Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

I don't have a lot of positive things to say about the Grammys. Already the fact that they have a zillion categories makes it hard for me to take them seriously.

But I also don't like the way Grammys seem to be leaning towards the mass-produced generic and forgettable tunes that record studios nowadays churn out for teenagers. Popular artists nowadays have great voices but the songs themselves are all very simple and very similar. I understand that there is great variety in different music styles and awards like Grammys would always lean towards the popular and the bland, but honestly - Taylor Swift mey have a great voice, but I have a really hard time seeing how so many people could ever consider the generic and unimaginative songs in 1989 as Album of the Year material.

Concerning Kendrick Lamar - well, I'm just not a particular fan of rap music. But I still would have preferred his Album to Swift's.

Sam Hunt is a walking god. Just beautiful.

That's really all I have to add to this thread.

Well, Kanye West did just ask Pitchfork to stop reviewing "black music"....

#blackmusicmatters

He would join very rare company indeed, since rap artists rarely get nominated for, and almost never win, the Big Four awards (Lauryn Hill and OutKast are the sole winners of the Album award). This is probably the reason Lamar wants to win it for hip-hop, and why an artist with 21 Grammys (Kanye West) can reasonably complain about the Grammys' continual disdain for hip-hop. Lamar's 11 nominations are second only to Michael Jackson's 12 during his Thriller year, and Butterfly is easily one of the great albums of the past quarter century, so there is hope that he can break through. But with T.Swift...maybe not.

His album is a stunner, isn't it? I tend not to pay attention to the Grammys because it's outright impossible to get the true breadth of the music scene for me, but To Pimp a Butterfly is an estimable achievement and will likely end the decade as one of the ten best albums.

I found it fascinating that when he debuted, he was shunted aside a little thanks to Frank Ocean's narrative (which doesn't bug me as much because Ocean was also great) and, of course, the Macklemore loss. I don't think a Lamar victory would have that big an impact on hip-hop culture, truth be told. But it would be a great choice.

I know the Grammy awards are generally ignored on this board, and for very good reason, but I felt this year merited some discussion: namely, the nominations for Kendrick Lamar's album To Pimp a Butterfly. Anybody have any opinions on the album/artist? Thoughts on his open statement of wanting to win Album of the Year (actually, all 11 of his nods) for the state of hip-hop and its culture?