Who Cares?

When did the Grammys lose all their significance? It's difficult to pin down the exact moment but I think it was when Nelly received his first nomination. By now, they are an absolute joke, a horrible misrepresentation of the music industry, especially for us hip hop fans. Don't be mistaken: good "R&B" and hip hop does exist, it's just rarely recognized. The nominations read like the Billboard charts with only a few token exceptions, artists chosen to represent the "underground" with no hope of winning. The worst part is that it seems to be getting better and not worse. A couple of years ago the Roots brought home a couple of awards for "You Got Me." This year Ashanti and Nelly each receive five nominations.

And as for the other genres, what happened to working hard to establish yourself in the industry before getting a nod? Hey, I like Norah Jones's album too but it's just a good first effort. She has to grow and develop a bit more before she goes home with an armful of awards. It's glaringly obvious that they're trying to involve fresh faces to boost their popularity/ratings but they're probably harming more than helping. If your first album, greatly shaped by the record label in all likelihood, receives four Grammys then guess what your next album is going to sound like? Either a) exactly like the last, and/or b) whatever the record execs say it will.

This whole thing wouldn't be worth getting upset over except that this isn't the AMAs or the People's Choice Awards, it's the Grammys, supposedly the most respected award in music. Do these people feel no sense of responsibility to the art? Is it just a group of (white) network and label executives negotiating a way to make the most money?

Come on Grammys, throw me a bone. Give an award to Com and Erykah, just to keep me interested. If not, I'm not sure this thing between us is going to work out.