The 59th annual Grammy's are almost here and nominations have been announced. Because of how much I love Hip-Hop, I have decided to talk about who may walk away with Best Rap Album. I will be discussing the albums and the artists who made them, but I will also be talking about who I believe has the best chance of winning. So, without further ado, here are the nominees for best rap album:
1. Chance the Rapper- Coloring Book
Chance is being recognized as the first independent artist to be nominated for a Grammy. Basically what that means is that he is representing himself and is not under a label. What I would like to say is that Chance is possibly the most unique artists in rap right now and he put in a lot of work to make The Coloring Book an album to remember. With songs like "No Problem", "Angels" and "Blessings", he gives us a new sound and a different look at the direction that Hip Hop could be heading in. He also has songs like "Mixtape" and "Summer Friends" where he reminisces about the early days on wanting to make mixtapes and also reminiscing about his times in South Side Chicago. Personally, he is my favorite to win the award for Best Rap Album this year, but I still believe that he may fall short to one of the other rappers on our list, who I will mention shortly.
2. De La Soul- And the Anonymous Nobody
Many people may not know about this rap group, but I will say that they are definitely considered one of the greatest rap groups of all time. I mostly remember them for their old school stuff like the hit song "Me, Myself, and I" and also that song they did with the Gorillaz called "Feel Good Inc.". It is apparent that they were amazing back in the day, but it is also great to see that they got a nomination this year. I don't know too much about the album they just released so I can't say that they may win a Grammy, but I respect this rap group and I think they deserve a lot of recognition. It is nice to see one of the old school rap groups still together and still going strong for these past few years. Congratulations to De La Soul.
3. DJ Khaled- Major Key
I respect Khaled for putting out a dope album, but I still don't understand how he got a nomination. I get that he put the whole album together, made the beats, and may have wrote some of the songs, but he didn't rap on any of them. I won't hate on him though. He did have some great features on these songs like Kendrick Lamar and Big Sean on "Holy Key", Drake on "For Free", J Cole on "Jermaine's Interlude", and even Nas on "Nas Album Done". All in all, this was a very well put together album by the infamous DJ Khaled, however, I feel it will not win over the other talented artists on this list.
4. Drake- Views
It's going to be very tough for me to be very biased here, but just bear with me. This was a very good album and Drake is a very talented artist. In fact, I do feel that he may win this year because he put a lot of hard work and dedication into this album. However, I don't feel that I can ever consider this a rap album. It feels more like a pop album then Rap. Yes, there are some songs like "Pop Style" and "Child's Play" that are fun to listen too. But where does Drake rap in songs like "One Dance", "Too Good", "Controlla", and even "Hotline Bling"? I only hear singing on these tracks. I won't hate on him too much though. Like I said, because of his popularity and mainstream success in the music industry, I do believe, that Drake will walk away with the Grammy this year for Rap album. I will be praying for Chance, but I don't know if he will beat out Drake.
5. Schoolboy Q- Blank Face LP
Schoolboy Q is a dope rapper and I am glad that he got the nomination. This album didn't have the same appeal that Oxymoron had a few years ago, but it was still a very interesting album to listen to and it's good to see him getting recognized for it. Some songs on this album include "Tookie Knows 2", "Groovy Tony/Eddie Kane", and the hit single "That Part" Featuring Kanye West. What was also cool about this album was that it was accompanied by a short film that was actually very cool to watch and you could see how the film played well with most of the songs on the album. I don't believe that Schoolboy's album got as much attention as Views or Coloring Book so I don't think that he will pull away with a victory, but still a dope album to listen to.
6. Kanye West- The Life of Pablo
This is the sleeper for Best Rap Album at the Grammy's in my opinion. This was in no way Kanye's best album, but it was still a good enough album to be nominated for a Grammy. In fact, I even believe it has a chance of winning seeing the Grammy's have always had love for Kanye. This was still in my eyes a remarkable album and had some solid songs like "Famous", "Fade", "Highlights" and my personal favorite "Ultralight Beam" which features Chance the Rapper. You can never really sleep on Kanye so the Grammy could go to him. But for the most part the top 3 choices that I see winning best rap album our Views, Coloring Book, and Life of Pablo. We will see what happens.
Albums that didn't make it: Danny Brown- Atrocity Exhibition, J Cole- 4 your eyez only, Logic- Bobby Tarantino, Pusha T- Circles
