By Aaron Nipper |
Contributor
I’ll admit, I haven’t taken the Grammy Awards seriously since Macklemore won best rap album over arguably one of the best albums I’ve heard in my lifetime, Kendrick Lamar’s “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City." That’s the equivalent of a Fast and the Furious movie winning an Oscar. However, I’ve got to hand it to the Grammy committee; they tried this year. Instead of just looking at numbers and streams, it appears they took other factors into consideration. Whether or not it was to save face is a little more complex, but regardless, there was a lot of recognition for genres that sometimes have been shortchanged, such as Cardi B winning rap album of the year, but I’ll get to that later on (buckle up).
Every year, despite the questionable award-winners and inevitable snubs (would love to have seen Kids See Ghosts get a nomination), the Grammys manage to turn in at least a couple of solid performances. True to form, one of the best moments on Sunday night was Lady Gaga coming out to perform Shallow from the movie “A Star is Born.” She began the performance over a slow arpeggio courtesy of an electric guitar, but once she started belting what I assume was the chorus (I haven’t seen the movie), she dived deep into rock-star territory. She slithered across the stage, sort of like a blonde, female Axl Rose, minus the ego of Kanye West. I must say, I am really digging this new Rock-star Lady Gaga personality. I’d be super interested to hear an album full of rock music from Gaga.
While on the subject of performances, I’d be insane not to include Cardi’s performance. Almost everything she did during the show was pretty great, namely her acceptance speech and performance. I thoroughly enjoy Cardi. She’s loud, boisterous, in-your-face, makes pretty good music and could care less what some random dork from Augusta University, nor anyone else, thinks about her. She already addressed that on her album. Nearly everything she did that night was awesome, and her paying respect to Mac Miller (it still hurts) by announcing that she was sharing her Grammy with him was the cherry on top of the extra but lovable cake. Despite this, I can’t help but feel like the committee looked at the nominees and thought “which one of these is going to make us seem like we care about other cultures”. So, naturally, they went for the female minority of the group. My personal pick would've gone to either “Astroworld” or “Daytona”. I’d say it’s high time the Grammys give rap music it’s due, and while they’re at it, give women their own category. There’s plenty of rap music made by women and a lot of it is deserving of Grammy nods. Noname’s “Room 25” comes to mind.
Drake won best rap song at the Grammys, and gave probably one of the gutsiest acceptance speeches I've ever seen. Some might say he “dissed” the awards show, but he wouldn’t even respond to Pusha T’s diss track, and I highly doubt his management would allow him to just go on stage and slam the committee that's giving him an award. From what I saw, it seemed he was more just telling the truth. People don’t need Grammys to be a great artist. That one annoying friend who only listens to “real music” has been telling you that for years. It gave me slightly more respect for Drake, making me admit that he knows how to use his position to make a difference if he wants to. I’m still not a huge fan though, based on some things he’s done. Do some research. You’ll see what I’m talking about. It’s funny to me that God’s Plan won the award, though, seeing as how that wasn’t even the best Drake song to come out this year. Nice For What would’ve been a much better choice, because that Lauryn Hill sample is heavenly.
Kacey Musgraves’ “Golden Hour” won album of the year. That was pretty awesome. I like Kacey. She reminds me of a pre-sellout Taylor Swift. Some of her songs seem reminiscent to me of the 2004 song “Breathe (2 AM)” by Anna Nalick, with a more refreshing, traditional yet somehow new country sound. It greatly impressed me the first time I listened to it. As a matter of fact, I listened to the whole thing in one sitting. I don't even like most modern country. Solid pick.
Song of the year went to Childish Gambino for “This is America”. Listen, I love Gambino. I love “Atlanta.” I remember Donald Glover in “Community,” and “Because the Internet” was a great album. However, how many people actually listened to this song without the music video? This is another case of the committee wanting to seem like they’re open minded. They handed 'Bino the award for making a statement. This isn't to say the committee is full of bad people who don't know anything about music. It just appears like they're trying too hard to make everyone happy in light of the backlash from past years.
Lady Gaga deservedly won pop solo performance for “Joanne” from “A Star is Born.” I know many people were probably pulling for “God is a Woman” by Ariana Grande to win, but, like this is America, most of the appeal there comes from the video.
Lastly, and my favorite win of the night, “Bubblin'” by Anderson .Paak and "King's Dead" by Jay Rock tied for best rap performance. To me, this is a win-win. Both .Paak and Kendrick Lamar, who is featured on "King's Dead," have ties to Dr. Dre. In addition, both Jay Rock and Anderson .Paak are relatively unknown compared to, say, Drake or Lamar. So two lesser known artists who aren't superstars won a Grammy and received some recognition. The reason I say this is my favorite win is because I'm a pretty big .Paak fan. I love his Kendrick-esque voice and ability to rap or sing over funky, 1990s West Coast sounding beats, as well as his incorporation of soul. He has own unique style.
Regardless of what you think of the Grammy Committee's decisions over the last few years, you've got to give it to the committee: it tried this year. They recognized a female minority, and gave some slightly underrated (in my opinion) artists some exposure. Despite what their reasoning may or may not have been, those accomplishments should be celebrated by the people who won the awards, as well as their fans and anyone who looks up to these artists.
Just remember, music is subjective, and you can form your own opinions.
Contact Aaron Nipper at TNIPPER@augusta.edu.