The nominees of the 51st Grammy Awards have been announced, and to be subtle, I, Ordinary Joe, have a lot to say.

Let’s start at the top with Rapper Lil Wayne, who received 8 nods. It seems the Recording Academy is keeping its recently garnered tradition alive of giving the most nominations to the musician that will either cause the most controversy or bring in the most viewers. Let me remind you of a well known soul singer from the UK named Amy Winehouse, who happens to have a beautiful voice, but also has a rabid drug problem. I can think of many reasons why her “Back to Black” album, and songs from it, could have been nominated so many times last year, however, one can’t help but think that the fact that half the world was paying attention to her late night fiascos, while under the influence, gave the Academy some reason to think they could drag in viewers by allowing her to perform live and giving her 6 nominations for good measure. So now we have Weezy f. Baby with a whopping 8 and a not so good example of Rap Music, namely, the “Carter III”…whoopee!!

Following with 7 nominations is Coldplay, while, Jay-Z, Kanye West and Ne-Yo received 6 each. Rounding off the most nominated are Allison Krauss & Robert Plant, Radiohead, John Mayer and new soul singer Jazmine Sullivan.

Nominated for Best New Artist is JB…which is the Jonas Brothers if you’re not a 10 year old girl. But they’ll have to beat out awesome fresh faces like, Adele, Duffy, Jonas Brothers, Lady Antebellum and Jazmine Sullivan.

Nominees for Record of the Year are:
“Chasing Pavements” by Adele

“Viva La Vida” by Coldplay

“Bleeding Love” by Leona Lewis

“Paper Planes” by M.I.A

“Please Read the Letter” by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

Album of the Year Nominees are:
“Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends” by Coldplay

“Tha Carter III” by Lil Wayne

“Year Of The Gentleman” by Ne-Yo

“Raising Sand” by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

“In Rainbows” by Radiohead

The Grammy Awards will be held on February 8th and broadcasted live on CBS. Expect updates from the Ordinary Joe Blog, as the date approaches.

The “Carter III” has hands down proven itself to be the best selling album of 2008, with sales now at 2.5 million copies in the United States alone. However, Rapper Lil Wayne is still not satisfied and recently told MTV that he will be re-releasing the entire album with new songs.

As he told on his blog earlier this month, he has already begun work on the “Carter IV” and new mix tape to be called “Dedication 3”. At the 2008 BET Hip Hop Awards, hosted on Saturday October 18th, Weezy took home the awards for Lyricist of the Year, People’s Champ and MVP of the Year.

He is also once again an expectant father, announcing on stage at the awards “I've got a son about to be born in any day now, so shout out to him. Pray for me."

Lil Wayne - News - Jay-Z

Released in May, the “Carter III” has already sold 2.5 million copies in the US, making it the best selling album of 2008, but Rapper Lil Wayne is wasting no time and is already working on the “Carter IV” and a new mixtape to be called “Dedication 3”

The Rapper says that as soon as “Dedication 3” is out, he’ll release 20 extra songs for free on his website.

According to Billboard, Lil Wayne is also working along with T-Pain to create their highly anticipated duet album “T-Wayne” due in 2009. Lil Wayne has also done some collaboration for the upcoming FallOut Boy record. He will be taking a break from recording later this month to play the Voodoo Music Experience on Oct. 25 in his New Orleans hometown. He will also drop by Power 105.1's Powerhouse concert three days later in East Rutherford, N.J.

Rapper Jay-z was honored last night at the U.N. Global Leadership Gala, for his work with the U.N. and MTV on the “Water For Life” initiative. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon paid the MC tribute by attempting to rap for five minutes as he introduced him. According to Kim Stolz of MTV, it went something like this “So many people out there experiencing so much strife/ Their life needs water … Water for Life” and “I may be old, but I’m still a learner/ I see many friends out there, I see Ted Turner.”

Funny I know, but Jay-Z replied “I want to tell the secretary: You’re pretty cool yourself. Don’t worry about it.” Jay gave his acceptance speech and spoke of life through the eyes of a guy coming from Marcy, New York to being honored at the Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue. He also expressed his intention of continuing to help bring water to millions of people around the globe.

