By Carla St. Louis

After years of going pop, the Grammy Awards has finally gone hip-hop.

According to MTV’s RapFix, the biggest face-offs will be in the dedicated rap categories:

Best Rap Performance pits Drake and Wayne’s “HYFR” against The Throne’s “Paris” and G.O.O.D. Music’s “Mercy.” All catchy songs that were hits in their own right. Best Rap Song is also a tight category with Wale’s “Lotus Flower Bomb” going head-to-head with Drake’s “The Motto.” Will America’s love for the term YOLO help Drizzy snag his first Grammy ever? The Grammy voters may go a completely different route and opt for a more positive song, giving the award to Nas for his “Daughters.”

Every rap fan will have an eye on Best Rap Album. This is the category to watch with nominees: Drake (Take Care) Lupe Fiasco (Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, Pt. 1), The Roots (Undun?), Nas (Life Is Good), Rick Ross (God Forgives, I Don’t?) and 2 Chainz (Based on a T.R.U. Story). Veteran Nas is the frontrunner to take the award with his milestone album but don’t discount The Roots, who have enjoyed mainstream and hip-hop success for years or Drake, whose star was bigger than ever in 2012.

Although Lupe’s nominated, he thinks Nas will snag the honor saying, “Every album since Food & Liquor, my first official release, has been nominated for Best Rap Album at the Grammys. No. Clearly I won’t…I think they’ll give it to Nas,” he continued. “I think they’ll give it to Nas, to be honest.”

Despite being nominated Nas feels hip-hop deserved more recognition from the awards ceremony.

In his recent interview with The Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl on “Chelsea Lately,” via Rap-Up Nas was very vocal about his views on hip- hop deserving more credit at award shows. “It’s cool. I feel it could be a little bit more love though,” he said. “Hip-hop is making a lot of noise. It should get some more spotlight.”

With this year’s Grammy nominations, it seems like R&B artists Frank Ocean and Miguel are on track to win on music’s biggest night.

The Grammy Awards air this Sunday, February 10 on CBS at 8 pm.

Is Nas right: Should the Grammy Award have included more categories under hip-hop and more hip-hop performers?

Source: MTV RapFix (here)