When it comes to the Grammy Award winners 2013 list of hip-hop stars, some may wonder what happened. There were some big names among the nominees such as Nas, The Roots, Lupe Fiasco and Rick Ross, yet none of them claimed trophies for their latest work. There were also very few awards presented on stage during the actual televised show. Among those picking up Grammys on Sunday night for the genre were singer Frank Ocean and rappers Drake, Kanye West and Jay-Z.
A report on Feb. 11 from Denver Post discusses many of the winners and also noted that it was probably disappointing for fans of rap music to see Nas fail to win an award in any of the categories he was nominated for. The Post sums up the genre's winners saying:
"The biggest disappointment, at least to old-school hip-hop fans, was that Nas' failed to win in any of the four rap categories. The victors, who included Jay-Z and Drake, were all very deserving. Yet, it sure would've been nice to see Nas finally win his first Grammy Award."
Nas was nominated for his critically-acclaimed work "Life is Good," which was considered one of the best albums in hip-hop for 2012. While Nas did not win a Grammy, he was on stage during the night to present an award along with Destiny's Child singer Kelly Rowland.
In terms of newcomers in R&B or hip-hop, Frank Ocean was among the most-nominated of Grammy attendees at the show. While he failed to win the top prize of Album of the Year for "Channel Orange," he did take home the award for Best Urban Contemporary Album. Ocean was also part of those credited for the song "No Church in The Wild" which is by Jay-Z and Kanye West and also featured work by The-Dream. The song won the Best/Rap Sung Collaboration award. Jay and Kanye also won the prize for Best Rap Performance with ".....in Paris."
The Best Rap Album award went to Drake, although the actual handing out of the prize was not televised. Drake's "Take Care" bested albums from Nas, Lupe Fiasco, The Roots, Rick Ross and 2 Chainz. Drake was in the crowd for the televised ceremony which seemed to be short on rap performances and honoring of award winners in the genre.
The 2013 Grammy Awards show was televised locally on Roanoke's Cox Cable channel 7 for CBS affiliate station WDBJ. A full list of this year's nominees and winners can be seen at Grammy.com website.
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