10 Biggest Grammy Snubs of All Time

Amy Winehouse won over fans and critics alike with her breakthrough LP, 'Back to Black,' and it seemed that the British beauty with the sultry voice would take home Album of the Year too in 2008. Nope. Grammy favorite and pianist Herbie Hancock won the award for his 'River: The Joni Letters,' a cover album dedicated to Joni Mitchell.

Drake quickly ascended from the Canadian rapper appearing on blogs here and there to a bona fide superstar in 2011. With his 'So Far Gone' EP, which featured hits like 'Best I Ever Had' and 'I'm Goin' In,' he really made a "mixtape that sounded like an album" and he scored a major cosign from Lil Wayne in the process. Still, Drake's unique emo-rap wasn't enough to snag him the Best New Artist Grammy that year. Instead, relative unknown jazz artist Esperanza Spaulding took home the big honor, leaving many scratching their heads.

When the Grammys do honor rap, they tend to err on the side of safe versus culturally relevant. Case in point: In 1998, Will Smith won Best Rap Song for 'Men in Black' over the Notorious B.I.G.'s 'Hypnotize.' Yes, instead of honoring the late, legendary rapper, the Grammys chose to honor a song about fighting space aliens in a movie. Another snub during this year also included Missy Elliott's groundbreaking, freaky track 'Supa Dupa Fly.'

Rap isn't the only genre to fall victim to generational problems at the Grammys. In 1996, TLC was nominated twice in the Best R&B Song category for 'Creep' and 'Red Light Special.' Instead of voting for the chart-topping, girl power group, Grammy voters awarded Stevie Wonder, who's been winning Grammys since 1973. While we're fans of the veteran songwriter and esteemed singer, there's no denying 'Creep,' which climbed to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard chart, deserved the accolade. However, the ladies did win in the Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals category that year.

When Public Enemy lost the Grammy for Best Rap Performance in 1991, to Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff, rap purists everywhere cried foul. That same year, the group behind 'Fear of a Black Planet' boycotted the awards since the honor wasn't even televised on the Grammy telecast.

Usually we root for rappers to win Grammys but even we can't make sense of why MC Hammer's 'U Can't Touch This' won the award for Best R&B Song over Luther Vandross' 'Hear & Now.' It doesn't make sense that a rap song by Hammer, who is clearly a rapper, was included in a category featuring nothing but singers. What would weddings have been in the '90s (or now) without 'Here and Now'? We don't want to know.

Try to keep a dry eye while listening to Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's 'One Sweet Day.' It's hard to do. The track about losing a loved one was a staple for every sad moment in the '90s and topped the charts for a record-breaking 16 consecutive weeks from Dec. 2, 1995, to March 16, 1996. Despite the overwhelming success, the Chieftains' cover of Van Morrison's 'Have I Told You Lately' won the award.

During his legendary career, Tupac's 'Dear Mama' was one of his most poignant and touching songs. Despite the heartfelt message there, the Grammys awarded Best Rap Solo Performance to Coolio, yes Coolio, for his 'Gangsta's Paradise.' Even back in 1996, we all knew the song from the 'Dangerous Minds' soundtrack was not going to be remembered much after the movie.

Eminem represented the perfect blend of hip-hop lyricism and mainstream pop star when he burst onto the scene with his 'The Marshall Mathers LP.' Fueled by songs like 'The Real Slim Shady,' the album sold more than 1.76 million copies domestically in its first week, making it the fastest-selling studio album by any solo artist in American music history. The Grammy voters opted to celebrate '70s rockers Steely Dan instead with Album of the Year in 2001.

Kanye West seemed like a shoo-in for the Best New Artist win in 2004. His debut effort, 'College Dropout,' was hailed as a modern classic, melding soul samples with introspective, witty verses and he had already clocked in production work with the likes of Jay Z. Pretty good for a kid from Chicago. Somehow, Maroon 5's pretty boy emo sound was a bigger hit with Grammy voters and the band bested the producer-rapper. Since then, 'Ye has had a bone to pick with the awards. This year, he blasted the Grammys for ignoring his 'Yeezus' album. “‘Yeezus’ is the top one or two album on every single list,” he told the crowd during a concert stop on tour. “But only gets two nominations from the Grammys. What are they trying to say?” Preach!