Another year another Hip Hop Grammy's thread.
In continuing with the yearly tradition. I am creating this thread for all of us to laugh, cry, bytch, moan, and cheer for our favorite artists on what has become the infamous Grammy night. There are many posters who don't give a damn about the Grammys, correctly pointing out the sordid and downright shameful history that the Grammy committee has with Hip Hop. Even though the genre's reigning shining son, Jay-Z, has a whopping 22 Grammy trophies to his name, he has never won the prestigious and coveted album of the year award, having only been nominated once for 4:44. Kanye West, despite 21 trophy wins, has never won in a category outside of the rap genre and has only won against a white artist once (in 2006 when Late Registration triumphed against Eminem's Encore for Best Rap Album)
In recent years the Grammy committee has come under intense scrutiny for racial bias in their nomination decisions, awards decisions, and even category names. In 2016, Kendrick Lamar swept the rap categories with his critically acclaimed sophomore album To Pimp A Butterfly, only to lose Album Of The Year to Taylor Swift's 1989. To Pimp A Butterfly had the distinction of being the best reviewed album of 2015 (96% Metacritic) with its single "Alright" serving as the unofficial anthem for the growing Black Lives Matter movement and a soundtrack for the racial frustrations felt by a generation of suppressed black voices. Still both the album and Alright were shut out in the general fields against white competition. Rappers successfully branching out into other genres has also largely been overlooked, With Tyler The Creator's Igor relegated to the Best Rap Album genre in 2020 when he categorized it as Pop release.
"it sucks that whenever we — and I mean guys that look like me — do anything that’s genre-bending or that’s anything, they always put it in a rap or urban category, which is — I don’t like that ‘urban’ word. That’s just a politically correct way to say the n-word to me.”
Progress has been limited, with one bright spot being Childish Gambino's fiery "This Is America" single being awarded both the Song Of The Year & Record Of The Year at the 2019 ceremony, making history as the first rap artist to achieve both honors. However, it has been SEVENTEEN YEARS since a rap artist has won Album Of The Year, the last being Outkast in 2004 for their eclectic and funktastic double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.
Which brings us to the here and now. This year at the 2021 ceremony, there will be no rap album represented amongst the nominees for Album Of The Year (some might categorize Post Malone as rap. And those people would be idiots) however, rap is represented amongst the other general field nominations for Record Of The Year ("Savage" by Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyonce; "Rockstar by Da Baby featuring Roddy Rich) Song Of The Year ("The Box" by Roddy Rich) and Best New Artist (Megan Thee Stallion, Chika, D Smoke)
In the rap categories there was a clear distinction made between the newer, more popular rap artists whose singles have dominated streaming apps and radio waves, and veteran artists who have maintained the status quo of directing their talents towards making their albums a distinctive body of work. Not one of the rappers who were nominated in the singles categories were nominated for Best Rap Album, and vice versa. Many on these boards and in the outside world have called for two different categories for Rap Album representation (As R&B has and Pop has) A "Best Traditional Hip Hop Album" category to go alongside best Rap album. Whilst the committee will undoubtedly take their sweet time in implementing such a change, the present state of affairs leaves us with much debate and conversation.
Here are the categories in which Hip Hop will be represented at this year's Grammy Ceremony
Record of the Year
“Black Parade,” Beyoncé
“Colors,” Black Pumas
“Rockstar,” DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch
“Say So,” Doja Cat
“Everything I Wanted,” Billie Eilish
“Don’t Start Now,” Dua Lipa
“Circles,” Post Malone
“Savage,” Megan Thee Stallion
Song of the Year
“Black Parade,” Denisia Andrews, Beyoncé, Stephen Bray, Shawn Carter, Brittany Coney, Derek James Dixie, Akil King, Kim “Kaydence” Krysiuk and Rickie “Caso” Tice, songwriters (Beyoncé)
“The Box,” Samuel Gloade and Rodrick Moore, songwriters (Roddy Ricch)
“Cardigan,” Aaron Dessner and Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)
“Circles,” Louis Bell, Adam Feeney, Kaan Gunesberk, Austin Post and Billy Walsh, songwriters (Post Malone)
“Don’t Start Now,” Caroline Ailin, Ian Kirkpatrick, Dua Lipa and Emily Warren, songwriters (Dua Lipa)
“Everything I Wanted,” Billie Eilish O’Connell and Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish)
“I Can’t Breathe,” Dernst Emile II, H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas, songwriters (H.E.R.)
