Chance the Rapper and Social Experiment

Chance The Rapper Snatches 7 Grammy Nominations

By Editor Photography by Ray Fiasco

“Who gives a fuck about a goddamn Grammy!” – since Public Enemy made that statement on their ‘It Takes A Nation of Millions’ album, getting a Grammy nod has been nothing less than walking a tightrope between boycott and boasting. Whether you need award approval or not, whether you still believe Awards shows truly reflect the acclaim worthy albums of the year – every year we keep giving a fuck about those goddamn Grammy’s (and oh yeah those goddamn Brits).

So before we inflict ourselves to the annual disappointment when the winners sweeping the board still leave us wondering where’s the real justice in the world, we begin the next award season secretly hoping ‘the Grammy’s will do right this time?’ Till then, we’ll go through the pre-season buildup, bask in the nominations stacked and hope the frontrunner nominations match the real wins.

“He said let’s do a good ass job with Chance 3 / I hear you gotta sell it to snatch the Grammy “

So before we quit talking numbers, and doing the calculations, the biggest win of the nominations race undoubtedly has to be Chance the Rappers – who not only changed the game this year, by urging the Grammy’s to consider streaming only albums eligible, but did it all while staying independent and releasing a free album. Stacking up 7 nominations across ‘Coloring Book’ and his collaboration with Kanye on ‘Ultra Light Beams’, todays announcement is most definitely his moment to bask in an ultralight beam.

Beyoncé continues her ruling reign as the queen of Grammy nominations, with the most nominations for a female artist now totalling 62 nominations with her 2017 nods leading the pack at 9 nominations. Following up, Drake, Rihanna and Kanye are all neck and neck with 8 nominations in total, which come Awards day could be an interesting turn of events considering the makeups to breakups to makeups between them. Adele and Justin Bieber also secured the biggest category nominations securing 5 and 4 nominations, respectively.

Anderson .Paak secures 2 Grammy nominations as Best New Artist and Best Urban Contemporary Album, and despite nailing her first No.1 album and a critically acclaimed one at that, Solange receives just one but her first nomination in Best R&B Performance category. Of course notably Frank Ocean is missing instead choosing not to submit either album for consideration, and new artists grabbing their first nominations included D.R.A.M, Desiigner and Gallant.

The 59th annual Grammy Awards will be broadcast live from Los Angeles’ Staples Center on Feb. 12, 2017. See a selection of the 2017 Grammy’s nominations below.

Record of the Year
Adele – “Hello”
Beyoncé – “Formation”
Lukas Graham – “7 Years”
Rihanna – “Work”
Twenty One Pilots – “Stressed Out”

Song of the Year
Beyoncé – “Formation”
Adele – “Hello”
Mike Posner – “I Took a Pill in Ibiza”
Justin Bieber – “Love Yourself”
Lukas Graham – “7 Years”

Best New Artist
Chance the Rapper
The Chainsmokers
Anderson .Paak
Maren Morris
Kelsea Ballerini

Album Of The Year
Beyoncé – Lemonade
Justin Bieber – Purpose
Drake – Views
Adele – 25
Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth

Best Solo Pop Performance:
Adele – “Hello”
Beyoncé – “Hold Up”
Justin Bieber – “Love Yourself”
Kelly Clarkson – “Piece By Piece” (Idol Version)
Ariana Grande – “Dangerous Woman”

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance:
The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey – “Closer”
Lukas Graham – “7 Years”
Rihanna featuring Drake – “Work”
Sia featuring Sean Paul – “Cheap Thrills”
Twenty One Pilots – “Stressed Out”

Best Pop Vocal Album:
Adele – “25”
Justin Bieber – “Purpose”
Ariana Grande – “Dangerous Woman”
Demi Lovato – “Confident”
Sia – “This Is Acting”

Best Rap Performance
Chance the Rapper – “No Problem”
Desiigner – “Panda”
Drake f/ The Throne – “Pop Style”
Fat Joe & Remy Ma f/ French Montana & Infared – “All the Way Up”
ScHoolboy Q f/ Kanye West – “That Part”

Best Rap/Sung Performance
Beyoncé f/ Kendrick Lamar – “Freedom”
Drake – “Hotline Bling”
D.R.A.M. f/ Lil Yachty – “Broccoli”
Kanye West f/ Chance the Rapper, Kelly Price, Kirk Franklin, The Dream – “Ultralight Beam”
Kanye West f/ Rihanna – “Famous”

Best Rap Song
Fat Joe & Remy Ma f/ French Montana & Infared – “All the Way Up”
Kanye West – “Famous”
Drake – “Hotline Bling”
Chance the Rapper – “No Problem”
Kanye West – “Ultralight Beam”

Best Rap Album
Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
De La Soul – And the Anonymous Nobody
DJ Khaled – Major Key
Drake – Views
ScHoolboy Q – Blank Face LP
Kanye West – The Life of Pablo

Best R&B Performance:
BJ the Chicago Kid – “Turnin’ Me Up”
Ro James – “Permission”
Musiq Soulchild – “I Do”
Rihanna – “Needed Me”
Solange – “Crans In the Sky”

Best Urban Contemporary Album:
Beyoncé – “Lemonade”
Gallant – “Ology”
KING – “We Are King”
Anderson .Paak – “Malibu”
Rihanna – “Anti”

Best Music Video:
Beyoncé – “Formation”
Leon Bridges – “River”
Coldplay – “Up&Up”
Jamie xx – “Gosh”
OK Go – “Upside Down & Inside Out”

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