On Hip-Hop's Bad Year at the Grammys

To be honest, I've categorised "Gnarls Barkley" as funk myself. It just felt that way much more than it felt hip-hop.

I'm so glad you're back :o).

I got some input, but I wanna wait to see if anybody else is gonna chime in.

-Black People

I can't stand "Crazy," and who gives a fuck about a goddamn Grammy.

Is this the Nesta, from the Angieee-era Okayplayer boards??

well ummmm.... how can i put this?
does it really matter how many awards hip hop wins? that cheapens it just as much as the money does. beats dont matter any more its all about your hook and vocals of some chick on the track to the people at the grammys.
honestly does it make an album "less" hip hop if the folks at the grammys dont think it is?
hip hop is self expression.... somewhere down the line people forgot that.

Gnarls Barkley is not a hip hop act.
Hey Ya is not a hip hop track.

Interesting point about the need for hip hop acts to be special to get a Grammy. No doubt I'll be thinking about that in the future.

There's been a lot of good music this year; but like you said, much of it came after the deadline such as Jay-Z's Kingdom Come. On a sidenote, has anyone heard about Jay-Z's new protegee, Lady Sovereign? She's pretty good; JayZ and Missy Elliot think highly of her; I have a blog on her here: http://sovblog.blogspot.com/ .

Yo, the poster above took the words right outta of my mouth.

All I was gonna say was who gives a fuck about a goddammed grammy?

'Cept I was gon' quote Chuck D.

I really don't think we need statues to tells us how nice we are (Phife). I mean, I don't know if that weakens the muse in someone who creates anyway.

I know, for one, hiphop does not need mainstream validation.

The oscars aren't like that.

The difference between the grammy's and the oscars is that the award is based on artistic creativity. while grammys reward commercial success.

The tentpole summer blockbuster isn't gonna snag the best pic award it's gonna be some little known fall release made and performed from the heart.

Perhaps there will be a new musical awards show created to fill that void.

Lately, I've been buggin out at how the daytime radio dudes spin the urban pop stuff and I had to kinda remeber that "wait, back in the day, ain't no halfsteppin never was played on a radio when it was light outside."

It was always the late night shows. Guy or some Al B. Sure or something was on in the daytime.

I look at all of the subgenres of rock: grunge, metal, etc. And I feel like that's kinda cool they all recognize and acknowledge the distinctions between each.

Hip hop is a subgenre of urban music. It ain't really a daytime play this on the radio feed it to the nation type of thing.

It's for the discerning listerner.

I'm sure there is a rock counterpart.

The thing about this that I love is that there is really only room for one black guy.

So they gotta squeeze every characteristic into the one black guy that they let in.

And it has to be convenient to reinforce the things they poke fun at. Like a Shaniqua or a Raheem.

There's no such thing as soul brother, or the black guy who likes to rock out to al kooper and bloomfield or the black guy who might rock clothes that are his size. no complexities allowed.

If you're in your twenty's we need you to be like 50 cent or lil wayne. We like those guys.

that's how they think.

it's like portraying all white dudes like AFI or green day.

So as far as they're concerned there can be no premium hip hop.

it's only one kinda music to them. the urban pop that they allowed on the radio.

that's why that line sums this up so clearly:

who gives a fuck about a goddammed grammy?
(my posse's in effect/we got flava, terminator...)

But the only reason I wrote all that is because I have burning off topic question to ask: Has anyone here seen What The Bleep Do We Know? (normal or quantum edition?)

-Black People

"Is this the Nesta, from the Angieee-era Okayplayer boards??"

Oh Jesus...I remember back in the day a bunch of cats in rec.music.hip-hop thought I was the same as some Nesta on Okayplayer (and wondered why I seemed so much nicer over there). I don't know who that is (besides a name-biter!) I think I posted in okayplayer only a couple times, many many years ago. Sorry to disappoint.