“Music’s Biggest Night” happened last night, and thankfully this year, no one is ready to protest in the streets over this year’s rap winners.
The biggest winners in the rap genre were Kendrick Lamar and Eminem. K Dot can finally be called a Grammy winner (even though we’re all in agreement that he was hardcore snubbed last year) with his wins for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance for “i.” Best Rap Album went to Em for Marshall Mathers LP 2, and he also won Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for “The Monster” along with Rihanna. Jay-Z also had a win for Best R&B Song (and Best R&B Performance) for his duet with Beyonce, both of whom are no strangers to the Grammy stage.
Now let’s talk about the elephant. The Kendrick win is a win for everyone in the hip-hop community, but in order to know that that even happened, you’d have to do your own research. Why? Because no rap awards were presented at this year’s Grammys.
Really? It’s 2015, and the Grammys included Pop, Country, R&B, and Rock, but the award for “The Monster” which according to Billboard was the number 16 song for all of 2014 was not even televised. Maybe the hip-hop community might’ve settled for a presentation of Best Urban Contemporary Album (winner: Pharrell Williams for Girl), which includes Frank Ocean in its list of past winners. But that wasn’t presented either.
There isn’t enough time to present every winner, but if they needed to cut one of last night’s TWENTY-THREE performances to showcase a rap award, then that’s what they should’ve done. Back in ’89 when the Grammys thought hip-hop was just a trend, the award to DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince for Best Rap Performance was not televised. Now 26 years later, it’s undeniable that hip-hop is a global phenomenon. So why doesn’t this top genre get its moment to shine alongside the others? By the way, in 1989 the rap nominees were unified enough to boycott the Grammys until they got their moment. Could that be possible today? It’s something to consider.
See the full list of Grammy winners here.
