Eminem once again shut out of top Grammys
14th February 2010
Eminem lost his third try for Grammy's album of the year, despite generating 2010's biggest sales with his critically acclaimed Recovery (3.5 million copies). The often-controversial rapper was considered the favorite going into the night and received the most nominations (10). He wound up winning rap album for the fifth time and rap solo for Not Afraid.
Eminem won best rap album and best rap solo performance at Sunday's Grammys, but missed out on album of the year.
"I think Eminem is pretty happy with how everything else went in 2010, but it's pretty shocking that he didn't win," says James Montgomery, MTV News senior writer. "The Grammys are notoriously weird in selecting winners. But Eminem will ultimately be OK."
"His loss doesn't take away from the success he's had with Recovery," says Devin Lazerine, editor in chief of Rap-Up.com. "The 10 nominations alone is a major victory after his personal and professional bumps in the road."
The trophies that the Detroit rapper did win Sunday bring his career total to 13. Still, the most prestigious awards keep slipping away. He was up for album of the year in 2001 with The Marshall Mathers LP, but lost to Steely Dan's Two Against Nature, and again in 2003 when The Eminem Show lost to Norah Jones' Come Away with Me.
His Without Me also lost that year to Jones' Don't Know Why for record of the year. In 2004, his Lose Yourself lost song of the year to Luther Vandross'Dance With My Father and record to Coldplay's Clocks.
Eminem continued a recent trend among artists with the night's most nominations. Since 2005, Beyoncé— who last year won six out of a possible 10 trophies, including song of the year — is the only top nominee to win more than half the awards for which he or she was competing. John Legend, who won three of eight in 2006, including best new artist, is the only other one to win a major category.
The experts say Eminem's defeat doesn't necessarily reflect a best-album bias against hip-hop, despite losses in recent years by Kanye West and Lil Wayne: Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill won in 1999 and Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below won in 2004. Both say strong cases could be made for this year's other album nominees.
"At this point, saying that (the Grammys aren't) recognizing hip-hop, both as an art form and as a commercial force, is a ship that has sort of passed," Montgomery says.
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