Related Articles:
Lil Wayne's "Carter 3" Review

Lil Wayne - Rap - Tha Carter 3 - Lil Wayne

Yo, Ordinary Joe, What do you think about this?

"I call the April babies cuz they fools..." An example of the many rhymes on the most anticipated album of 2008, “Tha Carter 3”. Is Lil Wayne the 'best rapper alive'? Lil Wayne's fans hold the words of this addict of many drugs as a gospel of the hood (whether they live there or not). Why? I don't know... really I don't know; but that’s the way it is. Lil Wayne made a big transition from "Project Chick" to "Duffle Bag Boy" but so has rap. The significance of his June 10 album, “Tha Carter 3”, is not to make music for the love of it, but it is the definitive manifestation of Lil Wayne's position as the best rapper alive because so far Kanye West's fans have the album card and Jay-Z fans have the classic card... I'll get to lyricism in a bit.

On the Carter 3 album, Lil Wayne's idea of the best rapper alive is rhyming and making it sound rhythmic. If you don't believe me then take a listen to his song called: “Mr. Carter”. In this song, he teams up with his biggest competition to being the best rapper alive (remember that being the best rapper alive and the hottest rapper in the game is different). “Mr. Carter” was, seemingly, Dwayne Michael Carter (Lil Wayne) and Shawn Corey Carter (Jay-Z) showing the world how legendary the two Carters are as it pertains to hip hop. Besides Lil Wayne's 3 verses falling short to Jay-Z's one verse, if Shawn Carter's verse was omitted from the song, Dwayne's verses would be unsatisfactory for any type of album: classic or mediocre.

Ordinary Joe, do you think hanging out with New York Rappers got Wayne thinking he was as good as a New York rapper? In his song called "Nothing On Me" that features artists Fabolous and Juelz Santana, both of the featured artists out shine him like Wayne was a candle between two suns. The best rapper alive must be the best rapper on his songs. Maybe featuring in songs with artists like Young Jezzy has Lil Wayne looking hotter than he really is. Merely rapping about what ever comes to his head. In one verse Lil Wayne covers as many topics as a perfect teacher. However, if a teacher delivers so many topics at one time, the lessons tend to make no sense.

Well Ordinary Joe, what do I think about “Tha Carter 3”, do you even have to ask?
Lil Wayne did a good job, of asking questions in his lyrics, and I must say most of the answers were not hard to find. “If it’s so explicit then why you listening?” At that point I wondered why I was listening…oh yea to write this review. I know Hip Hop has “grown” to the point where over usage of expletives has become the norm. But we always knew that the “Best rapper alive” would break down walls of normality and set a new record in dirty words.

Although it was leaked, the album is still expected to debut at #1 on the charts. Thanks to the many Weezy fans who will buy anything he makes, I’m sure. Can someone help me listen to “A Millie” and not go away repeating it…please? A Millie, A Millie, A Millie…yea like I was saying “A Millie” has the tightest beat on the album but there’s not much lyrical content to it. Ordinary Joe, I definitely think he got a little to “at home” rapping with New Yorkers Fabolous and Juelz Santana. I’d like to clarify on a statement you made Ordinary Joe. You said there’s a difference between being the best rapper alive and the hottest rapper in the game, I don’t believe Weezy falls under neither of those titles.

Since Lil Wayne asked that we never forget him in the lyrics of “Mr. Carter”, I’ll never forget to mention him…as the one rapper who tried so hard to compare himself to Jay-Z, Pac and Biggie and didn’t succeed…by a long shot. “Let the Beat Build” is the epitome of what Weezy has come to been known for, taking a good beat and rapping about absolutely nothing on it. Doesn’t he call that “murdering” a track? True, well I call it butchering a track!

With such confusing lyrics like, "You say tomato I say tamata/ You say get em I say got em/ Yea I got em" either Lil Wayne is not living up to the hype or he's on such a higher level, he's on a different planet(sounding like a Lil Wayne rhyme not intended). The only songs where he sticks to topic are "Tie my Hands" and "Mrs. Officer", where he raps about having sex with a female police officer. Fruitless rhymes are just one of the many mistakes made by this veteran rapper through out the album. Hence we Ordinary Joes, have no choice than to give “Tha Carter 3” a "C" grade, as far as living up to the much anticipated hype goes.