From Flor-Rida to Q-Tip, Breaking Down the Grammy Nominations

The Grammy committee, that august institution who have proven time and time again that the don't know a damn thing about hip-hop, announced their selections for the 2010 Grammy Awards, set to take place in L.A. on January 31. Per usual hip-hop got no love in the major categories, and the committee's actual rap selections were almost laughable at times. I swear, every year I watch the Grammy's, get furious and vow to never watch again, and the get sucked back again the next year.

Anyway, Beyonce's really hip-hop/r&b's sole hope for taking home a Grammy in the major categories (Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year), although Taylor Swift will probably take home 17 Grammys under the "over-compensate for Kanye being a d-bag" clause. Anyway, things are looking pretty bleak on the main stage, so let's just skip to the stuff we really care about.

Best Rap Album
Common – Universal Mind Control
Eminem – Relapse
Flo Rida – R.O.O.T.S.
Mos Def – The Ecstatic
Q-Tip – The Renaissance
Reaction: The thing that makes me angry about the Grammys is that they seem to have no consistent criteria for their selections. Unlike the Oscars, who almost always ignore enormous commercial success, the Grammys seem to unpredictably fluctuate between artistic merit and sales without warning. How else do you explain the fact that Flo-Rida, whose album was terrible but sold well, is in the same category as Mos and Q-Tip, whose albums were creatively dope but sold poorly. F**k this category. Honestly, this is one of the weaker fields we've seen in a while, I don't know if we're talking about any of these albums ten years from now.

Best Rap Solo Performance
Drake – “Best I Ever Had”
Eminem – “Beautiful”
Jay-Z – “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)”
Kid Cudi – “Day ‘N’ Nite”
Mos Def – “Casa Bey”
Reaction: Not really sure why the Grammys are suddenly in love with Mos, but "Casa Bey" is a big enough song to take home the award, and the conservative Grammy committee isn't thgiving it to a track about weed or hot girls, so that just leaves Eminem and Jay. I say Jay-Z take it home.

Best Rap Song
Drake – “Best I Ever Had”
Kid Cudi – “Day ‘N’ Nite”
T.I. & Justin Timberlake – “Dead And Gone”
Jay-Z – “D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)”
Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West – “Run This Town”
Reaction: What's the difference between this category and "Best Rap Solo Performance" and "Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group"? Who f**king knows. One of these days the Grammys are going to make my head explode.

Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group
Beastie Boys & Nas – “Too Many Rappers”
Eminem, Dr. Dre & 50 Cent – “Crack A Bottle”
Fabolous & Jay-Z – “Money Goes, Honey Stay”
Kid Cudi, Kanye West & Common – “Make Her Say”
Kanye West & Young Jeezy – “Amazing”
Reaction: This is a real process of elimination year. They're not giving it to a song about blowjobs or drinking, so "Make Her Say" and "Crack a Bottle" are out, Kanye's still a pariah to mainstream America so "Amazing" is gone, and "Money Goes, Honey Stay" wasn't big enough. Looks like it's the Boys and Nas.

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
Beyoncé & Kanye West – “Ego”
Keri Hilson, Kanye West & Ne-Yo – “Knock You Down”
Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West – “Run This Town”
The Lonely Island & T-Pain – “I’m On A Boat”
T.I. & Justin Timberlake – “Dead And Gone”
Reaction: I can't decide if I love or hate the Grammys for including "I'm on a Boat". On the one hand it shows they have a sense of humor, on the other these awards are supposed to be serious, and some more deserving track got bumped for an SNL skit. Anyway, it's "Run This Town" in a landslide. Anything else will be a travesty.