Nas- Magic 3 Discussion Thread

Ziggiy

Ziggiy

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bigdaddy88 said:
damn drake really :scust: smh, quality music just doesnt matter huh , shame
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1). The Best Rap Album Grammy generally goes either to the highest selling album or an artist that has managed to balance critical acclaim with at least platinum sales. In the 28 years that the Best Rap Album has been presented at the Grammys, the best selling album amongst the nominees has won TWENTY TIMES, including the year Nas won. So Nas would be joining a rare breed of individuals if he were to buck the trend, especially considering Kings Disease 3 hasn’t been certified Platinum or even Gold to match the extraordinary acclaim it received



2). When Nas won in 2021 the “secret” committee thing was still in effect, which probably helped Nas in this instance. Covid 19 also played a factor as it stopped more popular, higher selling artists from releasing albums. Which led to more underground style, independent rap albums being nominated (A welcome shift in my opinion). All 5 albums nominated were from Independent labels, which marks a first in Grammy history. Of those released, Nas was the biggest name and like I said earlier sold the most, so even though none of them earned a Billboard certification, Nas was still the big fish. When he was nominated again in 2022, it was business as usual. Even though he performed he still lost to Tyler The Creator. The best selling album of the nominees from a Major label.



3). This year the big albums that are expected to be nominated are Travis Scott’s Utopia and Drake & 21 Savage’s Her Loss. Though Kings Disease 3 was the highest acclaimed rap album of 2022 and both Utopia and Her Loss were considered artistic disappointments from critics, both albums almost quadrupled KD3 in sales. Her Loss may not win because academy members might not take to kindly to rewarding Drake, whose been publicly bad-mouthing the Grammys for the last three years AND had his last nomination publicly rescinded. Travis Scott’s Utopia however, has been a sales juggernaut, debuting with nearly 500K in sales and going platinum in only 5 weeks. Kings Disease 3 debuted at number 10 with 29K first week and then exited the Billboard 200 afterwards. The one and ONLY time a rap album with such a such a massive sales chasm managed to defeat the bigger selling one was in 2017 when Chance The Rapper’s Apple Music only streaming mixtape Coloring Book (38k first week) beat out Drake’s Views (1 Million first week) for Best Rap Album.





3). What Nas has going for him is the acclaim Kings Disease 3 received upon its release and the fact that this is one of Nas most visible eras and productive eras of his career. At 50 years old he released two excellent albums this year, that by themselves each could have been worthy of nominations. He was inducted into the Billboard Hall Of Fame. He was at the forefront of Hip Hop is 50 throughout the year, he was nominated for an Emmy for directing the Supreme Team Documentary, and he’s been on a sold out World Tour with fellow legendary group Wu-Tang Clan. Academy members may see an artist in a genre that has historically been referred to as a “young man’s game” completely turning that stereotype on its head and want to reward him for not only that, but also his entire run with Hit-Boy. But i’m not sure that narrative is enough to dismantle the categories history of simply name-checking the highest selling rapper’s album.

One other thing in Nas favor is the fact that Hit-Boy received a Producer Of The Year nomination, that indicates widespread support for his body of work over the past year and that work has primarily been with Nas. They dropped not 1, not 2, but THREE albums over the course of the eligibility period. So if voters really want to rally behind and award Hit-Boy then that support could help get KD3 votes in the rap category and IF Her Loss and Utopia cancel one another out then that could leave a chance for Nas or Killer Mike to pull an upset.

Keep in mind, this has NEVER happened before so Nas would literally be making history if he were to win this go round. Its a sliver of a sliver of a chance but there ya go. @Piff Perkins would probably tell everyone don’t hold your breath lol
 
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