Grammy Awards

The 2025 Grammy Nominations were announced Friday and as expected, Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" is being considered for some of the biggest honors!!!

Kendrick's monster diss record against Drake raked in 5 nominations ... Song and Record of The Year, Best Rap Song and Performance, and Best Music Video -- the last nom being a double win for K. Dot.

He co-directed the visual with Dave Free!!!

It's no surprise Kendrick is set to headline next year's Super Bowl halftime show ... "Not Like Us" is the No. 1 song on Billboard's Hot Rap Songs chart with 21 weeks at the top ... in addition to debuting on top of the Hot 100.

It's wild to think Kendrick could go down in history for calling Drake a pedophile on digital wax -- but, if you remember, we caught up with Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. right after the song took off and he had a hunch Grammy voters would be leaning toward it.

The Grammys go down Sunday, Feb. 2 in L.A. -- a week before Kendrick takes the Super Bowl stage.

The 2025 Grammy nominations gave props where they're due, but also had some jaw-dropping snubs -- including of Ariana Grande.

The singer's seventh album, "Eternal Sunshine," got the cold shoulder in the Album of the Year category -- a major miss that kinda steals the spotlight from her 3 other noms. But, with all the "Wicked" movie buzz this year, she was probably too busy to go full throttle on promo, so that might’ve played a part.

It wasn’t just Ariana -- Dua Lipa, a Grammy darling since her 2019 Best New Artist win, also didn’t snag a single nomination for her album, "Radical Optimism."

J. Cole's work effort is being vindicated after taking a lot of lumps from the hip hop community after releasing his recent album "Might Delete Later" ... it's nominated for Best Rap Album at the Grammys!!!

Friday, the stage was set for Cole to face off against the category leader Eminem, as well as Common and Pete Rock, Kendrick Lamar's top pick Doechii, and Future and Metro Boomin's trouble-causing "We Don't Trust You."

Cole released the album in April but soon shied away from promoting the album after removing the "7-Minute Drill" diss track aimed at Kendrick Lamar ... and apologized for its lameness at his Dreamville Festival in May.

Beyoncé's country crossover has really paid off -- she’s finally getting some award season love for "Cowboy Carter" ... 'cause she's infiltrated some major country categories in the 2025 Grammys!

After Queen Bey's massive award season snubs earlier this year, she’s just bagged a whopping 11 Grammy nominations, making her officially the most-nominated artist this year -- and of all time.  Among the big nods -- Best Country Performance for "16 Carriages," Song of the Year for "Texas Hold 'Em," ... and, most impressively, Album of the Year.

Beyoncé's "Tyrant" didn't quite make the cut for Best R&B Song this year, marking her only submission that didn't earn a nomination. But with all her others, it’s safe to say it's a pretty spectacular Grammy season for her -- with all the country love a long time coming.

Taylor Swift has made history with her latest Grammy nomination ... becoming the first female artist to be nominated for Album of the Year 7 times.

The pop star was previously tied with music legend Barbra Streisand for the honor ... as they both previously achieved 6 nominations in the top Grammys category.

However, with the release and critical success of her 11th studio album, "The Tortured Poets Department," Swift nudged past Streisand.

Tommy Richman's "Million Dollar Baby" is centered in hip hop controversy yet again for being considered for Best Rap Grammys ... but DJ Hed and Gina Views don't think he has a chance of winning, to begin with!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with the "Effective Immediately" hosts at SiriusXM and immediately got their thoughts on the recent rumblings of Tommy's blockbuster smash hit potentially being labeled as rap when the Grammy nominations are announced in November.

Hed and Tommy went back and forth on social media a couple weeks ago after Tommy himself deflected from being labeled hip hop in general ... before adjusting his statement after Hed cut him from the station's rap rotation list.

Beyoncé’s "Cowboy Carter" album may not have wrangled much award season glory yet, but she could be gearing up for a Grammy showdown -- rumor has it the album's been submitted for a major category at next year’s ceremony.

The Recording Academy's screening committee met last week to decide which albums and songs will compete at the February 2nd awards at L.A.'s Crypto.com Arena -- and Beyoncé's country album emerged as a favorite ... and is set to appear on the ballots for the Best Country Album category, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

They also reportedly crowned Sabrina Carpenter as the frontrunner for Best New Artist, ready to saddle up against other possible contenders like Chappell Roan, Shaboozey, Benson Boone, Teddy Swims, and Megan Moroney.

