Zeus32
It was a night of firsts at the 61st Grammy Awards.
The 61st Grammy Awards occurred last night, and with it brought an evening filled with genuine speeches, memorable performances, and groundbreaking winners. While not everyone who was nominated could take home the proverbial gold-plated gilded gramophone, the ceremony represents an overall win for hip-hop, an overall win for music.
For the first time in history, a rap song claimed victory for “Song of The Year” with Childish Gambino’s pointed, intrepid indictment on the red, white, and blue, “This is America”. Revered for its unabashed dissection of American race relations and how those of power view the disenfranchised, the themes explored on “This is America” were brought to vivid light thanks to the metaphorical journey that is the Hiro Murai-directed video; the song also took home the hardware for “Best Music Video” and “Record of The Year”.
The night of firsts didn’t stop with Glover’s triumphant single and video–it continued fervently with one queen’s momentous victory. Stacked against some truly incredible hip-hop projects–like Mac Miller’s Swimming, Pusha T’s Daytona, and Nipsey Hussle’s Victory Lap–Cardi B managed to steal the “Best Rap Album of The Year” award with her debut release, Invasion of Privacy. Although this victory is met with some contention, mainly because the true “hip-hop heads” deemed Push’s effort the more-deserving winner, it’s a noteworthy conquest for Cardi B, and music at large, as it isn’t just her first Grammy win–it’s the first time that a woman has been crowned for this category. In a consequential year for women’s rights, saddled by the harrowing stories from the #MeToo movement, Cardi’s hardfought achievement represents women’s strides forward in the entertainment industry; but we’d be dense not to recognize how far we as society have to go.
Joining Childish and Cardi as winners are Drake for “Best Rap Song” with “God’s Plan”; Jay Rock, Kendrick, Future, and James Blake and Anderson .Paak for “Best Rap Performance” with “King’s Dead” and “Bubblin’”, respectively.
See the complete list of nominees and winners below:
Best R&B album
“Sex & Cigarettes,” Toni Braxton
“Good Thing,” Leon Bridges
“Honestly,” Lalah Hathaway
“H.E.R.” H.E.R. *WINNER
“Gumbo Unplugged (Live),” PJ Morton
Best country album
“Unapologetically,” Kelsea Ballerini
“Port Saint Joe,” Brothers Osborne
“Girl Going Nowhere,” Ashley McBryde
“Golden Hour,” Kacey Musgraves *WINNER
“Volume 2,” Chris Stapleton
Album of the year
“Invasion of Privacy,” Cardi B
“By the Way, I Forgive You,” Brandi Carlile
“Scorpion,” Drake
“H.E.R.,” H.E.R.
“Beerbongs & Bentleys,” Post Malone
“Dirty Computer,” Janelle Monae
“Golden Hour,” Kacey Musgraves *WINNER
“Black Panther: The Album,” Featuring Kendrick Lamar
Record of the year
“I Like It,” Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin
“The Joke,” Brandi Carlile
“This is America,” Childish Gambino *WINNER
“God’s Plan,” Drake
“Shallow,” Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper
“All The Stars,” Kendrick Lamar and SZA
“Rockstar,” Post Malone feat. 21 Savage
“The Middle,” Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey
Song of the year
“All The Stars,” Kendrick Duckworth, Mark Spears, Al Shuckburgh, Anthony Tiffith and Solana Rowe
“Boo’d Up,” Larrance Dopson, Joelle James, Ella Mai, and Dijon McFarlane
“God’s Plan,” Aubrey Graham, Daveon Jackson, Brock Korsan, Ron Latour, Matthew Samuels and Noah Shebib.
“In My Blood,” Teddy Geiger, Scott Harris, Shawn Mendes and Geoffrey Warburton
“The Joke,” Brandi Carlile, Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth and Tim Hanseroth
“The Middle,” Sarah Aarons, Jordan K. Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Marcus Lomax, Kyle Trewartha, Michael Trewartha and Anton Zaslavski
“Shallow,” Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt
“This Is America,” Donald Glover and Ludwig Göransson *WINNER
Best new artist
Chloe X Halle
Luke Combs
Greta Van Fleet
H.E.R.
Dua Lipa *WINNER
Margo Price
Bebe Rexha
Jorja Smith
Best pop solo performance
“Colors,” Beck
“Havana (Live),” Camila Cabello
“God Is A Woman,” Ariana Grande
“Joanne (Where Do You Think You’re Goin’?),” Lady Gaga *WINNER
“Better Now,” Post Malone
Best pop vocal album
“Camila,” Camila Cabello
“Meaning Of Life,” Kelly Clarkson
“Sweetener,” Ariana Grande *WINNER
“Shawn Mendes,” Shawn Mendes
“Beautiful Trauma,” P!nk
“Reputation,” Taylor Swift
Best pop duo/group performance
“Fall in Line,” Christina Aguilera featuring Demi Lovato
“Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” Backstreet Boys
“‘S Wonderful,” Tony Bennett & Diana Krall
“Shallow,” Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper *WINNER
“Girls Like You,” Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B
“Say Something,” Justin Timberlake featuring Chris Stapleton
“The Middle,” Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey
Best rap album
“Invasion Of Privacy,” Cardi B *WINNER
“Swimming,” Mac Miller
“Victory Lap,” Nipsey Hussle
“Daytona,” Pusha T
“Astroworld,” Travis Scott
Best rap song
“God’s Plan,” Aubrey Graham, Daveon Jackson, Brock Korsan, Ron LaTour, Matthew Samuels & Noah Shebib, songwriters (Drake) *WINNER
“King’s Dead,” Kendrick Duckworth, Samuel Gloade, James Litherland, Johnny McKinzie, Mark Spears, Travis Walton, Nayvadius Wilburn & Michael Williams II, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, Future & James Blake)
“Lucky You,” R. Fraser, G. Lucas, M. Mathers, M. Samuels & J. Sweet, songwriters (Eminem Featuring Joyner Lucas)
“Sicko Mode,” Khalif Brown, Rogét Chahayed, BryTavious Chambers, Mike Dean, Mirsad Dervic, Kevin Gomringer, Tim Gomringer, Aubrey Graham, John Edward Hawkins, Chauncey Hollis, Jacques Webster, Ozan Yildirim & Cydel Young, songwriters (Travis Scott, Drake, Big Hawk & Swae Lee)
“Win,” K. Duckworth, A. Hernandez, J. McKinzie, M. Samuels & C. Thompson, songwriters (Jay Rock)
Best country song
“Break Up In The End,” Jessie Jo Dillon, Chase McGill & Jon Nite, songwriters (Cole Swindell)
“Dear Hate,” Tom Douglas, David Hodges & Maren Morris, songwriters (Maren Morris Featuring Vince Gill)
“I Lived It,” Rhett Akins, Ross Copperman, Ashley Gorley & Ben Hayslip, songwriters (Blake Shelton)
“Space Cowboy,” Luke Laird, Shane McAnally & Kacey Musgraves, songwriters (Kacey Musgraves) *WINNER
“Tequila,” Nicolle Galyon, Jordan Reynolds & Dan Smyers, songwriters (Dan + Shay)
“When Someone Stops Loving You,” Hillary Lindsey, Chase McGill & Lori McKenna, songwriters (Little Big Town)
Best R&B performance
“Long As I Live,” Toni Braxton
“Summer,” The Carters
“Y O Y,” Lalah Hathaway
“Best Part,” H.E.R. featuring Daniel Caesar *WINNER
“First Began,” PJ Morton