“If the World Was Ending,” Julia Michaels and JP Saxe, songwriters (JP Saxe featuring Julia Michaels)
Best New Artist
Ingrid Andress
Phoebe Bridgers
Chika
Noah Cyrus
D Smoke
Doja Cat
Kaytranada
Megan Thee Stallion
Best Contemporary Christian Music Album
“Run to the Father” — Cody Carnes
All of My Best Friends” — Hillsong Young & Free
“Holy Water” — We the Kingdom
“Citizen of Heaven” — Tauren Wells
“Jesus Is King” — Kanye West
Best Rap Performance
“Deep Reverence,” Big Sean Featuring Nipsey Hussle
“Bop,” DaBaby
“What’s Poppin,” Jack Harlow
“The Bigger Picture,” Lil Baby
“Savage,” Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyoncé
“Dior,” Pop Smoke
Best Melodic Rap Performance
“Rockstar,” DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch
“Laugh Now, Cry Later,” Drake featuring Lil Durk
“Lockdown,” Anderson .Paak
“The Box,” Roddy Ricch
“Highest in the Room,” Travis Scott
Best Rap Song
“The Bigger Picture,” Dominique Jones, Noah Pettigrew and Rai’shaun Williams, songwriters (Lil Baby)
“The Box,” Samuel Gloade and Rodrick Moore, songwriters (Roddy Ricch)
“Laugh Now, Cry Later,” Durk Banks, Rogét Chahayed, Aubrey Graham, Daveon Jackson, Ron LaTour and Ryan Martinez, songwriters (Drake featuring Lil Durk)
“Rockstar,” Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, Ross Joseph Portaro IV and Rodrick Moore, songwriters (DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch)
“Savage,” Beyoncé, Shawn Carter, Brittany Hazzard, Derrick Milano, Terius Nash, Megan Pete, Bobby Session Jr., Jordan Kyle Lanier Thorpe and Anthony White, songwriters (Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyoncé)
Best Rap Album
“Black Habits,” D Smoke
“Alfredo,” Freddie Gibbs and the Alchemist
“A Written Testimony,” Jay Electronica
“King’s Disease,” Nas
“The Allegory,” Royce Da 5’9”
The 63rd annual Grammy Awards will take place on March 14, televised on CBS
In continuing with the yearly tradition. I am creating this thread for all of us to laugh, cry, bytch, moan, and cheer for our favorite artists on what has become the infamous Grammy night. There are many posters who don't give a damn about the Grammys, correctly pointing out the sordid and downright shameful history that the Grammy committee has with Hip Hop. Even though the genre's reigning shining son, Jay-Z, has a whopping 22 Grammy trophies to his name, he has never won the prestigious and coveted album of the year award, having only been nominated once for 4:44. Kanye West, despite 21 trophy wins, has never won in a category outside of the rap genre and has only won against a white artist once (in 2006 when Late Registration triumphed against Eminem's Encore for Best Rap Album)
In recent years the Grammy committee has come under intense scrutiny for racial bias in their nomination decisions, awards decisions, and even category names. In 2016, Kendrick Lamar swept the rap categories with his critically acclaimed sophomore album To Pimp A Butterfly, only to lose Album Of The Year to Taylor Swift's 1989. To Pimp A Butterfly had the distinction of being the best reviewed album of 2015 (96% Metacritic) with its single "Alright" serving as the unofficial anthem for the growing Black Lives Matter movement and a soundtrack for the racial frustrations felt by a generation of suppressed black voices. Still both the album and Alright were shut out in the general fields against white competition. Rappers successfully branching out into other genres has also largely been overlooked, With Tyler The Creator's Igor relegated to the Best Rap Album genre in 2020 when he categorized it as Pop release.
"it sucks that whenever we — and I mean guys that look like me — do anything that’s genre-bending or that’s anything, they always put it in a rap or urban category, which is — I don’t like that ‘urban’ word. That’s just a politically correct way to say the n-word to me.”
Progress has been limited, with one bright spot being Childish Gambino's fiery "This Is America" single being awarded both the Song Of The Year & Record Of The Year at the 2019 ceremony, making history as the first rap artist to achieve both honors. However, it has been SEVENTEEN YEARS since a rap artist has won Album Of The Year, the last being Outkast in 2004 for their eclectic and funktastic double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.
