American recording artiste India
Arie wasn’t
pleased with how the 2014 Grammy Awards went
down on Sunday night at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, California. She took to her Tumblr page to speak out on how black artistes were
not recognized and also made mention of how the show is all about popularity
and not the music and ended by asking why Nelson Mandela wasn’t recognized.
Read it below;
@Kendricklamar WAS robbed, BUT he was not
the only one who was robbed. Personally, I was pleased he was able to
perform and they KILLED! IT! One of the FEW moving moments of the night for ME.
Though it’s called “Music industries
biggest night” the #Grammys are NOT about the music, it’s a
popularity contest. The voting process allows people, to vote on name
recognition alone – the music industry politics is a whole NUTHER conversation.
Too much to go into here.
The American Music Awards is a show
that awards sales and popularity – the #Grammys are SAID to
be about the music.
If the hip hop community voted on hip hop –
r&b COMMUNITY the same – same for each category – we’d see
winners that reflect the MUSIC ITSELF. We all
know that’s just not the way it goes.
NOW the BIGGER losers, are ALL of black
music. Where was the black music community represented in last nights #Grammy
show? Performers and Winners (or not) … Where were the black artists?
And this isn’t the first time the #Grammy’s
has had a show all but excluding young black America and black artists in
general, although we set the worlds musical trends. Why NOT televise
the lifetime achievement awards of the Isley Brothers? SURELY
they deserved to be on televised stage LAST NIGHT! While other artists were on
stage TWICE?
The truth is in a perfect world diversity
would matter, and respect would be rampant, but the TRUTH is, The #Grammys is a
television show, and in THAT world ratings reign supreme. So, in
general, bigger names take the stage, and sadly the biggest
names often times ARE BIGGER drawn along racial lines from the release of an
album. i.e. marketing dollars, and just general support. It’s
unfortunate.
I don’t even get surprised any more, but,
it still hits my sense of fairness, because I KNOW many of the
artists who are overlooked. I LIVE in that world. We keep
showing up and subjecting ourselves to the game, hoping MAYBE we’ll win. I was
so HAPPY to see @Kendricklamar take that stage – because it is a FORM of
winning, at LEAST, he was SEEN.
Speaking of diversity, congratulations to
my PERSONAL favorite albums of the year –
@I_GregoryPorter #LiquidSpirit @Realsnarkypuppy and @lalahhathaway
on your win and THANK YOU! @pharrell for acting RIGHT in the presence
of the greatness that is @Nilerodgers and #StevieWonder
Love to all #SoulBirdsWorldWide
@IndiaArie
P.S. No mention of Nelson Mandela at ALL? … and THIS is why we NEED the Image Awards AND the BET awards.
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