MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Former Middle Tennessee State University student Lecrae Devaughn Moore, known professionally as Lecrae, is nominated for two Grammy Awards at this year’s ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 1, in Los Angeles.

Lecrae is nominated for Best Contemporary Music Performance/Song for his song “Headphones,” with hip-hop artists Killer Mike and T.I. and for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album for his album “Reconstruction.”

The Christian hip-hop artist, who attended MTSU through 2000, has won four previous Grammy Awards, including a 2013 win for Best Gospel Album, which was a first for a hip-hop artist at the time, and, most recently, two awards in 2024. He has 11 Grammy nominations throughout his career.  

A New York Times Best Selling author, Lecrae is also the co-owner of the independent record label Reach Records based out of Atlanta, Georgia.

Alums work on Grammy-nominated projects

While not listed on the nomination, several other MTSU alums worked on Grammy-nominated projects, including:

• Multi-Grammy winners Jason Hall, a 2000 recording industry graduate, and Jimmy Mansfield, a 2014 audio production alum, both worked as engineers on Molly Tuttle’s “So Long Little Miss Sunshine,” which is nominated for Best Americana Album. 

Hall is also a credited engineer on country artist Lainey Wilson’s “Whirlwind (Deluxe)” album, which includes the Grammy-nominated song “Somewhere Over Laredo,” for Best Country Song.

• Brandon Bell, another multiple Grammy-winner and 2004 graduate of MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry, is credited as an engineer on Billy Strings’ “Highway Prayers” album, which is nominated for Best Bluegrass Album.

About the Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards honor the best recordings, compositions and artists across genres in the music industry. Winners will be announced during a ceremony held at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The ceremony will be broadcast on CBS at 7 p.m. Central and streamed on Paramount+.

MTSU alumni, former or current students, and faculty from across the university have been a part of more than 170 Grammy Award nominations in the last two decades. The number of MTSU-connected Grammy winners since 2001 currently stands at more than 20 people, with nearly 50 Grammys, including nine repeat recipients, in categories from classical to pop to rock to country to gospel and rap.

In 2019, NBC News began calling MTSU a “Grammy-winner factory” due to multiple successful alumni who have been recognized over the years by the organization for their artistic contributions to the music industry.

For more information about MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry in the Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment, visit https://mtsu.edu/recording-industry/. 

— DeAnn Hays (deann.hays@mtsu.edu)