The 2018 GRAMMY Nominations Are a Glorious Celebration of Black Artists

It's the moment that every music fan has been waiting for: the 2018 GRAMMY nominations are finally here! While the unveiling of the categories typically cause a stir, this year is a surprising but well-deserved display of all of the best talent in the industry—and a majority of them happen to be black.

Since the GRAMMYs' inception, there has notably been more artists who come from pop or country backgrounds that get recognized. And unfortunately, many other artists (who happen to be people of color) are often left in the dark. But the 2018 nods are a refreshing look at what both fans and critics have been enjoying over the past year, which is mainly hip-hop and R&B. Jay-Z leads the pack with a total of of eight nominations for his stellar 4:44 album, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year ("The Story of O.J.") and Song of the Year ("4:44"). Kendrick Lamar isn't too far behind his fellow rap god, scoring seven nods for one of the best albums of the year—DAMN. He got recognized for Album of the Year and Record of the Year for "Humble."