Taking a stand against bigotry at the Grammys
“I DIDN’T think they gave the rightful respect to hip hop.” That was Jay-Z’s position back in 2002 when someone asked him why he’d boycotted the Grammys since 1999.
Leap ahead 16 years to Sunday’s 60th Grammy Awards in New York – where Jay-Z led the nominees with eight nods – and that respect was still nowhere to be seen.
For the first time ever, three of the artists nominated for album of the year were rappers: Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar and Childish Gambino, the nom de rap of actor-director Donald Glover. But all three artists lost to 24K Magic, a collection of overly hygienic funk ditties by Bruno Mars. Jay-Z went home empty-handed.
And he’d already been having a rough day. On Sunday morning, after CNN had aired an interview during which Jay-Z critiqued President Donald Trump’s poor word choices, Trump lobbed a tweet in the rapper’s direction: “somebody please inform Jay-Z that because of my policies, black unemployment has just been reported to be at the lowest rate ever recorded!”
But in a strange and unfortunate way, Trump’s outburst illuminated something big: that American rappers are among the most influential voices in our democracy, and that their music is more significant than most.
So when will the Grammys finally figure out that rap music is the dominant pop idiom of our era? It’s been 14 long years since a rap artist won album of the year (OutKast for Speakerboxx/The Love Below way back in 2004), and there hasn’t been a rapper to take the industry’s top honour before or since. That’s inexplicable and inexcusable – most recently in regard to Kendrick Lamar, the Los Angeles virtuoso who became a three-time album of the year loser on Sunday night.
To the Recording Academy, it seems that Lamar is good for boosting TV ratings, but not good enough to receive the night’s top honours.
The rapper opened Sunday’s starry telecast with a riveting medley, cramming his verses with complicated rhymes about race, faith and mortality.
He was also joined, for a moment, by U2’s Bono and the Edge, as well as by comedian Dave Chappelle, who made an interstitial announcement: “I just wanted to remind the audience that the only thing more frightening than watching a black man being honest in America is being an honest black man in America.”
Somehow, it all held together. Ten minutes into the party, Lamar already looked like the hero of the night.
At least until Mars swooped in and began hoarding hardware.
In addition to winning best R&B performance, best R&B song and best R&B album, Mars eventually swept the top three categories, winning song of the year for That’s What I Like, record of the year for 24K Magic, and album of the year.
“I’ve been knowing these guys for over a decade,” Mars said from the dais, surrounded by his collaborators as he accepted the Grammy for song of the year.
“All the music-businesses horror stories you’ve seen in the movies, we’ve been through all of them.”
There were other trophies to go around.
In an especially competitive slate of nominees, poised pop singer Alessia Cara topped Khalid, Lil Uzi Vert, Julia Michaels and SZA for best new artist.
Nashville sensation Chris Stapleton won best country album for his handsome From a Room: Vol 1.
And it was a bitter-sweet night for ascending Washington, DC-area artists.
Rappers GoldLink and Shy Glizzy, along with singer Brent Faiyaz, earned a nomination for best rap/sung performance for their spectacular sleeper hit Crew, but that trophy was snapped up by Lamar and his duet partner, Rihanna, for LOYALTY.
And 1-800-273-8255, a chart-scaling single about suicide prevention from Maryland native Logic, lost song of the year, of course, to Mars.
But that didn’t stop Logic from presenting himself as one of the evening’s standouts.
After performing 1-800-2738255 with Cara and Khalid, Logic clutched his microphone and spoke out about the tensions coursing through this American moment.
“Black is beautiful, hate is ugly. Women are as precious as they are stronger than any man I have ever met,” he declared, encouraging listeners to stand up for the rights of others.
“On behalf of those who fight for equality in a world that is not equal, not just and not ready for the change we are here to bring: I say unto you, bring us your tired, your poor and any immigrant who seeks refuge, for together, we can build not just a better country, but a world that is destined to be united.”
Logic was one of many artists who came to this year’s Grammys – hosted in New York after 15 years in Los Angeles – to make a statement.
And while some expressed their solidarity with the burgeoning #MeToo movement on Sunday night by attaching white roses to their formal wear, Kesha did it with a performance of Praying, a surging power ballad about recovering from the alleged abuses the pop singer has suffered in the music industry.
With backup by Michaels, Cyndi Lauper, Camila Cabello, Andra Day and others, the song ended with some big notes, and then a big group hug.
As ever at the Grammys, the respect – and lack thereof – flows both ways.
WE CAN BUILD, NOT JUST A BETTER COUNTRY, BUT A WORLD THAT IS DESTINED TO BE UNITED