Dec 8, 2004

47th year of Grammy BS...

So, I just wanted to echo the sentiments of fellow bloggers about the Grammys, W-T-F? It's not that I'm in disbelief at the nominations, especially the grossly overwhelming nominations for Kanye West and Usher, but I am more mad that this is just how shit goes with these "award" shows. We know this and in 47 years of this tradition, I suspect we've known this to be some massive bullshit for a very long time now.

In thinking about how or why an Usher and/or Kanye West are so praised and rewarded in the industry for their mediocre talent, I'm forced to think about the scene in Brown Sugar when Dre stormed in on Simon, furious that he had signed Ren and Ten, the Hip Hop Dalmations. Simon told Dre..."if you wanna keep it real, take it over to Rawkas, at Millenium, we keep it profitable. I needs an artist that can get me that MTV ROTATION." Usher and Kanye West have that heavy rotation and more....the hearts, mind and support of the CD buying consumer.

Now I can honestly admit, I buy a lot of music and sometimes I buy shit that I end up not liking or just because of the hype. I own both Usher and Kanye's highly nominated albums. Usher's album I ended up not liking and Kanye, I bought because of all of the hype...and thats truly all it is...HYPE!!

In any case, take a look for yourself:
Grammy Nominations

P.S. What pisses me off even more than these Grammy nominations,is Kanye West's Gospel Album of the Year nomination from the Stellar Awards because of the song Jesus Walks. Now ain't that some real Bullshit for you?

4 comments:

summer of sam said...

stellar award? hellllll naaaawwww.

jesus will walk right on stage if he wins.

Jdid said...

Got to disagree with you on Kayne's hype. Personally I'm not a big fan of his personality from the distance I see it at and I dislike the concept of the album. Got issues with that whole College Dropout thing but compared to the hip hop that was released this year Kayne had one of the nicest albums released.

nahmix said...

Jdid

I have to disagree. Kanye's music is pure hype, above and beyond a seemingly jacked up personality and terrible concept for the album. Yeah, he had one of the nicest hip hop releases, but you said it yourself, look what he was up against in terms or other album releases. In my book, Kanye West was in the right place, when hip hop was in the wrong place. He personifies mediocre talent. His skills as a producer far outweigh his lyrical skills and I don't like producers who attempt to make hip hop sound all the same, hence your Neptunes and Timbaland.

Anonymous said...

Jdid -

Relativity isn't a good criteria for giving praise. if something is good, it's good in a field of excellent works or poor ones. Being a stand-out in a field that contains Lil' Jon, Lil' Flip, and Lil' Scrappy doesn't make you good. It makes you better. That's two different things.

Summer -

I totally agree with you on the Stellar Award thing. If Kanye wins, Jesus is coming back to snatch the fucking statuette out that fool's hand. The Polo-plugging jerk.

Maegen -

I do think that the award shows have been falling short for years now, going with the trends and numbers instead of recognizing real talent. And it is the fault of the audience, who probably wouldn't even watch the shows if they didn't highlight the more commercial artists. On a large scale, Americans just don't appreciate quality. At least they don't require it in their art.