16 November 24–30, 2022 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Month XX–Month XX, 2014 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER | Contents | Unfair Park | sChUtze | featUre | night+Day | CUltUre | Movies | Dish | MUsiC | ClassifieD | Going for the Gold S1, Snarky Puppy, DOMi and JD Beck, and more scored Grammy nods this year. by Danny GallaGher I t’s Grammy nomination time again, and this year’s list proves to be another stellar year for musicians from North Texas. While this year’s Grammy nomina- tions had plenty of surprises — Swedish ‘70s superstars ABBA are up for four awards, Vi- ola Davis has a chance at an EGOT, Taylor Swift is nominated for a re-release of a song, with “All Too Well” — many local names ap- peared on the list of nominations for the 65th Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 5, at the Los Angeles Crypto.com Arena, which will be broadcast live on CBS. Beyoncé has the most nominations this year, with nine nods for her song “Break My Soul” and her album Renaissance, netting Dallas producer S1 aka Symbolyc One a nomination for Album of the Year. The plati- num-selling producer from Erykah Badu’s backup group The Cannabinoids has had a long collaborating relationship with some of the biggest names in music such as Beyoncé, Jay Z, The Game, Adam Levine and more. He’s already won three Grammys for Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP II and gospel singer Kirk Franklin’s album Long Live Love. Maren Morris and Kirk Franklin have the second-most nominations this year among their North Texas musical col- leagues with three nods each. She’s nomi- nated for Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song for “Circles Around This Town,” alongside big names with songs like Miranda Lambert’s “In His Arms” and Willie Nelson’s “Live Forever.” Morris is also nominated for Best Country Album for Humble Quest, a category that includes fellow nominees Lambert for Pal- omino, Willie Nelson’s A Beautiful Time and Luke Combs’ Growin’ Up. Morris, an Arlington native, has one Grammy award for her 2016 hit “My Church” in the Best Country Solo Performance and 14 Grammy nominations. Franklin has picked up another round of nominations for his Maverick City Music al- bum One Deluxe, nominated for Best Gospel Album. His song “Kingdom” is up for Best Gospel Performance/Song, and his song “Fear is Not My Future” is nominated in the Best Contemporary Christian Music Perfor- mance/Song. Franklin already has 16 Grammy statues and 27 nominations going back to 1997. Post Malone, who has nine past nomi- nations but has never won, is up for Best Pop/Duo Group Performance for “I Like You (A Happier Song),” with collaborator Doja Cat. Gayle’s teen angst anthem “abcdefu,” written by Sara Davis and Dave Pittenger, is nominated for Song of the Year. The Plano native said back in March that her big hit came from a bitter ex who “told everyone [she’s] a bitch, so [she] became it.” Now she’s got a Grammy nomination and a pos- sible Grammy award to rub in his smug, gossipy face. “It’s a weird mix of being a love song and not knowing if it’s a love song or not,” Gayle told the Observer. “I wanted it to have this overarching theme of ‘I want you to be great, I want to think you’re great, but like, I don’t know.’” Two local names appeared in the Con- temporary Instrumental Album category. The multi-genre jam collaboration Snarky Puppy and DOMi and JD Beck each re- ceived a nomination for their respective al- bums Empire Central and Not Tight. The Denton-born Snarky Puppy calls Empire Central the group’s musical love let- ter to Dallas and would net the group its fifth Grammy if it wins next year. DOMi and JD Beck, the jazz duo consist- ing of keyboardist DOMi Louna and drum- mer JD Beck, earned the title of Best Album in our Best of Dallas issue. They’re vying for two Grammys next year, including Best Contemporary Instrumental Album and Best New Artist. A few North Texas went surprisingly un- acknowledged, including Demi Lovato. But Dallas artists are also giving Mariah a run for their money, dominating Christmas this year. Another familiar name to Dallas crowds and Grammy judges on next year’s nomination list is the a capella group Pen- tatonix, nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album with Evergreen. This year’s nomination marks the group’s third time on the Grammy list. The same cate- gory also includes nominations for home- town heroes Kelly Clarkson for her When Christmas Comes Around ... album and Norah Jones for her I Dream of Christmas album. Heavy hitters Diana Ross and Mi- chael Bublé are also in the Best Tradi- tional Pop Vocal Album category for next year’s Grammys. Justice underway SuSpect in rapper Mo3’S killing getS 105 MonthS in priSon on federal gun charge. by Patrick Williams O ne of two men facing murder charges in the shooting death of Dallas rapper Mo3 in November 2020 was sentenced to 105 months in fed- eral prison this week after pleading guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas said. Kewon Dontrell White, 23, was arrested in August 2020 after fleeing police who at- tempted to stop him after seeing him com- mit a traffic violation while riding a dirt bike on W. Pleasant Run Road in Lancaster. White fled, crashing his bike and leading po- lice on a foot chase. Officers arrested him a short time later and found he was carrying a 9mm pistol. White had a felony record for unauthorized use of motor vehicles and evading arrest and detention, making his possession of a gun a federal crime. He was sentenced this week after pleading guilty in May, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Devin Maurice Brown Jr., an associate of White, was indicted by a federal grand jury in De- cember 2020 on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distrib- ute a controlled substance after officers searched his home and found a stolen AK-47 rifle, cash and drugs. He received an 80-month prison sentence in September 2021 after pleading guilty, according to court records. A Dallas County grand jury indicted White on state murder charges in Mo3’s death in February 2021. Brown’s indictment for murder came two months later, accord- ing to news reports. Both cases are pending. Mo3, born Melvin Noble Jr., grew up in North Dallas and was a rapper whose fame grew rapidly after the 2014 release of his de- but mixtape, Shottaz. He followed up with the viral hit “Hold Ur Tongue” and a sequel, Shottaz Reloaded. His hits also included “Er- rybody,” “Keep It G,” “True Story” and “I’m the Truth.” “Lyrically, Mo3 was a rugged wordsmith and a complex artist whose fans relished his rebellious authenticity,” Observer hip-hop writer Bryson “Boom” Paul noted at the time of his death. Dallas police said the rapper was driv- ing north on Interstate 35 near Clarendon Drive around noon on Nov. 11, 2020, when he was approached by a man driving a dark-colored car. Noble pulled over and stopped, and the man, armed with a hand- gun, left his car and approached Noble’s vehicle. Noble left his car and ran south on the freeway, chased by the gunman, who fired several shots into Noble’s back, kill- ing him and wounding a bystander before fleeing. At the time of the shooting, White was free on bond for unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. | B-SideS | t Music dOMi Louna and drummer Jd Beck won best album in our Best of dallas issue. Mike Brooks dallas rapper Mo3 was shot to death along interstate 35 in November 2020. Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty