Last night was the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, a night that usually has big performances and expensive outfits yet always is slightly overshadowed by the decisions made by the panel of voters who decide who ultimate takes home the prize.
Controversy at the Grammys dates back to the first ceremony, but no category sees a more over analysed and opinionated fall out than the Rap category. With Cardi B taking home the award for Best Rap Album, it begs the question - What actually is being accounted when deciding who wins?
Cardi was up against some big albums:
DAYTONA - Pusha T
ASTROWORLD - Travis Scott
Swimming - Mac Miller
Victory Lap - Nipsey Hustle
Comparatively speaking, is Cardi the best rapper out of that list? No. Did she have the best album in terms of song writing, concept, message, production etc? No. Is she the best rapper out of that list? No. So the Grammys system is clearly flawed and has little to do with the raw ability to just rap. Obviously you bring all the factors of an album together as a way of differentiating and ultimately coming to a decision, yet she slacks behind the rest for most of the aspects mentioned that would be analysed. Production wise, Pusha's DAYTONA takes top spot, largely due to the cleanest of transition mixes between tracks from Kanye. Closely followed by Astroworld, which Travis worked tirelessly on until the sound was perfect and he was happy with it, which just demonstrates his care about the craft. Although the second half of the album does hit a bit of a slump from the repeated high hat/rattle trap beats diluting the overall sound. Whilst Nipsey isn't quite my favourite artist to say the least, he put together a an album that including some big name features and uses this to capture a West Coast sound to rep his area. Finally, with Swimming turning out to be Mac Miller's final album, this saw his streams and fan base increase beyond expectations and it was subsequently treated as a sentimental piece of art. Therefore it could be argued that ALL of the competing albums were more valid for the award than Cardi's Invasion of Privacy.
Contrary to how it may look, I actually enjoyed some of the tracks on Invasion of Privacy, even though her aesthetic of bad bitch anthems obviously resonates more with a female audience, she is much more of a refreshing listen than Nicki Minaj, who seems to just be recycling the same material that made her blow up at the start of the decade. It is stale, overdone and uninteresting, where as Cardi has so much natural charisma outside of the studio that it is easy to see it transcend into her music. That being said, every single song on the album has at least three writing credits on, which circles back to the debate whether having others write your work completely discredits your claim to be the best. I personally follow the mindset of rap purists, who do see it as a sort of shortcut or a cheat to have other writers, maybe not so much for hooks if there is a feature artist, but rappers having entire 32 bar verses written by someone else is too much of a stretch to allow for awards to be received for what is essentially someone else's work. However, I do also know the importance of being a personality within this industry, which is always going to play a part in your claim for any plaudits. With this logic and thinking, Pusha should really have walked out of the ceremony with that award. He DOES write his own lyrics, he had some incredible production from Kanye through the entire seven song project, his bars often take multiple listens and time before they are interpreted properly and addressed some important issues that he as a person is facing, as well as entire demographics. He did ALL of this as well as toppling Drake, the "rap" Kingpin, exposing him with one of the best diss tracks ever and yet that still wasn't considered enough. He had an incredible year and is the rightful winner in my eyes.
I think Cardi's likeable personality and public image has helped prevent a big media debacle that would dethrone her as the winner, with Pusha being outed as the deserved winner, unlike in 2016, where to everyone's DISBELIEF, Taylor Swift picked up the award for Album of the Year over Kendrick's To Pimp a Butterfly. One of the most critically acclaimed albums (not just RAP albums, any album ffs) of the decade, with uniquely fused jazz/rock/hip-hop instrumental selection, powerful messaging, some of the best lyrics he has ever written, all bound together by an ongoing narrative to is partially glimpsed at after each song before being revealed in it's entirety at the end of the album in a genius concept. THAT lost to a pop album about ex-boyfriends. Shaking my fucking head. It is no wonder that some artists are publicly declaring their opinions on the Ceremony itself, and how it devalues work based on how the awards are given out. The Grammys was once an iconic monument within the whole music industry, but last night and the multiple accounts of unjustified winners prior to it, shows how out of touch that organisers are with what it is that they're assessing.
End on a positive note though, as one thing they unanimously got right was praise Childish Gambino got for This is America, which took home (and rightly so) the awards for Best Video, Best Rap/Sung performance and Song of the Year. This is America being the first rap song to ever win Song of the Year, so well done, Donald.
The boy Jay Rock also won his first Grammy for Best Rap Performance for the song King's Dead. (great video watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwAnsAUYnw4 ) with Future, Kendrick Lamar and James Blake his award was shared with another top boy, Anderson Paak, who won it for the his single Bubblin'. (also a good video, watch that here too- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PmUtmfTmbg )
So let's see what comes out this year, only to be robbed at the 2020 Grammys.
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