Let me start by saying, the Grammy’s have never done anything beneficial for Hip Hop.
Kendrick’s nominations, while impressive and likely to give a lot of his fans a nice warm feeling in their hearts, are not a signal of a change in how The Grammy’s view Hip Hop.
I’ve seen a good number of people suggest the recognition of To Pimp A Butterfly is suggestive of a newfound respect towards the genre. Honestly, they couldn’t be more wrong. After the backlash from Macklemore’s win, I can’t see Kendrick’s nomination as anything but an attempt at saving face.
Also, while I might put To Pimp A Butterfly as my album of the year, there’s a gang of albums released this year whose titles will remain unmentioned. Even Jay Rock, who’s in Kendrick’s camp, won’t see the Grammy stage despite 90059 being an incredibly solid album.
If there was any doubt in my mind that they did care about Hi Hop, it faded when I saw the amount of nominations handed to Kendrick. It’s not that he doesn’t deserve them; but the situation is as subtle as a man coming home extra late, and not missing a second after stepping in the room to lather his girlfriend with compliments. He’s cheating and The Grammy’s don’t really love Kendrick as much as they’d like you to think.
Even with the nominations, let’s not pretend like the album of the year isn’t going to go to Taylor Swift.
art by your homie, Arthur Banach
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