Tom Joyce, PopZette, November 28, 2017

On Tuesday, the list of artists up for Grammy Awards was officially announced — and rappers Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar received a combined 15 nominations. {snip}

Jay-Z, who has already snagged 21 Grammy awards, received nods in eight categories. He was nominated for Record of the Year for “The Story of O.J.” The title track of the album is about former NFL running back-turned-convict O.J. Simpson. The lyrics are not wholesome and have this anti-Semitic interlude: “You wanna know what’s more important than throwin’ away money at a strip club? Credit. You ever wonder why Jewish people own all the property in America? This how they did it.”

Plus, the chorus of the song consists of a list of different word combinations that include the N-word, such as this: “Light n****” and “dark n****.”

Past lyrics spewed by Jay-Z include gems like, “You ain’t no better because you don’t be fing rappers. You only f with actors. You’re still getting f***ed backwards.”

Meanwhile, Lamar received seven Grammy nominations — including one for Record of the Year for “Humble.” At one point in the title track, he raps, “Girl, I can buy yo’ a** the world with my paystub.” (The rest is unprintable here.)

Despite these kinds of lyrics, both artists tend to receive more than their fair share of praise. At times, that praise even came from former President Barack Obama.

Last year, on Friday, October 28, to be exact, Obama took time out of his busy White House schedule to call into “Sway in the Morning” on Sirius XM channel Shade 45 — to talk about rap music. The host, Sway Calloway, asked Obama to name his favorite rappers — and the president gave him a candid response.

“Kendrick [Lamar] and Chance [the Rapper] are doing amazing work,” said Obama. “I love Drake, and the girls love Drake, so he’s commercially just doing great and [is] unbelievably talented. Jay-Z is still the king, same with Kanye [West]. But when I look at who is breaking new ground, Kendrick and Chance are doing just amazing work and they’re wonderful young men.”

{snip}