The Latin Grammy nominees have been announced — and not everyone is happy about it. Top Latinx talent like J Balvin , Rosalía , Marc Anthony , Juanes and Alejandro Sanz (who leads the pack with eight nominations alone) have been nominated. But, Urbano music’s very own pretty boy, Maluma , was not nominated for any of the songs off of his 11:11 album — an album the artist went on social media to share has been the best project of his entire career. Understandably, the HP singer was disappointed upon hearing the news, but many of his colleagues and frequent collaborators came to his defense like fellow paisas Karol G and J Balvin as well as legendary Urbano music pioneer, Daddy Yankee .
In solidarity with his colleague, the Con Calma singer took to his social media to share a poignant image of a Grammy award with the words “Sin reggaeton NO hay Latin Grammy” (Without reggaeton there are NO Latin Grammys). He stated, “Apart from being nominated, I do not agree with the way that the genre and many of my colleagues were treated. [We must] remember something very important, their platform was what created this movement. This goes beyond an award. This is about culture, credibility, relevance and RESPECT. #sinreggaetonnohaylatingrammy.”
Karol G, who won a Latin Grammy last year, shared that although she previously won an award and it impacted her life and career in an incredible way, that she was very grateful that Daddy Yankee took the time to express himself in such a respectful way. “I feel the need to support this initiative, since it seems that it is the only way to call out the academy so that they can be more inclusive of a genre that works hard, shows a lot of effort, evolves and represents our Latin community worldwide.” Friend and collaborator to Maluma, J Balvin, came out in support of the movement sharing the same image captioned “For the culture and the movement!!”