JAY-Z’s Speech Shows Why Hip Hop Artists Should Take More Risks
I’ve never heard JAY-Z, arguably the greatest rapper of all-time, stutter in all my years of studying him. The Marcy legend has a rare command over words, and always seems to drive at his own speed when articulating his thoughts on wax or in interviews. The fact he hit a couple of speed bumps should’ve let us know he was gearing up to drop some shit. Jay thanked his contemporary, super producer Dr. Dre—whom the award he accepted was named after—for paving new roads for hip hop on a global scale. Afterwards, all hell broke loose and I loved every second it.
Jay poked fun at Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff’s boycott of the 1989 Grammys since the award presentation wasn’t televised; his own boycotting of the 1999 Grammy’s in defense of DMX being snubbed was also mentioned. “We both still watched the show,” he joked. But the Brooklyn mogul grew more serious in tone when addressing that his wife—the icon Beyoncé—had earned the most Grammy awards without ever receiving the top award Album of the Year. Despite shaking up the industry with the surprise self-titled album, shifting the culture with Lemonade’s delicious squeeze of sounds and visuals, and dominating house music with Renaissance, she’d been snubbed again and again.
And she’s not the only one. Although he’s amassed an impressive 17 Grammy Awards, Kendrick Lamar has dropped the Album of the Year 3 times without taking home the coveted hardware. Nas didn’t win his first Grammy until his career resurgence started with King’s Disease (2020). Kanye West, who ironically set the blueprint (aha) for his mentor’s speech last night, never received the Album of the Year; he was also sidelined from major nominations for his critically acclaimed opus My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. And let’s not get started with the fact that Maroon 5 beat Kanye for Best New Artist.
The list goes on and on, including well-known acts like Tribe Called Quest and best kept secrets like Robert Glasper’s Black Radio. Although 4:44 wasn’t the best record of 2017, JAY-Z deserved much better than going 0/8 as he sat in the front row. That body of work was solid. It’s clear that popular white acts with large fan bases often win without moving the needle in terms of ingenuity and originality. Many have won by appropriating from black artists, but race is only the surface of the Recording Academy’s errant decision-making. This is a war on urban black music.
We’re all familiar with Michael Jackson’s danceable classic Off the Wall. What’s not often discussed is how the stellar album only received 2 nominations and one win at the 1980 Grammy Awards. That win was for best R&B Male Vocal Performance despite the fact that “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough” isn’t an R&B record. JAY-Z’s words to his peers “some of you don’t belong in the category [they put you in]” rang true even back then. What came next was Thriller, and we all know how that went.
The Academy has a tendency to group together black artists when they create a bold sound that runs contrary to the pop pulse of the time; they are subsequently sidelined from major wins. Going against the grain is only rewarded in retrospect. This is why Lionel Richie’s Can’t Slow Down beat Prince’s Purple Rain; it’s why Mumford and Sons’ Babel beat Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange; it’s why Bruno’s 24K Magic beat Damn; it’s why Alessia Cara beat SZA for Best New Artist despite being nominated for a Grammy two years prior; despite her incredible talent, it’s why Esperanza Spalding beat out Drake for Best New Artist when most viewers had never heard her name before. Somehow it’s even how the black jazz musician Herbie Hancock beat out the late Amy Winehouse—whose timeless music carried an urban black influence.
We all know SZA’s masterpiece SOS should’ve beaten Taylor Swift’s Midnights for Album of the Year. It was the more original, unique, versatile and finely tuned of the two. But this is bigger than that. As JAY-Z mentioned, we need to show up. And this time, we need to show up for hip hop and traditionally black music. There should be no more talk of artists “transcending hip hop” or being “bigger than rap.” Disruptors have already broken that ground for us. With tour money far outpacing record label checks, black artists must cast off the pressure to “go pop” or “crossover” to touch bigger bread. There are enough fans out here for everyone. Being looked at as a Hip hop artist should no longer be a limiting label. Hip hop is boundless, and so are we. Now that we know that, it’s time to stop making safe music to please The Academy. It’s time for artists to get in the studio and craft the music they want to hear and challenge themselves to be more innovative and fearless with their art. Breaking the mold is laughed at until there’s no choice but to hop on the wave. Let’s see what slept on masterpieces next year’s current brings ashore.
