Rappers Kendrick Lamar, Drake lead Grammy award nominations

LOS ANGELES: Rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake led Grammy Award nominations on Friday, with eight and seven nods, respectively.

Canadian artist Drake, the most-streamed artist of 2018, was nominated in the top category – album of the year – along with rappers Cardi B and Post Malone, R&B singer Janelle Monae, folk singer Brandi Carlile, country star Kacey Musgraves, newcomer H.E.R. and the “Black Panther” movie soundtrack, which Lamar produced.

Lamar, the first rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize for music, Drake, and Carlile also garnered nominations for record and song of the year.

Cardi B, Lady Gaga, Childish Gambino, and country star Maren Morris each had five nominations.

In the biggest snub, 10-time Grammy winner Taylor Swift was shut out of the major awards, getting just one in the pop vocal category for her best-selling album “Reputation.”

Lady Gaga’s nominatons came mostly from her single “Shallow” with Bradley Cooper from the movie “A Star is Born,” which won a Golden Globe nod on Thursday.

H.E.R. will also compete in the best new artist category, alongside Chloe x Halle, country singer Luke Combs, British pop star Dua Lipa, Greta Van Fleet, Margo Price, Bebe Rexha and

Jorja Smith.

The Grammy Awards, chosen by members of the Recording Academy, will be handed out at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Feb. 10.

Grammy organizers said in June they would expand to eight from five the number of nominees in the top four categories – record, song and album of the year, and best new artist – to allow a more diverse line-up.

The Recording Academy also expanded its membership and set up a task force on diversity after an uproar over the low numbers of female nominees, winners and performers on the televised ceremony in January.

Rock was absent from the top three categories in Thursday’s nominations. Hip hop and R&B surpassed rock for the first time in 2017 as the biggest music genre in the United States, according to a Nielsen Music report.