US rapper Jay Z leads Grammy nominees

LOS ANGELES: Rapper Jay Z led all artists with nine Grammy nominations on Friday, but newcomers Lorde, Kendrick Lamar, and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis edged out industry heavyweights for nods in the top categories of the annual music awards.
Jay Z picked up nominations across nine categories in the pop and rap categories, including best pop duo performance for “Suit & Tie” with Justin Timberlake, and best rap album for his July release, “Magna Carta...Holy Grail.”
But the 44-year-old Brooklyn, New York-born rapper failed to land solo nods in the top Grammy categories for record, song and album of the year, scoring only one as a producer on Lamar’s “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City” record, nominated in the album of the year category.
Lamar’s album will face off against Sara Barielles’ “The Blessed Unrest,” French electro-dance duo Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories,” Taylor Swift’s “Red” and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “The Heist” for album of the year.
Timberlake, 32, who made a return to the musical spotlight this year after a five-year hiatus with the two-part release of “The 20/20 Experience,” picked up seven nominations across the pop, R&B and rap categories.