Another year, another persistent worry that the Grammy Awards will once again fail to recognize boundary-pushing black performers.

The nominations are led by Kendrick Lamar, Drake and a crop of female artists — a promising shift after years of complaints about a lack of diversity at the music industry’s big night. However, nominations don’t necessarily turn into wins: Two years ago, Beyoncé was snubbed in the major categories; in 2018, Jay-Z received the most nominations of any artist and walked away empty-handed.

But at this year’s ceremony, which will take place Feb. 10, there is one category in which the Recording Academy has nominated a surprisingly sophisticated set of performers, all of whom are black: best music video. (In addition to the artist, this Grammy is awarded to the video’s director and producer.)

In the Grammy context, the music video category — No. 83 out of 84 on the official list — is generally an afterthought. It was instituted in 1984, the same year MTV inaugurated its Video Music Awards, just as the medium was becoming central to star-making. At this moment — when artists are as likely to develop their audiences on YouTube as on any audio-only platform, and in which expertise in self-presentation and self-promotion is mandatory — the category feels essential. The nominations recognize clips that shaped conversation as much as the songs they illustrate. Some of these videos are wholesale pieces of art in which the visuals and music are fundamentally inseparable; sometimes the importance of the video itself trumps that of the song.