(CelebNMusic247-News) Why Macklemore and NOT Pusha T for Grammy Hip Hop Noms?
Out of the 5 nominated hip hop artists in each category only one name sticks out like a sore thumb and that is Macklemore. “White Privilage doesn’t earn you hip hop credit!
This Sunday, the 56th Annual Grammy Awards will air on CBS. If Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ The Heist wins the Grammy for Best Rap Album, it’ll be both the best and worst night of Macklemore’s career. Macklemore is nominated for a total of seven awards, including Best New Artist, Song of The Year, and even Album of The Year. But no award this year is more important than Best Rap Album.
We beg to differ, since we don’t feel Macklemore belongs in any of the hip hop categories, but obvious his label is parlaying for him to win. Hip Hop is for real artists who embrace the genre, so this is NOT a white thing, even though Macklemore spoke on the color of his skin helps him attain his so-called “white privileges” that some black rappers have never been able to attain.
A more deserving rap artist who has a phenomenal album is Pusha T with My Name Is My Name, which we dubbed best album of 2013, but it seems the Grammy board has overlooked quality hip hop for fluffy showboat non-hip hop. If you look at any best of hip hop of 2013, from our BEST OF 2013 to Spin and Rolling Stone, you’ll notice Macklemore is NOT on any of the list, because he is NOT hip hop. Jay Z was also NOT on anyone’s list this year. The Magna Carta luckily has 3 track worth listening to on the album..The rest of it is trash and signs that Jay Z needs to step down from his mic spitting days. Maybe do hooks or features, but Jay is NOT the hip hop artist that get the party jumping anymore. #SorryNotSorry
For some reason Macklemore has been categorized hip hop, but the ecentric artist who possesses some powerful singles in 2014 are more alternative/pop song than true hip hop track. This is NOT a white or black thing, it’s a music thing and Macklemore happens to be one of those artists with crossover appeal, but recognizing him in the right category means so much more.
For example Eminem fits the hip hop category since his music embraces the true essence of hip hop for a white generation. Macklemore does not.
Here are the 3 categories of Hip Hop Nominations:
BEST RAP PERFORMANCE
Started From The Bottom – Drake – Label: Young Money/Cash Money
Berzerk – Eminem – Label: Aftermath/Interscope/Shady Records
Tom Ford – Jay Z – Track from: Magna Carta…Holy Grail – Label: Roc Nation
Swimming Pools (Drank) – Kendrick Lamar – Track from: Good Kid, M.A.A.D City – Label: TDE/Aftermath/Interscope Records
Thrift Shop – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Featuring Wanz- Track from: The Heist – Label: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis LLC
Our Pick: Berzerk – Eminem
BEST RAP SONG
F***in’ Problems – Tauheed Epps, Aubrey Graham, Kendrick Lamar, Rakim Mayers & Noah Shebib, songwriters (ASAP Rocky Featuring Drake, 2 Chainz & Kendrick Lamar) Track from: Long.Live.ASAP Label: RCA Records / Polo Grounds Music; Publishers: ASAP Rocky Music Publishing LLC/Sony/ATV Songs LLC/Mavor & Moses LLC/Kobalt Songs Music Publishing, Inc./Herbilicious Music/Black Fountain Music/Livewrite/EMI Blackwood Music, Inc./Ty Epps Music/Top Dawg Music/Hard Working Black Folks, Inc./WB Music Corp
Holy Grail – Shawn Carter, Terius Nash, J. Harmon, Timothy Mosley, Justin Timberlake & Ernest Wilson, songwriters (Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl & Krist Novoselic, songwriters) (Jay Z Featuring Justin Timberlake) Track from: Magna Carta…Holy Grail Label: Roc Nation; Publishers: Carter Boys/Warner Chappell/WB Music Corp./2082 Music Publishing/Tennmann Tunes/Universal Music Z Tunes/VB Rising/ole/Jerome Harmon Publishing/Chrysalis Music/Let The Story Begin Publishing/EMI Virgin Songs Inc./Primary Wave Tunes/The End Of Music/MJ Twelve Music/Warner-Tamerlane PublishingCorp./Murky Slough Music
New Slaves – Christopher Breaux, Ben Bronfman, Mike Dean, Noah Goldstein, Louis Johnson, Malik Jones, Sham Joseph, Elon Rutberg, Sakiya Sandifer, Travis Scott, Che Smith, Kanye West & Cydel Young, songwriters (Anna Adamis & Gabor Presser, songwriters) (Kanye West) Track from: Yeezus Label: Def Jam
Started From The Bottom – W. Coleman, Aubrey Graham & Noah Shebib, songwriters (Bruno Sanfilippo, songwriter) (Drake) Label: Young Money/Cash Money; Publishers: Sandra Gale/EMI Music Publishing/Mavor & Moses Inc./Kobalt
Thrift Shop – Ben Haggerty & Ryan Lewis, songwriters (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Featuring Wanz) Track from: The Heist Label: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis LLC; Publishers: Macklemore Publishing/Ryan Lewis Publishing
Our Pick: Started From The Bottom
BEST RAP ALBUM
Nothing Was The Same – Drake – Label: Young Money/Cash Money
Magna Carta…Holy Grail – Jay Z – Label: Roc Nation
Good Kid, M.A.A.D City – Kendrick Lamar – Label: TDE/Aftermath/Interscope Records
The Heist – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Label: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis LLC
Yeezus – Kanye West – Label: Def Jam
Our Pick: Good Kid, M.A.A.D City – Kendrick Lamar
Grammy Rap Committee Allegedly Didn’t Want Macklemore Nominated In ANY Rap Categories
The question is thus, was the Grammy board paid off to put a NONE Hip Hop album in the rap category to have a white face rep hip hop other than Eminem?
According to an AP report, an unnamed source claims rap committee members asserted that the Seattle native’s The Heist album (with Ryan Lewis) was more reflective of pop music than rap. The controversy became a topic that had to be addressed by the entire Grammy committee. The general committee, which is made up of representatives from all genres, eventually voted to keep Mack and Lewis in the rap categories.
Though the group’s manager Zach Quillen says:
“If you strip away being influenced by the popularity or by who their fans are or by the amount of radio traction their songs got… and just dissect musically what it is, there’s no question it’s a Hip Hop album.”
We completely disagree with the group’s manager Zach Quillen, Drake producer Noah “40? Shebib and Hot 97 program director Ebro Darden who thinks “If you’re rapping over a beat, it’s Hip Hop,” that’s called SELL OUT Ebro!
It would be nice to have crossover artists stay in their main lane when award season comes around so each categories true artist are represented! If Macklemore wins that is gonna make a lot of people question the Grammy board.
Hopefully a real hip hop artist wins for each category and NOT Macklemore.
