The Grammys to Introduce Rap Review Committee for 2018 Awards

Major changes are coming to the Grammy‘s voting process next year and some of your favorite rising stars in Hip-Hop could benefit from it.

This week the Recording Academy announced its plans to establish a review committee for nominees in the Rap Category. The purpose of this change is to give newer acts an even playing against the music industry’s hip hop heavyweights. In addition to the Rap Category, a committee will be set up for Contemporary Instrumental and New Age awards.

In addition to the Rap Category, a committee will be set up for Contemporary Instrumental and New Age awards and also will allow the Academy’s 13,000 members to vote online to prevent voters from filling out their ballots incorrectly, or voting in “blocks” to boost a nominee. The Record Academy has long been criticized for its outdated practices and has decided to ditch the paper ballots in an effort to improve the voter experience and appeal to younger voters.

But the changes, set to go into effect this year, don’t stop there. “Nomination review” committees will also be set up to vet the nominations for Rap, Contemporary Instrumental, and New-Age music, a decision that came about at the request of the genre communities themselves.

Billboard reports that now a total of fifteen fields – including Album of theYear, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist  – have committees, which can help override the popular vote to focus on what is really the best, regardless of age, fame or marketing budget.

The nominations for the 60th Annual Grammy Awards will be announced on November 28th with the ceremony set to take place at Madison Square Garden on January 28, 2018.

For more information on these changes and more, visit the Grammy’s official website.

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