What The 2025 Grammy Nominations Got Right (And Wrong) In Hip-Hop And R&B
The 2025 Grammy nominations were revealed on Friday morning (Nov. 8) and luckily for the Recording Academy, the outcome is only the second most controversial voting results this week. As with any award show announcement, there is space to debate the accuracy of the Recording Academy’s decisions.
“Today we celebrate the amazing creative achievements of our music community,” relayed Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, in a press statement. “It was an incredible year in music and these nominations reflect the work of a voting body that is more representative of the music community than ever before.”
Across Hip-Hop and R&B, industry standouts such as Doechii, GloRilla, and Kendrick Lamar are given recognition where others such as Tinashe and Megan Thee Stallion were left out of conversations despite having lauded releases eligible and submitted for trophies.
Take a look below for VIBE’s take on the Hip-Hop and R&B nominees, as voted for by the Recording Academy to contend at the 2025 Grammy Awards.
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What’s Missing From Best Rap Album?
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images The Recording Academy named the following projects as nominees for the 2025 Best Rap Album award: Might Delete Later by J. Cole, The Auditorium, Vol. 1 by Common & Pete Rock, Alligator Bites Never Heal by Doechii, The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce) by Eminem, and We Don’t Trust You” by Future & Metro Boomin.
The category notably excludes ScHoolboy Q’s Blue Lips, Rapsody’s Please Don’t Cry, and Doja Cat‘s Scarlet 2 Claude, all valiant efforts released in the Grammy Award eligibility period. They could all sub for J. Cole’s unremarkable offering where the most interesting moment (“7-Minute Drill”) was deleted or Eminem’s on-brand, stagnant concept album.
On the flip side, the nominations for both collaborative albums was a given. Future and Metro not only topped the charts, but their first of two releases cemented their undeniable chemistry and sparked the year’s biggest Hip-Hop moment, the ongoing feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. While Common and Pete Rock might not have experienced as much commercial success, the album showcases the beauty that comes as Hip-Hop ages, highlighting the artform’s heart and soul.
Doechii is a surprise nomination but not because she is not a worthy contender. She deserves the accolades for her first full-length under Top Dawg Entertainment. In it, the rising rap star also nominated for Best New Artist, proves she has plenty to say and an audience anticipating every word.
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Melodic Rap And Virality
Image Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Coachella Some of the biggest digital trends this year came in the form of melodic rap, however, not all saw the success payoff with Grammy nominations. Notably, Jordan Adetunji’s “Kehlani” featuring the R&B singer herself earned a space in the 2025 nominee class alongside Latto’s “Big Mama.” Others such as Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby,” Flo Milli’s “Never Lose Me,” and Don Toliver’s “Attitude” were left behind.
The Best Rap Song category, highlighting the lyricists, the production, the composition, and the pens, also acknowledged songs that happened to have big moments on and offline. Kendrick Lamar‘s industry-shifting “Not Like Us” is one of the rapper’s two nods in the category, also earning a chance at the trophy in “Like That” with Future and Metro Boomin.
Additionally, Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s “Carnival” and GloRilla’s “Yeah Glo!” have the chance to parlay TikToks and memes into critical acclaim. Also competing in both categories is Rapsody. Her songs might not have had as many viral moments as her competitors, but “Asteroid” produced by Hit-Boy (Rap Song) and “3:AM” featuring Erykah Badu (Melodic Rap) are worthy contenders with the potential to take home the gold.
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Did They Finally Get R&B Right?
Image Credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for iHeartRadio The categories strictly recognizing rhythm and blues are overflowing with talent. Blending rookies and veterans, R&B Performance, R&B Album, Best Traditional R&B Performance, Best R&B Song, and Best Progressive R&B Album include potential wins for Muni Long, Chris Brown, Tems, Durand Bernarr, Usher, Lalah Hathaway, Kenyon Dixon, Coco Jones, Kehlani, Lucky Daye, SZA, and more. With a year of strong releases in the eligibility period (Sept. 16, 2023, through Aug. 30, 2024), did the Recording Academy nail its selections?
Missing from this year’s final options are Victoria Monét, Leon Thomas (his single “Mutt” was released in time for eligibility but not the album), Ravyn Lenae, Bryson Tiller, and PartyNextDoor.
While VIBE R&B reporter Mya Abraham does not fully agree with all the nominations, she adds, “Overall, the categories are very stacked and I’m excited to see who will walk away with the win.”
Muni Long leads the genre, and is nominated in four of the five categories, only excluded from Best Progressive R&B album. Echoing her belief that she released “R&B album of the year,” she shared in August with HypeBae, “The definition of R&B has definitely shifted.”
Still, R&B’s biggest names are excluded from the Grammy’s “Big Four” with the nominees across all categories failing to break out.
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Complete Shutouts
Image Credit: Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET Despite releasing fan-favorite tracks, delivering viral moments, captivating visuals, and overall success, Tinashe, Nicki Minaj, and Megan Thee Stallion were all excluded from the 2025 Grammy Award nominations.
Per Music Data, Tinashe submitted “Nasty” for Record of the Year, Song Of The Year, Best R&B Song, Best Music Video, and Best R&B Performance with additional submissions “Match My Chic (Remix)” in Best Remixed Recording and Quantum Baby for Album of the Year, Best Progressive R&B Album, Best Engineered Album, non-classical. The California native came out empty-handed despite the “match my freak” movement sparking an online trend and taking over a large portion of the summer by keeping listeners on their feet.
Nicki Minaj’s grand Pink Friday 2 won’t be bringing any Grammy awards home to Gag City. Despite a chart-topping debut and the staying power of “FTCU” and “Everybody” featuring Lil Uzi Vert, the previously nominated rapper is completely excluded across the board.
Megan Thee Stallion also comes up short in this year’s nomination class. The Houston representative issued her self-titled album in time for Grammy nominations, however, the Academy skipped over the work for Album of the Year and Best Rap Album. Additionally, the stinging “Hiss” and bilingual “Mamushi” were both shut out of all rap categories.
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Outside Of Hip-Hop And R&B
Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Despite winning the first-ever Grammy for Best African Music Performance earlier this year, Tyla will not defend her trophy at the 2025 ceremony. In fact, the South African star Tyla did not earn any nominations for next year’s event. Last month, it was revealed that the 22-year-old would compete in pop categories, although she submitted her self-titled album to R&B.
The shift might be the reason she did not make the cut, with strong competition from chart-topping artists including Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Billie Eilish, Beyoncé, and, Chappell Roan. However, her exclusion in the African Music, Global, or general categories is surprising.
An album that did earn rightful nominations outside of Hip-Hop and R&B, however, comes in Beyoncé’s COWBOY CARTER, which earned Queen Bey nominations, including for Album of the Year, which she’s yet to be awarded, as well as nods in Pop, Americana, and Country. The mother of three is now also the most nominated artist in Grammy history, with 99 nominations throughout her career.
Additionally, Shaboozey was rightfully recognized across Country categories as he also competes for Best New Artist and Song of the Year in his first year nominated at all. Vybz Kartel snagged his first recognition from the Recording Academy, icing on the cake after he was released from prison earlier this year.