Flau'jae Johnson isn't interested in being called an athlete who raps ... the LSU national champion and artist behind the hit track with Lil' Wayne says her goals are far loftier -- as in Adele collaborations and Grammy Award wins!

TMZ Sports talked to 20-year-old Flau'jae just days after she dropped the music video for "Came Out A Beast" -- which already has over a million views -- and asked #4 if she believed she was the best athlete rapper.

"I don't know. I'm not them. That's not my title because I'm really taking this seriously. Like I'm trying to perform arenas. I'm trying to tour. I'm trying to be a real established artist. I want to win a Grammy."

50 Cent says his appearance at the 2022 Super Bowl Halftime Show almost didn't happen ... suggesting it was because Jay-Z tried turning his company Roc Nation into Block Nation.

In his new cover story with The Hollywood Reporter ... 50 claims Roc Nation attempted to keep him off the Emmy Award-winning spectacle alongside Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar.

In fact, 50 says Em turned renegade and threatened to remove himself if 50 got banned ... "Eminem wouldn’t do it without me," he recalled to the outlet.

Killer Mike's legal troubles are behind him ... 'cause TMZ has learned he's officially off the hook for his pre-Grammys arrest, as long as he keeps his nose clean.

Prosecutors in the L.A. City Attorney's Office tell us they will not be filing charges against Mike for his confrontation with an event security guard, back in February, which led to his citizen's arrest.

We're told he successfully completed his city attorney hearing ... after which he agreed to do some community service with a non-profit organization of his choice.

Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" is one of the hottest tracks on the planet, and Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. says a diss track winning a Grammy might not be conventional ... but now it's definitely possible!

TMZ Hip Hop spoke with the Grammy czar Monday at LAX, where he told us he's been feeling the cultural avalanche of "Not Like Us," just like everyone else is.

K. Dot shot the music video in Compton over the weekend, and its release will inevitably breathe new life into the song -- which, while being extremely danceable, is still primarily, a huge shot at Drake.

Carol Burnett's a living legend who's going to live on forever ... 'cause she got the cement treatment at TCL Chinese Theater while some of Hollywood's biggest stars looked on.

The actress-comedian dipped her hands and feet into wet cement outside the Hollywood landmark Thursday ... an honor only bestowed upon H'wood's brightest stars -- and, ya gotta see everyone who attended.

Of course, there's Carol -- who looks great for 91 BTW -- with her hands down in the muck, big grin on her face, but also in attendance are Bob Odenkirk, Laura Dern, Allison Janney, Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, and one of the few people perhaps more famous than even Burnett ... Dick Van Dyke.

Elton John didn't feel "Hakuna Matata" while working on the "Lion King" ... 'cause one of the movie's stars says he had serious gripes about some of the flick's original choices.

Nathan Lane -- the Broadway star and voice of Timon in the hit 1994 flick -- spoke with Entertainment Weekly for an interview published Friday ... where he revealed the Academy Award-winning song "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" was originally supposed to be sung entirely by his character and Ernie Sabella's Pumbaa.

The way Lane explains it ... when Elton found out he voiced his displeasure, saying he wrote the song because he wanted to have an epic Disney love ballad under his belt -- and "didn't want it to be sung by the rat and the pig."

Amy Winehouse's biopic "Back to Black" left out a viral moment ... cutting her dig at Justin Timberlake right before she won her Record of the Year Grammy.

The new movie -- released this week -- touches on some of the biggest moments of AW's life including her famous 2008 Grammy performance and win ... but, apparently, it leaves out the moment just before her victory.

If you don't remember ... Amy live streamed from a studio in London for the show -- and, when Tony Bennett and Natalie Cole read out the names of the RotY competitors Winehouse reacted negatively to JT's album name.

50 Cent seems bored with the lack of Diddy headlines since the federal raids, so he's switching up his daily quota of petty for another of his favorite targets ... Jay-Z.

Perhaps, attempting to reignite their rivalry, 50 slapped an unflattering super close-up pic of Jay on IG Wednesday, and jabbed at him with an unsubstantiated wild theory -- that Diddy's legal trouble is the real reason Jay shuttered the annual Roc Nation brunch on Grammy weekend.

He laid it out in his caption ... "Jay in hibernation he ain’t coming outside till this shit with puff blow over, no brunch, no lunch, No dinner. LOL 😆 IM ALL YOU GOT IM OUTSIDE!"