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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Jay-Z leads with nine Grammy nominations

Former Spokane resident Ryan Lewis, left, keeps the beat while rapper Macklemore holds sway in front at a concert at the Spokane Arena in October. (File)
Associated Press

Jay-Z easily led Grammy Award nominations announced Friday with nine, but left-of-center rappers Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Kendrick Lamar were among a group of new stars who took many of the major nominations.

Macklemore and Lewis’ gay marriage anthem “Same Love” was among song of the year nominees and the Seattle rap crew joined Los Angeles rapper Lamar with seven nominations apiece, including best album and best new artist of the year. Pharrell Williams had four major nominations among his seven and Justin Timberlake also had seven.

Macklemore and Lewis dominated a nominations TV special from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles that also included performances by nominees Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Lorde and Robin Thicke. They opened the show with a colorful, high-energy version of their hit “Thrift Shop,” featuring Wanz, and immediately picked up a song of the year nomination for “Same Love.”

Recording Academy favorites Timberlake and Jay-Z teamed up for two nominations apiece, but they only had one major nomination between them this year and that came for Jay-Z’s participation on Lamar’s album of the year nominee “good kid, m.A.A.d city” instead of his own “Magna Carta … Holy Grail.”

Williams, who seemed to be everywhere in 2013, is up for producer of the year and faces himself in three categories, including record of the year for “Get Lucky” with Daft Punk and “Blurred Lines” with Robin Thicke, and album of the year entries “Random Access Memories” by Daft Punk and Lamar’s “good kid.”

Drake and sound engineer Bob Ludwig were next on the nominees list with five apiece.

On the Web: For a full list of nominees, go online to http://Grammy.com