Tommy Richman’s "Million Dollar Baby" Vying for Rap Nods at 2025 Grammys After 'Not a Hip Hop Artist' Remark

Other songs roundly expected to wind up with a Best Rap Song nod include Ye and Ty's "Carnival" and Kendrick's "Not Like Us."

October 17, 2024

tommy live — Image via Getty/Craig Barritt/Spotify

Tommy Richman’s breakthrough hit “Million Dollar Baby” is vying for possible Grammy nominations in two key rap categories.

That’s the word from the Hollywood Reporter, with Mesfin Fekadu stating on Wednesday that the song, which began its path to chart-topping ubiquity with some shrewd TikTok teasing earlier this year, had been submitted for consideration in the Best Rap Song and Best Melodic Rap Performance categories. The 2025 nominees class is set to be unveiled on Nov. 8, with the ceremony itself slated for Feb. 2 in Los Angeles.

Word of Richman’s potential rap category contender status comes after he and DJ Hed’s back-and-forth on X over the 24-year-old’s “not a hip hop artist” remark. As previously reported, Richman’s statement was met with a public call from Hed for hip-hop stations to immediately cease playing “Million Dollar Baby” and its follow-up, the Hot 100-charting “Devil Is a Lie.” Richman was quick to clarify what he says was the intention of his original statement, namely that he’s “thankful for everything” and meant only to point out that he’s not “solely” a hip-hop artist.

To be clear, Richman himself isn’t necessarily making the final call in terms of how, or to where, his music is submitted for recognition. The Recording Academy’s voting process for the Grammys, as broken down here, begins with “Recording Academy members and record companies” entering releases for consideration, at which point hundreds of experts screen submissions “to make sure that each entry is eligible and placed in its proper category.”

“Million Dollar Baby,” initially released in April, peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and will no doubt stand in retrospect as one of 2024’s signature songs, complete with an Obama co-sign. If it does indeed end up being nominated in, say, the Best Rap Song category at the 2025 Grammys, there's a strong chance it'll be competing against Kendrick Lamar's Drake-dissing “Not Like Us” and Ye and Ty Dolla Sign’s “Carnival.”