Two of rap's rising stars gone too soon, Pop Smoke and Nipsey Hussle, clearly left an impact on the Recording Academy and were nominated posthumously for the 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards. Music legends, Leonard Cohen, Toots Hibbert and John Prine, were also recognized following their deaths this year.
Born Bashar Barakah Jackson, Pop Smoke was shot and killed during a home invasion in February. He was 20 years old.
Following his death, Victor Victor Worldwide and Republic Records released his debut studio album, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, which topped the charts and earned the rapper a nomination for Best Rap Performance for the track, "Dior," sharing a category with the late Nipsey.
The Los Angeles rapper, born Ermias Joseph Asghedom, is up for his fourth posthumous GRAMMY award after being shot and killed in March 2019 at age 33. His Big Sean collaboration, "Deep Reverence," is recognized in Best Rap Performance. (Nipsey was previously nominated three times in 2020 and posthumously won two of the awards.)
Outside rap, Cohen, Hibbert and Prine were all recognized in their respective genres. Prine, who died of coronavirus-related complications at age 73, is nominated for Best American Roots Performance and Best American Roots Song for his single, "I Remember Everything."
Cohen, meanwhile, is up for Best Folk Album for Thanks for the Dance, his 15th and final studio album released three years after his death, and Hibbert, the lead singer of Toots & the Maytals, is up for Best Reggae Album for Got to Be Tough. (Hibbert died in September. He was 77.)
The 63nd Annual GRAMMY Awards will take place on Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021 and broadcast live on CBS.
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