Tems, Asake and Seun Kuti Enter the 2027 Grammy Race

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Nigerian music is making a serious push for the 2027 Grammys. Tems , Asake and Afrobeat veteran Seun Kuti have all entered work for consideration, just as Recording Academy members begin first-round voting. These are submissions, not nominations. Every entry still has to get through screening and the first round of voting before it can make the official list. Tems aims at the general field Tems has entered her project Love Is a Kingdom in four categories: Album of the Year, Best Global Music Album, Best Album Cover and Best Engineered Album. tooXclusive reported the entries on October 9. She has also entered individual songs. "What You Need" is in the R&B categories. "Raindance", featuring Dave, is entered for Best African Music Performance. "Bunce Road Blues", with J. Cole and Future, is entered for Best Melodic Rap Performance. According to tooXclusive, some fans have questioned whether "Raindance" belongs in the African category because Dave is British. The outlet notes that the category allows collaborations involving African artists. A strong Grammy history Tems already has two wins. She won her first Grammy in 2023 as a songwriter on Future's "Wait for U", which took Best Melodic Rap Performance. She then won Best African Music Performance in 2025 for "Love Me JeJe". WithinNigeria notes that her album Born in the Wild was nominated for Best Global Music Album in 2025, and she was also nominated for Best R&B Song for her work on "Burning". "What You Need" is doing well this awards season too. It is one of her two fan-voted nominations at the 2026 Soul Train Awards . Asake's eight category placements Asake's label, Giran Republik, announced on October 8 that four of his works had been submitted. WithinNigeria lists them: Asake's submissions M$NEY : Album of the Year and Best Global Music Album "Gratitude": Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best African Music Performance "Jogodo" with Wizkid: Best African Music Performance "Worship" featuring DJ Snake: Best Dance Pop Recording That adds up to four works across eight category placements. Asake has two earlier nominations in Best African Music Performance: "Amapiano" with Olamide, and "MMS" with Wizkid. He has not yet won. His album M$NEY has been a streaming force this year, as we reported when it passed 500 million Spotify streams . Seun Kuti returns Seun Kuti, son of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and leader of Egypt 80, has entered two songs for Best African Music Performance. "Na Dem" features Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello. "Problems" features Jamaican reggae artist Kabaka Pyramid, was produced by Femi Koleoso and came out in July 2026. WithinNigeria notes that Seun received his first Grammy nomination with Egypt 80 for Black Times , in the Best World Music Album category in 2019. He did not win. The Grammy calendar WithinNigeria lays out the timeline. The online entry period ran from July 7 to August 21, 2026, after which screening committees reviewed the entries. Key dates First-round voting: October 12 to October 22, 2026 Nominations announced: November 16, 2026 Final voting: December 10, 2026 to January 7, 2027 Ceremony: February 7, 2027, in Los Angeles How the process works WithinNigeria explains that submission does not guarantee a place. Entries are first screened to check they meet the rules and sit in the right categories. Voting members then choose the nominees in the first round. The three artists show the range of Nigerian music now competing. Asake is pushing his Afrobeats sound into the general and global fields. Tems is entering across global music, R&B and rap. Seun Kuti is carrying Afrobeat's politically conscious tradition back into the race. WithinNigeria notes that "Na Dem" grew from a live performance into a studio recording, with Seun using it to address what he called the betrayal of African people by the continent's elites. What's next Voting is open now, and November 16 will show which entries made it through. Tems will be hoping for her first general-field nomination, Asake for his first win, and Seun Kuti for a first nod since 2019. Our Grammy Awards page will be updated when the nominations are announced. Sources: tooXclusive | WithinNigeria