Grammy Nominations Announced: The ‘Despacito’ Story Continues — “The ‘Despacito’ phenomenon continues with this morning’s announcement of the 2018 Grammy nominations. However, while it was the original Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee version that won big at the Latin Grammys, it was the Justin Bieber remix that got nods this morning for record of the year, song of the year and best pop duo/group performance.”

Vulture: Jay-Z Reveals He And Beyonce Were Working On A Joint Album, But She Made Lemonade Instead— “Finally, the origin story of both Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Jay-Z’s 4:44 has been confirmed beyond the rumors.”

USA Today: The 2018 Grammy Nominations Deservedly Celebrate Artists Of Color — “Look at the 2018 Grammy nominations, and the statistics are clear. All five tracks nominated for record of the year came from artists of color, as did four out of the five nominees for album and song of the year.

Look further down the list and you see names like Lil Uzi Vert, SZA, Khalid, Logic, Migos and Cardi B — part of the new generation of artists of color, boosted to the top of the charts by streaming.”

Grammy nominations out this week.  For record of the year:  Redbone by Childish Gambino.  The Story of OJ by Jay-Z, HUMBLE. by Kendrick Lamar, 24K Magic by Bruno Mars, and – of course – Despacito by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee with Justin Bieber.  That may be your daily playlist.  It may not.  But there are a lot more categories.  Latin – like Albita.  Jazz.  Classical.  Up next On Point:  the whole world of Grammy nominations. —Tom Ashbrook

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.