Although the 57th-annual Grammy Awards announced the Hip Hop category winners before the telecast aired yesterday (February 8), the event’s broadcast skipped any award presentations for the genre for the first time since 1990.
“If Rap decides that it wants to regain respect at the Grammys, given what happened Sunday night — though deciding the annual event is out of touch and doesn’t matter is another valid option — it may be time to again do what Will, Jeff and the rest did in ’89,” MTV reports.
Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff boycotted the 1989 ceremony in protest for the lack of recognition for Hip Hop on the Grammys telecast.
Kendrick’s “i” garnered awards for Rap Song and Rap Performance, while Best Rap album went to Eminem’s MMLP2. Best Rap/Sung Collaboration went to Eminem and Rihanna for “The Monster.”
Controversy clouded last year’s ceremony in which Macklemore & Ryan Lewis were awarded ahead of Lamar.
“Last year’s uproar following Macklemore & Ryan Lewis taking home so many awards and K. Dot getting shut out of seven categories may have clouded this, but Hip Hop’s relationship with the Grammys has changed over time,” MTV writes. “Where, in the days of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Hip Hop was looking for validation from the mainstream, it now has something far beyond that. It is the mainstream — at least culturally, if not always sales-wise. But the Grammys didn’t recognize that last night. And that was a problem.”
Kanye West, who was nominated for the Yeezus track “Bound 2,” discussed his take on the ceremony after the show.
“If The Grammy’s want real artists to keep coming back, they need to stop playing with us,” Kanye West said. “We ain’t finna play with them no more. ‘Flawless’ Beyoncé video. Beck needs to respect artistry and he should have given his award to Beyoncé, and at this point, we tired of it. Because what happens is, when you keep on diminishing art and not respecting the craft and smacking people in the face after they deliver monumental feats of music, you’re disrespectful to inspiration.
“We as musicians have to inspire people who go to work everyday and they listen to that Beyoncé album and they feel like it takes them to another place,” Kanye says. “Then they do this whole promotional event, and they’ll run the music over somebody’s speech, the artist, because they want a commercial advertising. No, we not playing with them no more.”
For additional Grammys coverage, watch the following DX Daily:
Good. Hip hop sucks now in days.
Almost as bad as your grammar?
2 points
1- grammys are a joke, hiphop talent does not get represented the right way
2- theres not much to represtent..all rap almost sounds the same now adays, or bunch of fake wanna bes rapping about same shit over and over
hiphop in itself is the problem
and ps- there were MANY other awards in damn near every genre, rap, blues, jazz, latin, country that didnt get aired..not just rap.
grammys is for 10 yr olds now
To point one: Simply because something is a ‘joke does not mean it doesn’t have an effect on how outsiders view the culture. To point two: This very point makes you seem more like an outsider effected by the Grammys.
not rly effected by the grammys im just saying dont make a headline seem like they outted 1 group bc i know what headline their reaching for.. “white ppl dont appreciate black music so they didnt air it” they knew there would be a person or 2 on each race to fall for it so i was calling it out
and i think its been known music at grammys esp hiphop doesnt get its fair shake..thats why no hiphoppers except ppl who need 2 keep up appearances went.
I think by saying that you sound like one of the people that is effected by the grammys he might be referring to how you said all rap albums sound the same etc. it kinda made it seem like you dont look hard enough and need something to point you in the right direction, because there is still some extremely good albums out could have won and deserved it (Gibbs, Common, Cormega etc.). I know thats probably not what you meant though it just seemed like that a little.
oh no if thats what he meant then no thats not what i mean.. im a person who listens to many genres of music so trying to find the nexttupac is damn nearimpossible bc there are millions of kids of all races rapping..that said outside ofthe oldschool music i listen to i still listen to talib, king los, kendrick, drake..slaughter house.. still fuck with eminem heavily. i rly rly like battle rap now adays..
its just to hard to find talent in a world where everyone wants to be like the hottest thing..and now every raps that trap keef, migos shit. my ear slowly closing on this generation of hiphop
that said kendricks new songs bringing it back
Maybe these fucks would start rapping
A few people hit the nail onthe head. Why would the Grammy executives want to promote trash. If we start demanding more quality in Rap and R&b people will have respect for the genre. You have Jason Derullo ” that big fat booty” and” I’m in love with the cocoa” you don’t give awards for that crap let alone bring attention to it
humanatue, what the fuck are you talking about? The same people who sign artists and determine who is worthy to even be famous CONTROL THE GRAMMY’s! Do you really think the people (fans) control what gets massive radio promotion, or who gets signed? The only reason why trashy Hip Hop maintains such prominence in comparison to it’s underground counterparts is because it is CHOSEN AND MARKETED TO US. Labels are LAZY because the only part of Hip Hop they can manage to promote is sex and violence, but when we drop poignant, intelligent records they are shafted promotion-wise due to a lack of CREATIVE MARKETING and (frankly) FUND DISTRIBUTION! This cycle was made to create the current perception of Hip Hop.
Also, JASON DERULLO is NOT A FUCKING RAPPER and the sooner we can agree on the obvious differences between Hip Hop and R&B (which are often so hastily assumed to be the same thing), the sooner we can pick out quality records from BOTH of those genres and, maybe, have a more balanced perception of the two.
they knew the winners weren’t present so, it was pointless to announce them.