Which brings us to the here and now. This year at the 2021 ceremony, there will be no rap album represented amongst the nominees for Album Of The Year (some might categorize Post Malone as rap. And those people would be idiots) however, rap is represented amongst the other general field nominations for Record Of The Year ("Savage" by Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyonce; "Rockstar by Da Baby featuring Roddy Rich) Song Of The Year ("The Box" by Roddy Rich) and Best New Artist (Megan Thee Stallion, Chika, D Smoke)
In the rap categories there was a clear distinction made between the newer, more popular rap artists whose singles have dominated streaming apps and radio waves, and veteran artists who have maintained the status quo of directing their talents towards making their albums a distinctive body of work. Not one of the rappers who were nominated in the singles categories were nominated for Best Rap Album, and vice versa. Many on these boards and in the outside world have called for two different categories for Rap Album representation (As R&B has and Pop has) A "Best Traditional Hip Hop Album" category to go alongside best Rap album. Whilst the committee will undoubtedly take their sweet time in implementing such a change, the present state of affairs leaves us with much debate and conversation.
Here are the categories in which Hip Hop will be represented at this year's Grammy Ceremony
Record of the Year
“Black Parade,” Beyoncé
“Colors,” Black Pumas
“Rockstar,” DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch
“Say So,” Doja Cat
“Everything I Wanted,” Billie Eilish
“Don’t Start Now,” Dua Lipa
“Circles,” Post Malone
“Savage,” Megan Thee Stallion
Song of the Year
“Black Parade,” Denisia Andrews, Beyoncé, Stephen Bray, Shawn Carter, Brittany Coney, Derek James Dixie, Akil King, Kim “Kaydence” Krysiuk and Rickie “Caso” Tice, songwriters (Beyoncé)
“The Box,” Samuel Gloade and Rodrick Moore, songwriters (Roddy Ricch)
“Cardigan,” Aaron Dessner and Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)
“Circles,” Louis Bell, Adam Feeney, Kaan Gunesberk, Austin Post and Billy Walsh, songwriters (Post Malone)
“Don’t Start Now,” Caroline Ailin, Ian Kirkpatrick, Dua Lipa and Emily Warren, songwriters (Dua Lipa)
“Everything I Wanted,” Billie Eilish O’Connell and Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish)
“I Can’t Breathe,” Dernst Emile II, H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas, songwriters (H.E.R.)
“If the World Was Ending,” Julia Michaels and JP Saxe, songwriters (JP Saxe featuring Julia Michaels)
Best New Artist
Ingrid Andress
Phoebe Bridgers
Chika
Noah Cyrus
D Smoke
Doja Cat
Kaytranada
Megan Thee Stallion
Best Contemporary Christian Music Album
“Run to the Father” — Cody Carnes
All of My Best Friends” — Hillsong Young & Free
“Holy Water” — We the Kingdom
“Citizen of Heaven” — Tauren Wells
“Jesus Is King” — Kanye West
Best Rap Performance
“Deep Reverence,” Big Sean Featuring Nipsey Hussle
“Bop,” DaBaby
“What’s Poppin,” Jack Harlow
“The Bigger Picture,” Lil Baby
“Savage,” Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyoncé
“Dior,” Pop Smoke
Best Melodic Rap Performance
“Rockstar,” DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch
“Laugh Now, Cry Later,” Drake featuring Lil Durk
“Lockdown,” Anderson .Paak
“The Box,” Roddy Ricch
“Highest in the Room,” Travis Scott
Best Rap Song
“The Bigger Picture,” Dominique Jones, Noah Pettigrew and Rai’shaun Williams, songwriters (Lil Baby)
“The Box,” Samuel Gloade and Rodrick Moore, songwriters (Roddy Ricch)
“Laugh Now, Cry Later,” Durk Banks, Rogét Chahayed, Aubrey Graham, Daveon Jackson, Ron LaTour and Ryan Martinez, songwriters (Drake featuring Lil Durk)
“Rockstar,” Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, Ross Joseph Portaro IV and Rodrick Moore, songwriters (DaBaby featuring Roddy Ricch)
“Savage,” Beyoncé, Shawn Carter, Brittany Hazzard, Derrick Milano, Terius Nash, Megan Pete, Bobby Session Jr., Jordan Kyle Lanier Thorpe and Anthony White, songwriters (Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyoncé)
Best Rap Album
“Black Habits,” D Smoke
“Alfredo,” Freddie Gibbs and the Alchemist
“A Written Testimony,” Jay Electronica
“King’s Disease,” Nas
“The Allegory,” Royce Da 5’9”
The 63rd annual Grammy Awards will take place on March 14, televised on CBS
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