OutKast Top Grammy Noms

OutKast, Jay-Z, Beyonce and the Neptunes' Pharrell Williams each earned six nominations to lead all acts for the forty-sixth annual Grammy Awards. The show will be held February 8th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is among the nominees for Album of the Year, along with Justin Timberlake's Justified, Missy Elliott's Under Construction, the White Stripes' Elephant and Evanescence's Fallen.

OutKast also took a nod for Record of the Year for "Hey Ya," where it will be pitted against Beyonce's collaboration with Jay-Z, "Crazy in Love," Coldplay's "Clocks," "Eminem's "Lose Yourself" and the Blackeyed Peas' and Justin Timberlake's "Where Is the Love?"

The last of the big three categories, Song of the Year (which goes to the songwriter -- Record of the Year honors the recording artist) includes Linda Perry's "Beautiful" (recorded by Christina Aguilera), Eminem and Luis Resto for Eminem's "Lose Yourself," Richard Marx and Luther Vandross for Vandross' "Dance With My Father," Avril Lavigne and the Matrix for Lavigne's "I'm With You" and the late Warren Zevon and Jorge Calderon for Zevon's "Keep Me in Your Heart."

Zevon, who died on September 7th, received five nominations, as did Elliott, Timberlake, Vandross, Eminem, 50 Cent, Ricky Skaggs and the Neptunes' Chad Hugo.

Evanescence, 50 Cent, Fountains of Wayne, Sean Paul and Heather Headley were all nominated for Best New Artist.

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Song Stories

“Too Close”

Next | 1998

Next was formed in Minneapolis when the uncle of Terry "T-Low" and Raphael "Tweety" Brown, who was a gospel choir director, introduced the brothers to Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar. Sounds of Blackness singer Ann Nesby groomed the R&B group before handing them over to Naughty by Nature's KayGee, who wrote and produced "Too Close." The idea for the song was sparked "from a conversation we had with several girls at a nightclub," explained T-Low. "It's talking about the club scene, with guys getting out of hand and the female telling him to back up, asking, 'What are you doing?'" 

More Song Stories entries »

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