Grammy 2025: Diamond Platnumz loses nomination, journalist writes a claim letter to Recording Academy

On 8th November, the Recording Academy revealed the nominations in 94 categories. No East African or South African artists were mentioned in those nominations. This caused Tanzanian journalist and vlogger, Lil Ommy to write a letter to the Grammys’ organization advising them to analyze music from other parts of Africa, including East Africa, instead of focusing on Nigeria music.

Lil Ommy who works on Wasafi FM of musician Diamond Platnumz has just released a letter showing he did not receive the nominations appropriately as his boss who worked through the year but has not yet gotten a nomination in any category. This guy was saddened by not being nominated in the category dedicated to African artists only ‘Best African Music Performance.’

He writes “I wanted to share some thoughts about how things are shaping up in your Best African Music Performance category. It feels like there’s a lack of real competition, and honestly, it’s starting to show. You need to stay up to date and do more analysis, don’t fall into your trap of favoring one particular country or style,” A letter reads.

“Tanzania and South Africa have recently made huge strides in the music scene, yet their contributions seem unrecognized. It’s important to acknowledge and celebrate the diverse range of talent and recognize the full spectrum of talent out there, not just what’s easy to spot,” a letter continues.

Lil Ommy shows that he believes in their understanding and will correct mistakes by doing deep research in different regions of Africa.

“Competition is fierce, and the Grammy Awards have always been about pushing boundaries. I hope you’ll take a more inclusive and forward-thinking approach when considering nominees and winners,” a letter adds.

The category of ‘Best African Music Performance’ that was highlighted by him, was added in the last awards. This year was wanted by many African artists including Rwandan music producer, Mugisha Robinson Fred who was considered due to his hit song ‘Milele.’ However, he did not get a chance to be a nominee in the category.

Now, all artists who are nominated in that category come from West Africa , among them there are:Burna Boy (with his song; Higher), YemiAlade (with her song; Tomorrow), Asake&Wizkid (their song; MMS), Tems(with her song; Love Me Jeje), and Chris Brown featuring Davido and Lojay (by their song; Sensational).