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OutKast, Jay-Z, Beyonce Lead Grammys Field

Posted on: Sunday, 8 February 2004, 06:00 CST

Hip-hop was poised to wrest control of the Grammys away from the Janet Jackson scandal on Sunday, with the eclectic rap duo OutKast, retiring rapper Jay-Z, producer-performer Pharrell Williams and the diva Beyonce leading the field with six nominations each.

The first award of the pre-telecast ceremony, for best short form music video, was given to the late Johnny Cash and director Mark Romanek for Cash's haunting video "Hurt." Cash's wife, who died a few months before him in 2003, was also honored for best traditional folk album for "Wildwood Flower," released after her death last year.

Their son John Carter Cash accepted both awards. "I produced the record for my mother. It's amazing. She died last May, and she got to hear the record, she got to experience it before she passed on," he told the audience. "I think it's a swan song."

Another posthumous winner was Warren Zevon, who won best contemporary folk album for "The Wind," which he recorded while dying of lung cancer.

Jackson and Justin Timberlake's breast-baring Super Bowl peep show, which sparked nationwide outrage and a federal investigation, had far-reaching effects on CBS' Grammy telecast. The network, which also broadcast the Super Bowl a week ago, was to institute a five-minute tape delay of the event, to make sure no lewd or potentially offensive behavior made it on the air.

Jackson had been scheduled to attend the show, but that changed after the Super Bowl. On Sunday, Jackson's public relations firm released a statement saying that CBS and Grammy officials had asked her not to attend. They reversed themselves Saturday and invited her back, but she declined, the statement said.

CBS and Grammy officials did not immediately return calls for comment.

Timberlake's performance at the show was never in doubt. He was up for five awards, including album of the year for his solo debut, "Justified."

Other performers included Beyonce, up for record of the year for her chart-topping hit, "Crazy in Love," and OutKast, heavy favorites to win album of the year for their double disc "Speakerboxxx-The Love Below," which mixed everything from pop to rock to jazz amid rap.

Nominated for five awards was Luther Vandross, who suffered a debilitating stroke last year, two months before the release of his album "Dance With My Father." The title track was nominated for song of the year, the first time the R&B crooner has been nominated in a major category at the Grammys.

Although there had been speculation Vandross might attend, the idea was nixed by his doctors. There was to be a tribute to him by Alicia Keys and Celine Dion.

Warren Zevon, who died of lung cancer just days after the release of his disc "The Wind," was also nominated for five awards, including song of the year for "Keep Me In Your Heart."

The Grammys were to bestow 105 awards in categories ranging from rap to classical to polka on Sunday night. The bulk of those awards were to be handed out in its pre-telecast ceremony.

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On the Net:

http://www.grammy.com

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