The East Coast Music Association has announced their nominees for the 2019 East Coast Music Awards, taking place between May 1 and 5 in Charlottetown, PEI.
Enfield, Nova Scotia-based recording artist and producer, Classified, leads the pack with seven nominations including: Album of the Year, Solo Recording of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Fans’ Choice Video of the Year, Producer of the Year, Video of the Year, and Rap/Hip-Hop Recording of the Year.
Classified is arguably also a perfect candidate for the Inspirational Recording of the Year category—”Powerless” is quite inspirational—but you can’t win ’em all.
The incredible work Classified has put in over the last year is being largely acknowledged by his peers, and he’s a front-runner for at least half the categories he’s nominated in, if not more.
Quake Matthews
Some of the other hip-hop/urban related nominations from the 2019 East Coast Music Awards include:
Tachichi, Jody Upshaw, and Reeny Smith for the Bucky Adams Memorial Award.
SHiFT FROM THA 902 for Indigenous Artist of the Year.
ChessClub for Group Recording of the Year.
Neon Dreams for Pop Recording of the Year.
Amanda Jackson Band, Cyndi Cain, Elijah Wohlmuth (Will), Jody Upshaw, and Reeny Smith are all up for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year.
Other candidates for Rap/Hip-Hop Recording of the Year include Brandon Arnold, Kayo, Mitchell Bailey, and Quake Matthews.
Quake and Neon Dreams are also up for Song of the Year for “Confessions,” and Neon Dreams producer Corey LeRue is also nominated in this category for his work on Gabrielle Papillon’s “When The Heart Attacks.”
LeRue is also nominated for Producer of the Year.
Kayo
Classified has some tough competition in the Fans’ Choice Video of the Year, with the Zac Facts-directed “Shape of my Mind” by Neon Dreams and seven other big records looking for the win. “Shape Of My Mind” is also nominated for Video of the Year.
In total, broken down by region, Cape Breton Island received 17 nominations, New Brunswick, has 31, Prince Edward Island has 32, Newfoundland and Labrador has 33, and Nova Scotia has 106.
Our apologies to anyone we missed with hip-hop or urban connections. If we did, let us know and we’ll be happy to add it to the list of nominations.
In the press release issued with the nominees list, Andy McLean, Chief Executive Officer of the ECMA, made a statement about this year’s festivities:
“We are thrilled to be returning to the beautiful city of Charlottetown in 2019 – a host city renowned for its hospitality and incredible live music. A huge thanks goes out to the Province of PEI and the city of Charlottetown for their support of homegrown musical talent and for recognizing the economic benefits the ECMAs bring as a cultural event to the Island. It’s going to be five days and nights of musical celebration and a surefire win-win for everyone!”
For more information about the 2019 East Coast Music Awards visit, ECMA.com.
