On Sunday, we saw very few black artists hit the stage to perform, and even fewer black performers actually accept an award. Most of the awards given to black artists were awarded before the telecast, and the most notable upset of the night was Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, who took home the Grammy for “Best Rap Album,” which most people felt should have gone to Kendrick Lamar.
In comes India.Arie.
Back in 2002, India made a huge splash on the scene with her single, “Video,” from her debut album Acoustic Soul. Like Kendrick, India ended up with seven Grammy nominations, including nods for “Best New Artist,” “Best R&B Album,” and “Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.” Unfortunately for India, she too, walked away empty-handed in what many believe to be one of the biggest Grammy snubs in history. [She lost in five of seven categories to Alicia Keys.]
On Monday, the soul singer took to her Tumblr to pen an open letter where she dished a little about the politics behind the Grammys, calling it a “popularity contest.”
@Kendricklamar WAS robbed, BUT he was not the only one who was robbed. Personally, I was pleased he was able to perform and they KILLED! IT! One of the FEW moving moments of the night for ME.
Though it’s called “Music industries biggest night” the #Grammys are NOT about the music, it’s a popularity contest. The voting process allows people, to vote on name recognition alone – the music industry politics is a whole NUTHER conversation. Too much to go into here.
The American Music Awards is a show that awards sales and popularity – the #Grammys are SAID to be about the music.
If the hip hop community voted on hip hop – r&b COMMUNITY the same – same for each category – we’d see winners that reflect the MUSIC ITSELF. We all know that’s just not the way it goes.
NOW the BIGGER losers, are ALL of black music. Where was the black music community represented in last nights #Grammy show? Performers and Winners (or not) … Where were the black artists?
And this isn’t the first time the #Grammy’s has had a show all but excluding young black America and black artists in general, although we set the worlds musical trends. Why NOT televise the lifetime achievement awards of the Isley Brothers? SURELY they deserved to be on televised stage LAST NIGHT! While other artists were on stage TWICE?
The truth is in a perfect world diversity would matter, and respect would be rampant, but the TRUTH is, The #Grammys is a television show, and in THAT world ratings reign supreme. So, in general, bigger names take the stage, and sadly the biggest names often times ARE BIGGER drawn along racial lines from the release of an album. i.e. marketing dollars, and just general support. It’s unfortunate.
First, although I agree with some of what India had to say, I’d like to point out two things: Does anyone remember Steve Stoute taking out a $40,000 ad in New York Times in 2011 to put the Grammys committee on blast? That year, although he acknowledged that hip hop music had been diminished as an art form by the organization, he criticized the Grammys for using big names to usher in the ratings, only to give the award to lesser known artists. That year, Esperanza Spalding (a lesser known black jazz artist) won over Justin Bieber, who achieved mega mainstream success. Steve asked:
Does the Grammys intentionally use artists for their celebrity, popularity and cultural appeal when they already know the winners and then program a show against this expectation?
His letter that year, contradicts what happened at the Grammys with Macklemore this year. People felt that Macklemore won over Kendrick because he was a bigger name with more commercial success.
So the question is, has the voting process changed in three years? That year, quite a few artists who were not mainstream won trophies including Arcade Fire (a group that a lot of people had never heard of), who snatched the biggest award of the night — Album Of The Year. And folks were definitely PISSED.
This year, Darius Rucker (a black artist) won “Best Country Solo Performance” but no one’s really talking about that.
Grammys aside, here’s a stat from Billboard that may blow your mind.
According to the site, not one black artist had a number #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 2013. Nope! Not one. Who remembers when Beyoncé’s “Crazy In Love” and “Baby Boy” spent a combined 17 weeks at #1 back in 2003? What about 50′s “In Da Club” nine-week chokehold? Yeah, those days are gone.
Per Time:
According to writer Chris Molanphy, who surveys the pop charts, in a piece for Slate, this is the first time this had happened in the Billboard chart ‘s 55 years. It represents a huge contrast to 10 years ago when a person of a color recorded every chart-topping hit. Rather, African-American artists were featured on other artists’ songs last year, such as Rihanna on Eminem’s “The Monster” and T.I. and Pharrell on Robin Thicke’s inescapable summer hit “Blurred Lines.”
In a similar role reversal, Molanphy also cited that white artists topped the No. 1 spot on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart in 44 out of the 52 weeks last year.
Music fans are playing out an unironic version of Stephen Colbert’s joke about not seeing color…and yet somehow, when the data is compiled about what we’re all buying and streaming, the Timberlakes and Matherses and Macklemores keep winding up atop the stack, ahead of the Miguels and J. Coles.
Now, what is going on there? Why aren’t black artists topping the charts anymore? Are they not being supported? Or is it the music that’s changing? The lines are getting pretty blurred.
Even the BET Awards and Soul Train Awards had to acknowledge Robin Thicke and Justin Timberlake in R&B/Soul categories last year.
What are your thoughts on the Grammys and India’s letter?
Sidebar: I find it odd that Drake had a huge album last year but hasn’t made it into any of these Grammy conversations. He had five nominations and also walked home empty-handed. In knowing that this would probably happen, he also skipped the show (along with Kanye and Rihanna.) In a recent interview in Toronto (before the show), he said:
To be recognized in any capacity for the music that we make is great, (but) I don’t think the Grammys make or break any artist. I don’t think anybody should live or die by the Grammys — that’s my opinion. I think it’s a great organization and obviously (has a) deep-rooted history in music, but at the same time, if I go home with no Grammys I still feel great about what we did. “I think anybody should feel that way.
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