The long awaited 2025 Emmy Musician Awards nominees list has been announced this Tuesday, July 15th. Dozens of musicians have been nominated across the seven categories set for the award show. Some of the influential figures nominated include musicians like Beyonce, Mark Ronson and most notably – Kendrick Lamar. 

Lamar, who first started releasing music in the early 2000s, is known widely for his popular hit songs such as “Damn” and “Humble”.  After the notorious online discourse between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake broke out in early 2024, Lamar released his hit song “They Not Like Us” in May 2024 as a diss track against Drake. He was then set to headline the 2025 NFL Super Bowl Halftime Show with famous singer-songwriter SZA. According to pitchfork.com, Lamar had also previously won an Emmy for his 2022 Halftime Show performance (a lineup which included classic hip hop artists like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog). 

Tony Russell, who is Lamar’s current music director, will sit alongside Lamar as a co-nominee in the  Outstanding Music Direction and Outstanding Variety Special (Live) category. Other artist nominees include Beyonce (who will be competing against her husband Jay-Z for a spot in the same category) and Mark Ronson for the Outstanding Variety Special (Live) category and artist Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and record producer James Poyser for SNL50: The Homecoming Concert, among others.

The annual Emmy Awards ceremony will be streamed live on Paramount+ with Showtime live from the Wolf Theater in the Academy’s Saban Media Center and hosted by actors Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows) and Brenda Song (Dollface) on Sunday, September 14th.