RAPPER GHETTS has been nominated for a prestigious Ivor Novello award alongside singer Jorja Smith.
The east London MC received a nomination for his critically acclaimed song Black Rose featuring Kojey Radical. The track addresses issues surrounding colourism and the way black women are represented in the media, and was the first offering from his 2018 album Ghetto Gospel: The New Testament.
Speaking to metro.co.uk at the Ivor Novello nominations launch in London, Ghetts spoke about the responsibility he feels to speak up on behalf of black women. He said: “I don’t think it’s everybody’s responsibility to speak about it. They might not feel passionate about it. With me, I feel a personal responsibility. I can’t look at another artist and say you should be doing this or that because I don’t know that person’s background.
“I can only speak about me and with someone as a platform, where I’m at now musically, what I want to do is stand for something more than a club track.”
The rapper is nominated alongside Walsall beauty Jorja Smith for her track Blue Lights and The 1975 Love It If We Made It.
Of the nominees, Ivors academy chair Crispin Hunt said: “The Ivors 2019 are brilliantly diverse, and we’re delighted to see so many first-time nominees recognised.”
The awards will be presented at Grosvenor House in Park Lane on May 23.
See the full list of nominees below:
Best song musically and lyrically
Four Out Of Five - Arctic Monkeys
Nica Libres At Dusk - Ben Howard
Nina Cried Power - Hozier
Best contemporary song
Black Rose - Ghetts ft Kojey Radical
Blue Lights - Jorja Smith
Love It If We Made It - The 1975
Breathe - Jax Jones ft Ina Wroldsen
Shotgun - George Ezra
POPULAR: Jorja Smith
These Days - Rudimental ft Jess Glynne, Macklemore and Dan Caplen
Best album
Cocoa Sugar - Young Fathers
I'm All Ears - Let's Eat Grandma
Joy As An Act of Resistance - Idles
Best original film score
American Animals
Phantom Thread
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Best television soundtrack
Flowers (Series 2)
Happy New Year, Colin Burstead
Requiem
Best original video game score
Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Q.U.B.E. 2
Sea of Thieves
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