India.Arie pins open letter in response to lack of blacks in Grammys
To say that singer India.Arie didn’t like this past Sunday’s Grammys would be an understatement.
In an open letter, the songwriter talked about the dearth of black award winners and black faces on the telecast, and called the awards show a popularity contest.
Though it’s called “Music industries biggest night” the #Grammys are NOT about the music, it’s a popularity contest. The voting process allows people, to vote on name recognition alone – the music industry politics is a whole NUTHER conversation. Too much to go into here. The American Music Awards is a show that awards sales and popularity – the #Grammys are SAID to be about the music.
If the hip hop community voted on hip hop – r&b COMMUNITY the same – same for each category – we’d see winners that reflect the MUSIC ITSELF. We all know that’s just not the way it goes. NOW the BIGGER losers, are ALL of black music. Where was the black music community represented in last nights #Grammy show? Performers and Winners (or not) … Where were the black artists?
Arie went on to conclude that this year’s Grammys is why the NAACP Image Awards [even though white artists have been nominated for those awards, too] and BET Awards are important.
Did you watch the Grammys?
Do you agree with Arie’s assessment?
Sound off below!