Louisiana high school boasts 4 best-album Grammy nominees

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2020 Invision

FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020 file photo, PJ Morton poses in the press room with the award for best R&B song for "Say So" at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. A New Orleans high school is celebrating Grammy nominations for four of its graduates. St. Augustine High School alumni PJ Morton, Timothy Thedford, Jonathan Batiste and Luke James are each up for best album in different categories at the awards show Sunday, March 14, 2021.(AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

NEW ORLEANS – A New Orleans high school is celebrating Grammy nominations for four of its graduates.

St. Augustine High School alumni PJ Morton, Timothy Thedford, Jonathan Batiste and Luke James are each up for best album in different categories at the awards show Sunday, The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate reports.

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The school congratulated the four nominees on a billboard along the Pontchartrain Expressway in New Orleans.

“The ability to make an impact on the world is what our school preaches, promotes and ingrains into our men’s DNA,” said Aulston Taylor, St. Augustine’s chief development officer. "These four notable gents certainly embody that spirit and we are profoundly proud of their nominations for this year’s Grammys.”

Morton is nominated in the best gospel album category for his “Gospel According to PJ.” Thedford, better known as Jay Electronica, is up for best rap album for “A Written Testimony.” They both graduated in the 90s.

As the bandleader for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," Batiste is nominated in the best contemporary instrumental album category for “Chronology of a Dream: Live at the Village Vanguard” and in the best New Age category for “Meditations.”

James is up for best R&B album for “to be love/d.”