“Rap is not pop / if you call it that, then stop!” – Q-Tip in 1993
Rap definitely was not pop 20 years ago when Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest spit that line in their classic song “Check The Rhime,” but things have certainly changed since then. Rappers used to be considered sell outs if they crossed over to the pop market and sold millions of units (i.e. Vanilla Ice and Hammer). These days if your album doesn’t go platinum you are considered a flop. A gold plaque from the RIAA rarely gets you praise these days.
And so the $100,000 question of the hour is: is media darling Macklemore a rap artist or a pop artist who sorta raps?
Seems some members of the Grammy committee feel he is absolutely a pop act and doesn’t belong in any rap categories at all.
A recent AP report says anonymous members of the committee feel as though Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ album The Heist, which is nominated for a Best Rap Album and Album of the Year, feels more like a pop album than a rap album. Ultimately, the committee decided to allow Macklemore to remain in the rap category.
The group’s manager Zach Quillen thinks that when you get to the basics of it, the group is without question a rap act. “If you strip away being influenced by the popularity or by who their fans are or by the amount of radio traction their songs got… and just dissect musically what it is, there’s no question it’s a Hip Hop album,” he said.
Hot 97’s program director Ebro Darden agrees adding, “If you’re rapping over a beat, it’s Hip Hop.”
For what it’s worth, although honored to be nominated for Best Rap Album, Macklemore himself has gone on the record and repeatedly said he believes Kendrick Lamar should win the Best Rap Album Grammy for the critically acclaimed Good Kidd…M.A.A.D. City.
Guess we’ll have to see how it all plays out.
Tune into the 56th annual Grammy’s tomorrow on CBS at 8/7c
-tj armour / @tjarmour
