If you know anything about hip hop and the Grammy’s you know that the relationship is not good. Many people believe that the Grammy’s does an especially terrible job representing hip hop. Many people might be familiar with the outrage over last year’s Grammys when Macklemore beat Kendrick Lamar for best rap album. I wrote a recap and analysis of white rappers in hip hop that you can read it here. However the history of hip hop and the Grammys is even worse than that. Below is a video from Complex magazine breaking down how the Grammy’s treats hip hop.
Grammy Facts
-Macklemore has more Grammys than Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G., Nas, DMX, Busta Rhymes, KRS-One, Rick Ross, Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Run DMC, Public Enemy, Big Pun, Young Jeezy, Ja Rule and Kendrick Lamar combined!
-Iggy Azalea has more Grammy nominations in rap categories than MC Lyte, Lil Kim, and Foxy Brown combined!
-The Black Eyed Peas have won more rap Grammys than Gang Starr, Geto Boys, N.W.A., and Tribe Called Quest, combined!
-Drake has the same number of Grammys as Coolio, and Sir Mix-a-Lot, with 1 Grammy.
-A female rapper hasn’t won a rap Grammy in over 10 years. Not since Missy Elliot’s Work It.
-Of the last 92 rap related Grammy’s given, 41 of them have gone to either Eminem, Jay-Z, or Kanye West.
About: YG is famous for his songs “My N*gga”, “Who Do You Love (ft. Drake)”, and was featured on Jerimih’s“Don’t Tell ‘Em. Back in 2009 YG partnered with Ty Dolla $ign to make “Toot it and Boot it”. Ty Dolla $ign is most well know for his song “Paranoid (ft. B.o.B.)”, but also produced Lupe’s “Next to it”(which was awesome). YG created a label, Pu$haz Ink, that includes Ty Dolla $ign and DJ Mustard among others. Big TC, who sings the soulful hook on this song, is Ty Dolla $ign’s younger brother.
Big TC is also incarcerated looking at life in prison for a murder charge. Ty Dolla $ign’s debut album is going to be call Free TC in reference to his brother and to wrongfully imprisoned people everywhere.
The core of Thank God was record from Big TC’s cell. Video below
This song is only one of many great song’s on YG’s 2014 album “My Krazy Life” which was was snubbed by the Grammys. Definitely one of the best rap albums this year. I’m sure YG being a blood had nothing to do with not getting nominated.
Favorite Part: This song is part of a great album with great songs, but this hook still jumped out at me. It wasn’t until much later that I discovered the story behind the song.
This song is a quick first take cover I made of Kendrick Lamar’s masterful “Sing About Me, I’m Dying Of Thirst” (produced by Like of Pac Div).
I originally just wanted to save this song to my Soundcloud account but when I tried to save it I got the following message….
“Our automatic content protection system has detected that your track, “———- ——“, may contain copyright protected content and we’ve blocked it from being published on your profile.”
It feels shitty to be told a small piece of art that you made with love, in appreciation of a great song, is illegal and shall be blocked. Fuck You Soundcloud. How can you supress culture like that?
Lucky for me I pay for my own web host and, at least for now, that web host will still let me host this mp3.
Favorite Part: You have listen to the original song (I don’t do it any justice). The gunshots at the end of the first verse is one of the most power pieces of music that I know.
Tuxedo-DoItAudio Player DOWNLOAD MP3 Tuxedo-DoIt.mp3 Summary: Hooray for Friday! Do you love Uptown Funk but can’t stand to listen to it one more time? About Artist: Tuxedo is one part white soul boy Mayer Hawthorne, one part underground hip hop producer Jake One. They recently came together to form Tuxedo and plan to put out a debut album later this year. About Song: This really gets at the disco vibe at the heart of Tuxedo. With Uptown Funk getting so much play time I thought now would be a good time to share this track. Favorite Part: I love that funky disco vibe. Ain’t no reason why this song isn’t all over the radio. Other: Mayer Hawthorne Wikipedia Jake One Wikipedia
TheophilusLondon-CantStopftKanyeWestAudio Player DOWNLOAD MP3 TheophilusLondon-CantStopftKanyeWest.mp3 Summary: Oh I really love this one. About Artist: Theophilus London, original from Trinidad, is an underground somewhat experimental, rapper from Brooklyn. Kanye West needs no introduction. About Song: This song is from London’s second album Vibes (2014). The cover art for the Vibes was shot and signed by Karl Lagerfeld, famous fashion dude from Chanel and Fendi.
Elements of the song are based on Norman Feels’ You Can’t Stop My Love Favorite Part: There is so much I love about this song.
The intro “to grow old, in my arms, oh girl” is so beautiful and then layer on that “can’t stop, can’t stop” mmmm. Brings a tear to my eye.
And then in Kanye’s verse when the syncopated drums drop in. I really like Kanye’s line “But it ain’t ralph though” in reference to a rant he had on Sway in the morning.
I like this part in Londons’ verse…
“Please spend the night forever
The silence in my room is louder than kaboom
Let’s skip the north freeze for the southern breeze
The grass is always greener when there’s bumblebees”
The slow flowing outro is also so nice, something about the mix of the flowery parts with that sick drum pattern.
NotoriousBIG-ReadToDieAudio Player DOWNLOAD MP3 NotoriousBIG-ReadToDie.mp3 Summary: Throwback Thursday About Artist: The Notorious B.I.G. (aka Biggie) is the one and only immortalized east coast rapper. About Song: This song is from Biggie’s debut album Born to Die. This version is from a collection of original versions, before executive producer Puff Daddy (aka Diddy) changed them before their final release.
Fun Fact: Though Ready to Die came out in 1994 the song was outlawed in the United States in 2006 due to an uncleared sample. All copies were removed the shelves and a new ‘edited’ version of the album was released removing/censoring the illegal parts. Favorite Part: This song is a classic and I love the jazzy, tribe-like, boom bap sound of this version. Other: Notorious B.I.G. Wikipedia
Wale-GirlsOnDrugsAudio Player DOWNLOAD MP3 Wale-GirlsOnDrugs.mp3 Summary: Wale all day. About Artist: Wale is one of my favorite hip hop artists. He’s from Washington DC and has been doin his since the mid 2000s. There’s a bunch of Wale on this blog. About Song: This song is off of his Dec 25th 2014 mixtape Festivus. The mixtape is in anticipation of Wale’s upcoming “Album About Nothing” which will feature Jerry Seinfeld and otther Seinfeld related stuff. Wale and Jerry did a cool project with Complex magazine and made this funny video spoofing an infamous call/rant Wale sent to Complex previously. Favorite Part: Love the Kramer intro, but it’s really the kids singing on the track that I love. Just a solid Wale song Other: Wale Wikipedia
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