Buju Banton among Grammy nominees

AP:

Incarcerated deejay Mark 'Buju Banton' Myrie is among six nominees announced for the 2011 Grammy Awards on Wednesday.

His Before the Dawn album is up for the award along with Isaacs Meets Isaac (Gregory Isaacs and King Isaac), Revelation (Lee 'Scratch' Perrry), Made in Jamaica (Bob Sinclair and Sly & Robbie), One Pop Reggae (Sly & Robbie and the Taxi Gang) and Legacy: An Acoustic Tribute to Peter Tosh (Andrew Tosh).

Rapper Eminem leads the Grammy nominations with 10. When Eminem was first nominated for Album of the Year some 10 years ago for The Marshall Mathers LP, it marked a milestone for the Grammys as it chose to honour an album that was considered masterful in its artistry yet morally bankrupt in its values.

On Wednesday, as the Recording Academy once again nominated Eminem for Album of the Year along with nine other bids, it again gave accolades to a foul but genius piece of work - Cee Lo's (Expletive) You, an infectious retro groove with an unforgettable, unprintable chorus.

The tune, which is so profane it had to be changed to Forget You for radio play, was nominated for two top Grammy honours: Record and Song of the Year.

"It wasn't meant to be a radio song," said Cee Lo after the nominations. "It was meant to be something with flair and first impression and it really took on a life of its own and I had no idea it would become what it is today."

Expected and respected

It's a sign of how much times - and Eminem himself - have changed that his leading nominations were not controversial, but expected and respected.

The person with the second-leading tally, Bruno Mars with seven, was not without his own drama this year, after being arrested in Las Vegas in a cocaine-possession case, which is pending. It was the only negative in a brilliant year for Mars, who co-wrote (Expletive) You and was also featured on B.o.B's Nothin' on You, also nominated for record of the year.

"It's just been a great year, incredible, incredible year and I can't believe this is happening to me," said Mars, who was also nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal for his own hit, Just the Way You Are.

"We've worked so hard trying to make a living doing music and the fact that we're here right now is incredible, incredible," he added, speaking from Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles, where the nominations were announced as part of an hourlong live special on CBS.

Other top nominees included Lady Antebellum, Jay-Z and Lady Gaga, who were all nominated with six each. Gaga also was nominated for album of the year - the second straight nomination in the category for her.

For Eminem, Recovery was a critical and commercial triumph. It became the best-selling album of the year so far, with more than 3 million copies sold, and spawned top hits like Love the Way You Lie featuring Rihanna, which was nominated for Song and Record of the Year.

It also marked a stark contrast between the Eminem nominated 10 years ago and the one today. Back then, he was a stunning yet divisive figure whose violent imagery and slurs against gays and women outraged as many people as he entertained. Eminem would become one of the best-selling artistes in the world and arguably rap's greatest artiste, but his stature was diminished as his battle with prescription drug addiction led to lags between albums and sub-par material.

With Recovery, an album that detailed his battles and how he overcame them, his status as the best rapper - and pop's top artiste - was restored.