Rapper Tinie Tempah leads the nominations for this year's Mobo awards, with organisers saying urban music "is now the UK mainstream". Dizzee Rascal, N-Dubz, Plan B and Professor Green are also nominated for the event, which will take place in Liverpool on 20 October.
"Obviously being nominated is only one part, winning is something else, but to be nominated for four Mobos in one of my favourite cities has blown me away," the rapper told the Liverpool Echo. The 21-year-old has been nominated for best UK act and best newcomer, as well as for best single and video. N-Dubz, who won two prizes last year, have three nominations – and face Tinie Tempah in two major categories.
Several award categories have a long list of nominees – in honour of the Mobos' 15th anniversary, 15 acts have been named for best UK act, best international act and best African act. But this number will be whittled down to five over the next month. Apart from the jazz and gospel categories, all awards will be voted for by the public.
"What a massive change compared to when we started 15 years ago," founder Kanya King said. "I am very proud of the level of talent in the UK today and extremely pleased with the dominance of Mobo music artists in the charts both here and in the US."
Not long after these comments, Simon Frith, chair of the Mercury prize, offered a slightly different opinion of UK music. "British tastes have sort of blind spots," he told the BBC yesterday. "Black female music has always had a particularly tough time." Although urban music is up 32.9% in the UK this year, the only black British female singers in the UK album/single charts are former reality TV show contestants. "It may be radio play or playlists, promoters or whatever it is," Frith said, "[but] unless you are in the mode of a certain type of entertainer it's very hard space to occupy."
The complete list of 2010 Mobo nominations:
Best newcomer
Tinie Tempah
Professor Green
Scorcher
Labrinth
Devlin
Best UK act
Tinie Tempah
Jay Sean
Tinchy Stryder
Taio Cruz
Chipmunk
N-Dubz
Giggs
JLS
Roll Deep
MIA
Dizzee Rascal
Alexandra Burke
Sade
Plan B
Leona Lewis
Best song
Taio Cruz ft Ke$ha – Dirty Picture
Tinie Tempah – Pass Out
N-Dubz ft Mr Hudson – Playing With Fire
Mark Ronson & The Business INTL ft Q-Tip & MNDR – Bang, Bang, Bang
Professor Green ft Ed Drewett – I Need You Tonight
Best UK R&B/soul
Sade
Natalie Williams
Corinne Bailey Rae
McLean
Plan B
Best UK Hip-hop/grime
Giggs
Professor Green
Skepta
Akala
Wiley
Best international act
Drake
Alicia Keys
Jay-Z
Rihanna
Eminem
Janelle Monae
Black Eyed Peas
Nicki Minaj
Ne-Yo
Usher
Beyonce
Jason Derulo
Lil Wayne
Travie McCoy
Trey Songz
Best reggae
Damian Marley
Mavado
GYPTIAN
Vybz Kartel
GAPPY RANKS
Best album
Plan B – The Defamation of Strickland Banks (679/Atlantic)
JLS – JLS (Epic)
N-Dubz – Against All Odds (UMTV)
Chipmunk – I Am Chipmunk (Jive/Columbia)
Dizzee Rascal – Tongue in Cheek (Dirtee Stank)
Best video
Mark Ronson & The Business INTL ft Q-Tip & MNDR – Bang, Bang, Bang
Tinie Tempah ft Labrinth – Frisky
Tinchy Stryder - You're Not Alone
Alesha Dixon – Drummer Boy
Dizzee Rascal – Dirtee Disco
Best African act
K'Naan (Somalia)
P-Square (Nigeria)
Hip Hop Pantsula (South Africa)
JJC (Nigeria)
Banky W (Nigeria)
Concha Buika (Equatorial Guinea)
Mulatu Astatke (Ethiopia)
Wanlov the Kubolor (Ghana)
Angélique Kidjo (Benin)
M3NSA (Ghana)
Yuri Da Cunha (Angola)
Tinny (Ghana)
Waldemar Bastos (Zimbabwe)
Staff Benda Bilili (Congo-Kinshasa)
BLK JKS (South Africa)
Best gospel act
Faith Child
Guvna B
Rachel Kerr
Jake Isaac
Beverley Trotman
Best jazz act
Robert Glasper
Brad Mehldau
Empirical
Phronesis
John McLaughlin
