Rap is the culture. Perhaps the GRAMMYs are finally catching up.

The GRAMMYs are upon us; music’s biggest night. Whether or not the GRAMMYs get it right when it comes to hip-hop is hotly debated—we made our own GRAMMY predictions just in case—but looking at the ballot for Best New Artist, the institution seems on the money.

Per HITS Daily Double: “Post Malone was indeed ruled ineligible for Grammy consideration as Best New Artist, as we had earlier suggested he would be, but most of the artists who were thought to be front-runners made the entry list. Those include Luke Combs, Greta Van Fleet, H.E.R., Juice WRLD, Dua Lipa, Ella Mai, Marshmello and Troye Sivan… XXXTentacion was ruled ineligible.

“Other noteworthy artists who are not on the ballot for one reason or another include Anne-Marie, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, Ozuna, $UICIDEBOY$, 6LACK, Old Dominion, Morgan Wallen, MAX, Chris Lane, Vance Joy, LOCASH, Sofi Tukker, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Grey, 21 Savage, Lil Xan, Nipsey Hussle, Tee Grizzley, BlocBoy JB, Famous Dex and Soccer Mommy.

“Four artists whose names begin with "Lil" are on the ballot: Lil Baby, Lil Peep, Lil Pump, and Lil Skies. Only one "Lil" has ever been nominated in this category—Lil Uzi Vert last year.”

Breaking this down, we see there is potential for Juice WRLD, H.E.R., and Ella Mai to take home Best New Artist. We also have a historic crop of “Lil” artists gunning for the title. The exclusion of Post Malone, given his hugely successful commercial releases stretching back years, makes sense.

The exclusion of the late XXXTENTACION, whose alleged domestic abuse transgressions have been widely reported, also makes sense from both a commercial and moral standpoint. While we cannot assume the GRAMMYs took into consideration his charges, the optics of the situation are there nonetheless.

Best New Artist snubs are not a new thing for hip-hop fans. In 2018, the win of Alessia Cara over SZA concluded in an uproar on Twitter. Compared to past years, though, 2018 had the most hip-hop forward pool of nominees.

Rap is the culture. Perhaps the GRAMMYs are finally catching up.

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