The Gospel Music Association (GMA) today announced the 43rd Annual GMA Dove Awards nominees where Atlanta based Reach Records walked away with an unprecedented seven nominations in four major categories.
REACH RECORDS 2012 DOVE AWARD NOMINATIONS:
Cat. #9 (Tedashii) Rap/Hip Hop Recorded Song of the Year – “Riot” (Backlight)
Cat. #21 (Tedashii) Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year – Backlight
Cat. #6 (Lecrae) Artist of the Year
Cat. #9 (Lecrae) Rap/Hip Hop Recorded Song of the Year – “Hallelujah” (Rehab)
Cat. #9 (Lecrae) Rap/Hip Hop Recorded Song of the Year – “The Overdose” (Rehab)
Cat. #21 (Lecrae) Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year – Rehab: The Overdose
Cat. #35 (Lecrae) Special Event – The Story
Leading the pack with five nominations for Reach Records, including the prestigious Artist of the Year, is Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist Lecrae.
Having established himself as the frontrunner of Christian Rap, Lecrae broke into the Billboard Top 200 Albums debuting at No. 17 with REHAB, while reaching No. 3 on the Top 10 Albums chart on iTunes. With an offering of rehabilitation found in Christ alone, Lecrae also maintained his established base, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Contemporary Christian chart and No. 1 on the Billboard Gospel Albums chart. The impact of this album continues to spread across the globe, receiving nominations for several awards including a Grammy for Best Rock/Rap Gospel album.
Joining Lecrae in 2012 Dove Award nominations is label mate Tedashii, who’s sophomore album Identity Crisis charted No. 2 on the Gospel Billboard chart and No. 9 on the Christian Billboard chart, solidifying the appeal of a unique artist who is unashamedly Christian and soulfully Hip Hop. Since his last release, Tedashii has blazed several tracks as a feature artist, and is gearing up to release his fourth album this spring.
The Dove Awards is Christian/Gospel music’s biggest night of the year, where top artists from every style of gospel music come together for a night of music and celebration as the GMA bestows the industry’s highest honor. This year’s nominations were announced in a special press conference held at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, GA. Montell Jordan, CoCo Brother, Chonda Pierce and AJ Styles were all on hand to announce nominations in 23 of 43 official categories.
The 2012 Dove Awards will be held on Thursday, April 19th at Atlanta’s famed Fox Theater. For more information, please visit www.doveawards.com or www.gospelmusic.org.
