GRAMMY WATCH – Rap Music Categories: My Picks and Predictions

Here are my picks and predictions for the Rap music categories for The 58th Annual Grammy Awards.

Best Rap Performance
• Apparently
      J. Cole
      Track from: 2014 Forest Hills Drive
      [Roc Nation/Columbia Records]

• Back To Back
      Drake
      [Cash Money Records]

• Trap Queen
      Fetty Wap
      Track from: Fetty Wap
      [300 Entertainment/RGF Productions]

• Alright
      Kendrick Lamar
      Track from: To Pimp A Butterfly
      [Top Dawg Entertainment/Aftermath Records/Interscope Records]

• Truffle Butter
      Nicki Minaj Featuring Drake & Lil Wayne
      Track from: The Pinkprint
      [Young Money/Cash Money]

• All Day
      Kanye West Featuring Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom & Paul McCartney
      [Def Jam Recordings]

My Pick: TRAP QUEEN (Don’t Judge me.)

My Prediction: ALRIGHT – I am just going to say, I don’t know what all the fuss is… his use of the “N” word is 50% of the lyrics.  I just don’t get it.  That being said – this is a Record of the Year nominee, so it only makes sense for him to get the win here.

~

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
• One Man Can Change The World
      Big Sean Featuring Kanye West & John Legend
      Track from: Dark Sky Paradise
      [Universal/Def Jam]

• Glory
      Common & John Legend
      [Def Jam Recordings]

• Classic Man
      Jidenna Featuring Roman GianArthur
      [Epic Records]

• These Walls
      Kendrick Lamar Featuring Bilal, Anna Wise & Thundercat
      Track from: To Pimp A Butterfly
      [Top Dawg Entertainment/Aftermath Records/Interscope Records]

• Only
      Nicki Minaj Featuring Drake, Lil Wayne & Chris Brown
      Track from: The Pinkprint
      [Young Money/Cash Money]

My Pick and Prediction: GLORY (Lord, PLEASE let it win and Thank God for this Song in this category.)

~

Best Rap Song
• All Day
      Ernest Brown, Tyler Bryant, Sean Combs, Mike Dean, Rennard East, Noah Goldstein, Malik Yusef Jones, Karim Kharbouch, Allan Kyariga, Kendrick Lamar, Paul McCartney, Victor Mensah, Charles Njapa, Che Pope, Patrick Reynolds, Allen Ritter, Kanye West, Mario Winans & Cydel Young, songwriters (Kanye West Featuring Theophilus London, Allan Kingdom & Paul McCartney)
      [Def Jam Recordings; Publisher(s): Please Gimme My Publishing/EMI Blackwood Music Inc./MPL Communications Inc./TYLER BRANT PUBLISHING/WB Music Corp./ Hard Working Black Folks Inc./Top Dawg Music/Excuse My French Music/EMI Blackwood Music Inc./Monarch Music/Abou Thiam Publishing/Victor Kwesi Mensah Publishing Designee/ALLEN KYARIGA/EMI Blackwood Music o/b/o Papa George Publishing/Kaya and Ethan Music/Primary Wave Brian/Noah Goldstein admin. by Reach Music Publishing/Ritter Boy LLC/Mario Winans Publishing Designee/Broken Locks/Songs of Universal Inc./Jabriel Iz Myne /Universal Music/Patrick Reynolds Publishing Designee/Smooth Thug Music/Noel Ellis Publishing Designee/Justin Combs Music Publishing administered by EMI April Music]

• Alright
      Kendrick Duckworth, Mark Anthony Spears & Pharrell Williams, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar)
      Track from: To Pimp A Butterfly
      [TDE/Aftermath/Interscope; Publisher(s): WB Music Corp., TDE Music, Hard Working Black Folks Publishing, EMI Music Inc., More Water From Nazareth, Sounwave TDE Productions, SonyATV]

• Energy
      Richard Dorfmeister, A. Graham, Markus Kienzl, M. O'Brien, M. Samuels & Phillip Thomas, songwriters (Drake)
      Track from: If You're Reading This It's Too Late
      [Young Money/Cash Money; Publisher(s): Sandra Gale/EMI Music Publishing, 1damentional publishing LLC/Sony/ATV Tunes, LLC, Matthew O'Brien/otek north/WB Music Corp./Jack Russell Music Ltd./Notting Hill Music Ltd.]

• Glory
      Lonnie Lynn, Che Smith & John Stephens, songwriters (Common & John Legend)
      Track from: Selma (Music From The Motion Picture)
      [Universal/Def Jam; Publisher(s): Paramount Pictures/Pathe Productions Limited]

• Trap Queen
      Tony Fadd & Willie J. Maxwell, songwriters (Fetty Wap)
      Track from: Fetty Wap
      [300 Entertainment/RGF Productions; Publisher(s): RGF Publishing, Zoovier, BMG Gold Songs, Tony Fadd Beats]

My Pick and Prediction: GLORY – see above category comments…lol.

~

Best Rap Album
• 2014 Forest Hills Drive
      J. Cole
      [Roc Nation/Columbia Records]

• Compton
      Dr. Dre
      [Aftermath/Interscope]

• If You're Reading This It's Too Late
      Drake
      [Cash Money/Young Money]

• To Pimp A Butterfly
      Kendrick Lamar
      [Aftermath/Interscope]

• The Pinkprint
      Nicki Minaj
      [Young Money/Cash Money]

My Pick: THE PINKPRINT – Just because the Rap field is such a man’s world – it’s time for a woman to get the big one here, but it’s just not going to happen, I feel… and here is why…

My Prediction: TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY – Again, Lamar is in the top General field in Album of the Year, so it only would figure he would get the prize here. Not my personal favorite this year, but hey 11 nominations is nothing to scoff at. He is bound to win something.

THE 58^TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS will be telecast live on CBS, Monday February 15, 2016 at 8PM/EST – PM/PST.  For everything GRAMMY, including a Full List of this year’s Nominees visit their website at http://www.grammy.com/

Check us out on YouTube – Please Subscribe (It’s Free!)
http://www.youtube.com/cassone2007
Check out Antonio Cassone’s Author Page on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003OC3MME
Thank YOU!