Kanye West: Unrobbed
By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 7, 2004 8:11PM
You know what's refreshing about Kanye West? His total lack of humility. Oh sure, if Chicagoist picked up ten Grammy nominations we might say something like "This is really a surprise. Especially for my debut album" or even "Thank you." But that is why we write pithy comments about events in the news and Kanye makes more money than Israel's got Jews (Happy Hanukkah to ya'll). Instead, Kanye described his nominations as "amazing," "nothing to complain about" and "like a perfect score" which indeed it would be if there were only ten noninations given instead of 107. No gospel album nomination though. Thanks for sparing us the controversy, Grammy-ers.
While it's unlikely that he'll get "robbed" again, the real concern for West is that he has nowhere to go but down. Witness Norah Jones: while one could not describe her Feels Like Home album as either an artistic or commerical failure, it didn't reach near the heights of her debut Come Away With Me and garnered only four nominations--two of which were for a duet with Dolly Parton and for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical--though Jones shares in nominations for her work on Ray Charles's album Genius Loves Company which picked up seven nominations.
Other Chicago artists picked up nominations as well...
Wilco was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Package (and we hear the ladies all agree). R. Kelly picked up one 
nomination in the Best Male R&B Vocal Performance category for the track "Happy People." We hear he was so happy he almost peed on someone. Twista scored two nominations for Best Rap Solo performance and Best Rap/Sung Collabo with Kanye and Jamie "Ray" Foxx for tracks off of his Kamikaze album. In the gospel category, Mavis Staples was nominated for her duet with Dr. John on his Lay My Burden Down. Finally, Pinetop Perkins brings it home in the Best Traditional Blues Album category with his latest release Ladies Man. One other Chicagoist note: Mrs. O'Leary's Cow also got a nod in the Best Rock Instrumental Performance though it will be former Beach Boy Brian Wilson collecting any awards as the track appears on his long-delayed Smile album.
In an effort to recover from the debacle that was Jethro Tull winning Best Heavy Metal Album several years back, the Grammys have made every effort to prove they’re no longer suffering from “old guy at the club” syndrome. And yet these corrective measures have only served to further recognize artists who achieve commercial success, not artistic success. Still, it’s hard to complain about a year that recognizes Green Day’s American Idiot and “Heaven” by Los Lonely Boys for top honors. Actually, it’s not that hard at all: Hoobastank? Maroon 5? And no Best Album of the Year nomination for Loretta Lynn’s album? WTF?
Check out the full list here and try to contain your excitement until the CBS broadcast on February 13th.
Images: Grammy.com