Imagine if the next person to win a hip hop grammy just went up said fuck the grammys, explained why and dropped the award. That would be dope.
you dont know how the industry works. that would just get hip hop shut out and seen as an illegitimate art form even more. the only way is to kiss ass. trust me. i’m an uncle tom and proud of it. ive got a white wife, a place in the system, and white people tolerate me.
THIS!!!
Haha, someone needs to do that.
WHO CARES
Who the hell still watches television? Last time I checked, it’s not 1999 anymore.
Big deal. They haven’t showed the heavy metal catergory on air for years now. F the Grammys.
As soon as we understand that America was built on a flawed racist society, the sooner none of this will be a surprise. It’s par for the course, the Grammys is just another racist avenue to display a warped sense of superiority. They will continue to highlight white artist at nausea while minimizing blacks contribution to pop culture. The only way to make a difference is to stop supporting the Tom Foolery.
Also Read This: Complex notes that Macklemore won three of the four Rap Grammys last year. Macklemore has more Grammys than 2Pac, Biggie and Nas, as well as more than “2Pac, Biggie, Nas, DMX, Busta Rhymes, KRS-One, Rick Ross, Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Run DMC, Public Enemy, Big Pun, Jeezy, Ja Rule and Kendrick Lamar, combined.”
To put this into context, Macklemore’s The Heist album has earned more Grammys than such classic albums as Tupac’s All Eyez On Me, Biggie’s Ready to Die and Nas’ Illmatic.
Complex’s story also says that the nominations don’t make sense. For instance, it says that Iggy Azalea has more Rap nominations than eight-time Grammy-winner Lauryn Hill. Most of Lauryn’s nominations were in R&B. Additionally, Afroman has as many nominations as Redman.
The awards seem to all go to males, Complex’s story says. A female rapper hasn’t won a Rap Grammy in more than a decade. Two females have won Grammys for Best Rap Song: Alicia Keys and Rihanna. However, both were vocalists on a male’s song – and, both times, that male was Jay Z.
Eminem, Jay Z and Kanye West have won 41 of the 92 awards given in the four Rap categories – that’s just under half of the awards doled out when they were nominated, Complex says.
You can see the rest of the explanations at Complex.
get da fuck outta here if you think Rick fucking Ross or Young Jeezy deserves any grammy awards, especially Ross over Macklemore who did what Ross could never do, go platinum.
So, it’s numbers? I never mentioned those two by the way. How about the ones that had better albums that were not even nominated?
Cleveland, I would put J.Coles “Born Sinner” or Drakes album above the one’s that one in that category last year.
grammys don’t televise rock categories either. they were handed out right before the hip-hop awards in the afternoon.
they dont televise over half the awards, theres only so much time with commercial breaks and they make the tv show all about the performances
Plain and Simple. FUCK THE GRAMMY’S WITH AN HIV CARRIER.
Maybe they didn’t televise it because they knew Eminem and Kendrick weren’t even there to accept the awards…?
Black culture is filled with cowards nowadays. People who would rather speak than act. The Grammy’s should have already been boycotted after last years debacle. Instead the black artist gave them another opportunity to spit in their faces, and quiet replied with a yes master. Didn’t anyone notice how most of the performances were from black artist and yet they did not bother to show any of these same black artist receiving the awards. This is like slavery were cool with hiring to perform for us, but that’s it. We as people of color get shitted on at times because we allow it, cowardice stand up.
bitch shut up i watched it for 3 mintues and saw beyonce on stage getting an award. hip-hop fans are the whiniest bitches ever. i dont hear any of the other genres that got left off complaining.
Can someone please explain to me how “Flawless” is a “monumental feat of music”? Honestly, there was so much about Beyonce’s album that was remarkable. The manner of the release/rollout, the production value, the series of videos that she packaged with the digital version, etc. But a “monumental feat of music”? You know, I have heard Kanye talk, in interviews, about how he was limited because of his education. Well, I feel that he betrays a huge ignorance in his comments, here. Monumental is the induction of the chest-voice, in opera, and how that revolutionized the concept of the classical male voice. Monumental is The Council of Trent and how that affected the way composers wrote music, thereby allowing us a great deal of autonomy in what we are able to create today. Monumental was the advent of music education, as opposed to a rote style of learning, at the hands of Catholic missionaries. People largely did not know how to write music, they learned by call-and-response/by ear and, all of a sudden, they were taught, in the lower-classes, to write music. This gave people a voice. That is monumental in the canon of music history. Beyonce’s album is just a badass album. A badass album that she didn’t even write, completely. She is a phenomenal singer and, in her own way, she composes a considerable portion of what goes on the record. But she didn’t compose the harmonic structure, didn’t do any of the arranging or transposition for instrumental backing, she didn’t mix or master it. She used her considerable ability as a singer and dancer to create an amazing album and tour, but it’s not like she’s breaking the mold, here. You know, many of us learned a lesson when we were 5 years old that seems to have never stuck with Kanye. Learn how to win AND LOSE with humility.