Grammy Predix: Best Rap Album
Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com
The Contenders:
- Common, Finding Forever
- Jay-Z, Kingdom Come
- Nas, Hip Hop Is Dead
- T.I., T.I. vs T.I.P.
- Kanye West, Graduation
E! Movie Guy Ben Lyons Says: Kanye West
E! Entertainment Networks/Cowart
As a die-hard hip-hop fan, I never paid the Grammys much attention. The nominating committee always seems to get it wrong (The Black Eyed Peas should never win anything), but this they got right. For the most part.
T.I., Kanye, Nas, Common and Jay-Z are probably the top-five emcees alive and recording music. My only real problem this year is that Kingdom Come was released more than a year ago, and Jay has since put out American Gangster, a far superior album.
Look for Kan the Louis Vuitton Don to walk away with the award. Every time out, he raises his own standard of excellence, and this is not only his best album, it's the best album of the year. It pushes the genre to new heights. An instant classic.
—Filed by Ben Lyons
