The nominees for the 2018 Grammys were nominated, and I was pleasantly surprised by the diverse group of nominees.  At the same time, some work that I thought should have been nominated weren’t. Check out the biggest surprises and snubs of the 2018 Grammy nominees.

Surprise: Jay-Z Nominations in The Big 4

The Big 4 refers to the categories that reach all genres, include Record, Song and Album of The Year and Best New Artist. Of course, Jay could not be nominated for Best New Artist, but 4:44 is nominated for Album of The Year, “4:44” is nominated for Song of The Year, and “The Story of O.J.” is nominated for Record of The Year. While I wasn’t surprised that Jay was nominated in rap categories, and it wasn’t totally unexpected that he was nominated as Album of The Year, the Song and Record of The Year nomination threw me off. Usually these categories don’t have a lot of rap songs, but also, the fact that he was nominated for two different songs is pretty amazing. Usually, the song for the same artist overlaps in the two categories (example this year being “Despacito”). Very exciting that his most confessional and personal work in years was recognized in this matter.

Surprise: 6lack’s Nominations:

6lack is nominated this year in the Best Urban Contemporary Album for Free 6lack and for Best Rap/Sung Performance for “PRBLMS.” No offense at all to 6lack, but he is a highly acclaimed artist that just isn’t Grammy bait. While he doesn’t consider himself to be rapper, that fact that the Grammys also acknowledged this and nominated his album for Urban Contemporary Album instead of a rap album is a major step forward. Last year, Drake was upset for winning Best Rap Song for “Hotline Bling” which isn’t a rap song. These nominations show that the Grammys might be understanding the nuances of urban music and listening to less mainstream artists.

Surprise: Lorde’s Nomination For Album of The Year

It’s not surprising that Lorde is nominated for a Grammy, but its surprising that she is nominated for Album of The Year but no other award.  All other nominees in this category are nominated for something else, so its a bit confusing to celebrate an entire body of work in the highest category but no songs specifically.

Snub: Kehlani not being nominated for SweetSexySavage

I’m biased since this is probably my favorite album of the year, but I thought she would get a nomination for Urban Contemporary Album, especially since her mixtape was nominated two years ago.

Snub: DJ Khaled ft Rhianna and Bryson Tiller’s “Wild Thoughts” not nominated 

This was a pretty huge song from a big album so I’m pretty thrown off that it was not at least nominated for Best R&B Performance.

Snub: Calvin Harris not nominated for Funk Wav Theory Vol. 1 or “Slide”

I thought Funk Wav Theory Vol.1 was Calvin Harris’ best album to date with a lot of hit singles, so I’m surprised it wasn’t nominated in the Dance/Electronic category. Also I thought “Slide” would be nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.

Which Grammy nominations surprised you this year? Who do you think was snubbed?