Watching The Grammys Feels A Lot Like A Simulation In La La Land
In “Moonlight” Jay-Z melodiously raps, “we stuck in La La Land / even when we win, we gon' lose”, which was primarily intended as a comment on the inconceivable 2017 Oscar's best picture mishap. That year, the wrong envelope was read and La La Land was announced instead of the real winner Moonlight.
Yet, the king of double-entendres left us with these lyrics that also reign true in celebratory moments, when these white institutions that are biased, uncultured and ill-informed nonchalantly “gift” Black creatives as if we aren’t the prize.
Working tirelessly to create a body of work then being recognized and set apart from others, for your work is an exceptional achievement, but at this point said recognition has got to be meticulously sifted. The Grammys are the most prestigious award in music, across all genres, varying in over 80 categories and for this reason, should mirror the diversity and range of artists, but they sadly every year.
When Black artists are nominated (if nominated at all) they are placed as tokens for the show’s promotion, too often delivering the best performances of the night only to go home with nominations as constellation prizes instead of winning the biggest awards of the night – record, album, and song of the year. To be fair, Black artists are making slow and steady progress at the Grammys – if the unit of measure is snail speed.
In 1989, when the first-ever rap category was introduced, Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff (with the power of Russell Simmons and Def Jam), spearheaded a Grammys Boycott after the National Academy for Recording Arts and Sciences decided to present the only rap award during the none televised show. Black artists joined forces in ’89 including the likes of Salt-N-Pepa and Public Enemy. Since then, a number of Black artists have followed suit, tipping on the tight-rope of denouncing the Grammys but simultaneously celebrating their peers that are able to beat the odds and win.
Black Artists To The Recording Academy
This year, at the annual Clive Davis’ Pre-Grammy Gala, Diddy shared his frustrations while receiving his “2020 Grammy Salute To Industry Icons” award, gracefully presenting the powers that be with 365 days to get it together.
“Truth be told, Hip Hop has never been respected by the Grammys, Black music has never been respected by the Grammys […] And for years we’ve allowed institutions that have never had our best interest at heart to judge us. And that stops right now.”
During Tyler, The Creator’s press speech following his win for best “Best Rap Album” for IGOR, he too, addresses his frustrations with Black artists being pigeonholed into arbitrary racial categories that do not speak for the intrinsic musicality of their art.
The solution lies somewhere between seeking correction from the Recording Academy, in allowing tastemakers and cultural shakers like Diddy, to make real change rather than having a mere vote on the board of council amongst music professionals, many of whom are of the mayonnaise hue. Ideally, that change would look like an introduction of categories that are a lot more encompassing than variations of “urban contemporary” because if we striped that to a literal definition that category would mean “Black music of today”. In this case, when Black artists win, it would be a win on all fronts and not a loss disguised as a pity-prize.
To the folks that say, “the Grammys are a white award show and Black people shouldn’t seek validation from others more than we do from ourselves”, I argue that that statement is an oversimplification of all the Black people that create the art these institutions exploit and reap benefits from, not the mention the strides that Black creative have made at the Grammys up until this point. Winning a Grammy doesn’t hold the weight it once did, given all the snubs throughout the years but cannot be overlooked as anything less than a great accomplishment in music. It seems like until then, if you chose to watch the Grammys or at the very least, read the list of winners the following day, you’ll be stuck in la la land waiting to wake up from this glitch in the matrix.
