Macklemore & Ryan Lewis: Grammy-Winning Hip-Hop Duo
Ben Haggerty also known as Macklemore right and Ryan Lewis were thrilled at being nominated for their first Grammy Awards in 2013
CHAPTER 1 Nominated At 7 00 p m on December 6 2013 the Grammy Nominations Concert was scheduled to broadcast live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles California Across the nation pop rap rock country and classical fans sat before their televisions However 15 minutes before the show was to air half the seats in the theater remained empty and people clogged the hallway and aisles The announcer frantically 7
urged latecomers to locate their seats In minutes the opening act would enter down the main aisle That first act was supposed to be rap artist Drake However just hours before the show was scheduled to air Drake canceled his appearance But the audience did not need to worry Another group stepped in to take Drake’s place The clock struck seven Stragglers scrambled to find a seat as the host rapper LL Cool J took the stage Dressed in a gray vest and black jacket and wearing a black beret LL Cool J proclaimed Great songs make the world go round 1 Then he kicked off the 2014 Grammy nominations by announcing the titles competing for Song of the Year The artists included veterans and newbies Pink Bruno Mars Katy Perry Lorde and Macklemore Ryan Lewis As LL Cool J announced each name a snippet of the nominated song played in the background The winning track would be announced at the Grammy Awards ceremony on January 26 2014 The applause was polite but what the crowd really wanted was to hear some music LL Cool J shouted into his microphone Are you ready 2 The audience roared back Then the doors to the 8 CONTEMPORARY LIVES MACKLEMORE RYAN LEWIS
hallway opened and the first act of the evening entered Macklemore Ryan Lewis This rap duo did not perform the song that had just earned them a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year Instead they sang the rafter-rocking hand-clapping foot-stomping number that NOMINATED 9 Artists submit songs to be considered for Grammys in a particular musical genre However a subcommittee decides whether a song belongs in that category For example if an artist submits a song in the country category the country subcommittee might decide the song is actually a rock n roll song and eliminate it from consideration for a country Grammy But the subcommittee does not have the final say A general committee made up of representatives of other genres reviews the final nominations from all subcommittees They can vote to override the subcommittee’s decision Although Haggerty and Lewis define themselves as rappers they were almost denied the chance to compete for a rap Grammy After two of their songs hit Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 list last year the rap subcommittee argued that since the pair’s music had so much success on mainstream radio they were actually a pop group However when the general committee listened to Macklemore Ryan Lewis’s album The Heist they determined it was definitely in the rap music category THE NOMINATION PROCESS
