Expect greatness: can Kendrick Lamar make history tonight?
The event coined as “music’s biggest night” is featuring a storybook opportunity for an up-and-up hip-hop artist from Compton, California at the 58th annual Grammy Awards tonight.
Rapper and two-time Grammy winner Kendrick Lamar has a chance to become the third hip-hop act to ever win Album of The Year, and is also nominated for a record 11 awards — only one short of Michael Jackson’s 12 nominations in 1983.
Lamar, who released his critically-acclaimed album “To Pimp A Butterfly” last year, is also poised to win Song of the Year with his track “Alright” from the nominated album, which would be the first rap song to carry that title.
Also in the running for Album of the Year are pop stars Taylor Swift’s “1989,” The Weeknd’s “The Beauty Behind The Madness,” country singer Chris Stapleton “Traveller” and rock band Alabama Shakes’ “Sound & Color.”
Adele, who recently released her record-breaking selling album “25,” will be making her return to the Grammy stage after a four-year hiatus. Lady Gaga will also be performing a tribute to the late, legendary rock star David Bowie.
Lamar’s nomination for Album of The Year holds significance for all parties involved.
Many felt that Lamar was snubbed when his debut album “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City” earned him seven nominations at the 2014 Grammy Awards but not Album of the Year. Further controversy arose when Macklemore then took home Rap Album of the Year instead of Lamar.
Macklemore, a white artist, put out music that pandered more to the committee. His album “The Heist” featured several commercial pop hits including the diamond-selling song “Thrift Shop.” He did apologize shortly after the ceremony, commenting that Lamar’s album was the better candidate.
The committee’s controversial decision revamped several discussions and think pieces over race and the committee’s continued disconnect with black and hip-hop culture.
The Grammys, which began in 1959, didn’t award the first Grammy award for Best Rap Performance until 30 years later in 1989. Winners of the award, the Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff, boycotted the ceremony with several other rappers due to the fact the award’s presentation was not televised.
A decade later, 21-time Grammy winner JAY Z boycotted the show due to what he felt were slights in the nominations that year, and also the non-showing of the rap categories during the live telecast. Last year, the Grammy’s again did not televise any of the four rap categories.
Lamar’s nominations make him the most nominated rap artist for a single night, surpassing the previous owner of that record, Eminem.
Lamar’s album “To Pimp A Butterfly” explores the show’s marginalization of non-white rap artists. Released in March, 2015, “To Pimp A Butterfly” is a politically-charged record that has received praise from activists focusing on racial issues.
Tackling themes such as race relations, police brutality, the exploitation of black talent in entertainment and survivor’s guilt, the album has undoubtedly impacted the industry.
The record has garnered high praise from many including President Barack Obama, who welcomed Lamar to the White House last year to discuss the youth and solving issues in the inner city. The president even chose the album’s “How Much A Dollar Cost” as his favorite song of 2015. The album was also ranked number one on end-of-the-year lists from publications including Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Vice and Billboard.
An arguable contestant for most important album of the decade, “To Pimp A Butterfly” moved the needle sonically and socially. While there have been albums that have touched on similar topics, Lamar’s second album made the strongest statements.
A timepiece for the black experience in 2016, “To Pimp A Butterfly” will likely hold a significant place for this generation the same way Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and Public Enemy’s “It Takes A Nation of Millions…” have in the past.
More than just a social commentary, the album is marked by its well-crafted sound. With the album, Lamar chose to reject mainstream music and embraced past influences from legendary black artists such as The Isley Brothers, George Clinton, Parliament Funkadelic and Prince instead.
With a jazz instrumentalist and funk sound, “To Pimp A Butterfly” sounds nothing like anything from 2015.
Compared to the only two hip-hop albums to win Album of the Year — Lauryn Hill’s “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” and OutKast’s diamond-selling “Speakerboxx/ The Love Below” — “To Pimp A Butterfly” has little-to-no successful commercial mainstream songs. “Alright,” a song which uplifts while noting the injustice that devalues black lives, has now become a protest record for the Black Lives Matter Movement and civil rights activist groups.
If Lamar wins this award tonight it would mean that the Grammy committee finally made the right decision and recognized hip-hop as a rightful leading force in music and pop culture. Even more importantly, however, his win might be a breakthrough moment that amplifies the social issues that our society has failed to solve in the past 100 years.
Throughout time, the entertainment industry has marginalized black artists repeatedly. This occurrence was seen in this year’s Oscar nominations, in which no black-directed films were up for awards, even the record-breaking “Straight Outta Compton.” The controversy spawned the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag on social media and caused actor Will Smith to boycott this year’s awards.
A Lamar win might help bridge the gap between the Grammy committee and the current rap generation and rectify hip-hop’s place in music. Not only would it be a win for kid from Compton, but also a win for rap artists who have had to succumb to the Grammy’s snubs in the past.
“I want all of them. It’s not only a statement for myself but it’s a statement for the culture,” Lamar said in a recent interview with the New York Times. “(The Grammys are) important, because of the foundation the forefathers laid before me. Nas didn’t get a chance to be in that position. Pac. So to be acknowledged and to actually win, it’s for all of them.”
Staff Writer, Muktaru Jalloh
Muktaru is a senior double majoring in English and political science with a minor in media studies. Topic areas Muktaru enjoys covering include music, sports, pop culture and politics. // Twitter | Facebook
