The Grammy nominations were announced yesterday with the usual amount of manufactured drama and very little in the way of surprises. We have the usual players here, Dave Matthews Band, Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, and the hits just keep on coming. In my opinion, this is the most embarrassing list of nominees we’ve ever seen. Should I be surprised? Of course not. This is an industry that is bound and determined to make “Irrelevent” it’s mantra. When Black Eyed Peas are nominated for Album Of The Year, there is zero hope for a music industry. How many more Madonna/Britney/Lady GaGa’s does a person need? Where is the innovation? What happened to rewarding artists for creating something special, instead of rewarding people for a persona or for a bunch of beats strung together? I really feel there’s a huge undercurrent in recent years for rewarding a persons sales, rather than for doing something truly interesting like say a Girl Talk, or an Animal Collective or Grizzly Bear. Hell, we don’t even see them in the alternative nominees. It brought me a bit of hope that Kings of Leon, MGMT and Silversun Pickups were nominated, but for every one of these we see the same old retreads, Hall and Oates? Clapton/Winwood? (I like Hall and Oates as much as the next guy, but come on). Phoenix was nominated in the alternative category, so at least they got that right. In the end, these nominees do seem to get worse every year. With all the categories they have, it seems to me they could do a lot more to promote innovative artists. Why is it such a surprise that people have turned to the internet to find their music? It’s the only place where music fans have found outlets that “get it”. For all the griping about the indie blog infliuence, I thank God for it. If not for that, where would we find anything interesting to listen to? We’re certain not to find it on the Grammy broadcast, that’s for sure.

Song of the Year:

• Poker Face, Lady Gaga
• Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It), Beyonce
• Use Somebody, Kings of Leon
• You Belong with Me, Taylor Swift
• Pretty Wings, Maxwell

Record of the Year:

• Halo, Beyonce
• I Gotta Feeling, Black Eyed Peas
• Use Somebody, Kings of Leon
• Poker Face, Lady Gaga
• You Belong With Me, Taylor Swift

Album of the Year:

• I Am … Sasha Fierce, Beyonce
• The E.N.D., Black Eyed Peas
• The Fame, Lady Gaga

Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, Dave Matthews Band

• Fearless, Taylor Swift

more nominees under the cut…
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Eminem is releasing his first album since 2005′s Encore, and I’d say the majority of mainstream rap fans are looking forward to it – or at least curious. While I definitely got out of my listening-to-rap phase during high school, I still kick it to some Warren G, some old school Tupac, or even some of Dre’s Chronic 2001 every once in a while. Like any genre, there is some good to go along with the plenty of bad.

I still remember vividly the first time I heard of Eminem, seeing his first hit single My Name Is pop up on MTV while at my friend’s house. We watched with fascination at this guy who was making fun of just about everything and everyone, from President Clinton to Pamela Anderson. “What is this?” we wondered to ourselves, much similar to how we felt about South Park which debuted around the same time. Mainstream rap hasn’t been the same since. Eminem’s influence is undeniable – and really, so is his talent, whether you personally care for the guy’s music or not.

I don’t see myself rocking out to Eminem’s new album (unless it’s 1:30 AM and I am at a college bar), but I’m curious enough to check it out still – because while his single’s are generally fused with pop and silliness, the guy can rap and there are always some catchy, well-made songs on his albums.

What do you all think? Care? Don’t Care? Indifferent?

While it is impossible to find his music video without embedding disabled, you can check it out still over on YouTube.

I still vividly remember the first time that I saw the music video for Eminem’s My Name Is. I was a pretty young fellow and at my friend’s house playing some Goldeneye on Nintendo 64. After a few hours, we got bored and turned it off and flipped over to MTV, where they were premiering some new rap song by some new cat. We then proceeded to watch the video and we laughed all the way. At the time, it was fresh, it was funny, and it was catchy. It went on to become one of the biggest hits of 1999. His next album, The Marshall Mathers LP went on to break records, and his following two albums would be chart-toppers as well. Since 2004, when his last album Encore was released, he’s been pretty mum and declared he was taking an indefinite hiatus.

It was fine by me as I had grown out of my enjoyment of the man and had tired of his antics in the public eye. I passed through my rap and hip hop phase back in junior high, although I’ve never particularly enjoyed much outside of the likes of Dr. Dre and Tupac. I was a fan of much of Eminem’s work then, but generally found his radio play singles to be grating. Still, it is undeniable to recognize the man’s talent and that he helped reshape the rap world (for better or worse), large in part due to the help of his friend and mentor Dr. Dre (who he has collaborated with on many occasions in the past).

Now Eminem’s first single, which includes both Dr. Dre and the 50 Cent, from his upcoming album release Relapse has hit the net. You won’t ever see me jamming out to this music in the car. This isn’t my niche, but it’s causing a huge stir, so something like this is just begging to be commented on (but don’t worry, I won’t make a habit of talking about music such as this). This is what I call “bar music” (music I will inevitability hear playing on the jukebox when I go out) and I view it much differently than I view the music I would choose to listen to on my own.

I’m legitimately curious. First of all, what do you think of Eminem as an artist? Secondly, what do you think of the new single?

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