Boston Music Awards Voting Closes Nov. 16. Here's Where Boston Rap and R&B Show Up on the 2026 Ballot
Clark D is nominated for Artist, Album, Song, Live Artist and Hip-Hop Artist of the Year. Token appears in four categories. The ceremony is Dec. 16 at Big Night Live.
Fan voting for the 2026 Boston Music Awards runs through Nov. 16, and the ceremony is Dec. 16 at Big Night Live, according to the BMA nominees page. I went through every category on the ballot to pull out where Boston hip-hop and R&B landed. It's more places than you might think.
Clark D is on the ballot for Artist of the Year, Album/EP of the Year for A DREAM FOR A DOLLAR, Song of the Year (1 million+ streams) for "CRAZY," Live Artist of the Year and Hip-Hop Artist of the Year. Five categories. Nobody in rap has more.
Token is up for Artist of the Year, Album/EP of the Year (1 million+ streams) for I'm Leaving Soon, Hip-Hop Artist of the Year, and, with Connor Price, both Song of the Year (1 million+ streams) and Video of the Year for "Bambi." Token also has a Brighton Music Hall date on Nov. 28.
The full Hip-Hop field: BIA, BoriRock, Clark D, EXITFAME, Michael Christmas, Millyz, Montana99, Nay Speaks, Termanology and Token. That's a list that covers three generations of the city's rap scene, from Termanology, who has been putting out records for two decades, to newer names like EXITFAME and Montana99.
In Song of the Year (1 million+ streams), rap and R&B take five of 10 spots: BIA's "HARD WAY" featuring Becky G, Clark D's "CRAZY," Ellisar's "TALK SH!T," Millyz and Joyner Lucas's "Corleone," and Token and Connor Price's "Bambi."
In the other Song of the Year category, Latrell James's "DAYUM!" and Miranda Rae's "My Bag" featuring Najee Janey are nominated. "My Bag" is also up for Video of the Year, alongside Yanna G's "FACE2FACE" featuring Tyler Loyal and Joyner Lucas's "GTA 6."
Album/EP of the Year includes Clark D's A DREAM FOR A DOLLAR; Michael Christmas, Chris Crack and Girl Talk's Don't Come To My House Sharing Your Location; and Paul Wall and Termanology's Repeat Repeat Repeat. In the 1 million+ streams album category, BIA's BIANCA and Token's I'm Leaving Soon are nominated.
The DJ of the Year field includes DJ WhySham, DJ Real P, DJ Slick Vick and Mez.WAV, among others. The Cambridge Hip-Hop Collective and Beat The Odds are nominated for Music Non-Profit of the Year, alongside ZUMIX, 617Peak and the Boston Music Project.
Voting is through the BMA site's Vote Now link until Nov. 16. Tickets for the Dec. 16 show at Big Night Live are on sale through the same site.
If you only vote in one category, vote in Hip-Hop Artist of the Year, because that's where the field is deepest. But the real story is that rap is all over the general categories now, not stuck in a genre box. Five of 10 big-stream songs is not a niche. That's the sound of the city.
