“You should be honored by my lateness, that I would even show up to this fake sh*t.” – Kanye West, Stronger
Every year we gather in front our televisions for award show season and every year we’re in an uproar or begrudge undeserving winners. Whether it’s politics, economics, or a just sheer obliviousness you walk away feeling like an artist’s work didn’t receive the proverbial cherry on top. The genre that constantly falls victim to this (in my humble opinion) is rap/hip-hop. Though the culture pushes the narrative that we shouldn’t look to whyt owned award shows for validation, the blunt truth is we DO (to some degree). Recognition and appreciation at its highest levels is something we all yearn for in some capacity.
Awarding more deserving rap/hip-hop artists starts with the perception of rap by outsiders – and by outsiders I mean those who don’t truly engage or consume the culture enough to truly conceptualize and interpret it. One of the biggest problems I see is those very same external forces homogenize the culture to the point that it diminishes the nuances, intricacies, and subtleties that make it the most influential sub-culture in the world. Rap is arguably the most linguistically challenging and dexterous art form to date. Even in its most elementary form, it is difficult to hone and project with resulting praise.
The diversification of rap over the years has birthed many styles and sounds. Whether it’s trap, conscious rap, boom-bap, gangsta rap, grime or drill the sub-genres continue to attest to the versatility of the art form. Think about it, rappers often switch up their flow from album to album and even song to song. They’re essentially learning how torap all over and over again. With all the artists that fall within the aforementioned sub-genres (including all other prevalent sub-genres) award shows shove them into oversimplified categories:
Grammy Awards
Best Rap Performance
Best Rap/Sung Performance
Best Rap Song
Best Rap Album
American Music Awards
Favorite Artist Rap/Hip-Hop
Favorite Album Rap/Hip-Hop
Video Music Awards
Top Rap Artist
Top Rap Song
Top Rap Album
Top Rap Collaboration
Top Rap Tour
Quite underwhelming to say the least. The issue is very apparent at face value. This is even more discerning in light of the fact that we live in the information age where there is just TOO much music to consume (no complaints here though). So much that you essentially have two options: listen to projects at supersonic speeds or have an overstuffed queue of music you plan to listen to whenever life allows you to properly digest. This again is a byproduct of thediversification of rap music over the years. How can we possibly expect to box something so abstract into such mundane divisions? It’s like asking the fashion world to pick the best outfit between a summer and fall outfit – you’re comparing apples to oranges.
Let’s look at 2016 albums for example. If you’re on the voting panel of an award show how do you compare Kanye’s Life of Pablo, ScHoolboy Q’s Blank Face LP, Travis Scott’s Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, YG’s Still Brazy, Anderson Paak’s Malibu and Kaytranada’s 99.9%? Now you’re comparing apples to oranges to kale to spinach to grapes. The differences in approach are so glaring that one can’t possibly consider the culmination of these albums just “rap/hip-hop”.
So what’s the result of siloing artistry? Simple. Cannibalism and even a slight disdain amongst artists (especially after the “winner” is announced). I find it somewhat reminiscent of a Mandingo fighting mentality – we’re pitted against each other, one of has to lose and I sure as hell don’t want it to be me – its nothing personal, just business. Both sides feel the impact no matter the victor.
But I say all that to say this; every problem has a potential solution. Mine is oversimplified (go-figure): expand the voting categories to reflect the current landscape. Music is as diverse as the people who create it. Let’s acknowledge, accept and herald those differences with categories that actually highlight them. Conscious rap and gangsta rap should be put in separate voting categories just as alternative rap and trap should be considered distinguishable entities. As the times change so should the music and the voting categories.
I believe this approach begins to fulfill the duty of what awards shows should actually do – award every type and level of professional artistry on all accords. Granted, we also need voting board members to ingratiate themselves more with the culture rather than just commercial metrics in order to appropriately select winners. Imagine how less of a joke we’d take the voting committees if they didn’t make it so transparent that they absolutely suck at their jobs.
Abdris Elba, B.S. in Advertising – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ph.D. in Trolling is a SQL/BI developer, aspiring voiceover actor and living proof that the chicken indeed comes before the egg.
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