“At the Grammys, yo they tried to India.Arie me” – Common
(At the 2002 Grammys India.Arie was nominated for seven Grammys but won none. She lost to Alicia Keys in five of the seven categories.)
Just a couple days ago, ro reported that some members of the Grammy Awards committee questioned whether Macklemore and Ryan Lewis should be placed in the rap or pop catergories. Many fans don’t consider the pair to be a hip-hop or rap group. In all fairness, their first mainstream look happened to blow up and go pop. Make no mistake about it Macklemore is a rapper first. It just so happens that he’s white (which DEFINITELY played a role in the almost instant mainstream love received) and he made an incredibly catch first single. Ultimately, it was decided that the duo would remain in the rap categories that they were originally placed in.
With that said, most of (black) twitter and Kendrick Lamar fans specifically were none too pleased with Kendrick Lamar being ‘India.Arie’d’ by the Grammy’s in favor of Macklemore as you’ll see in the following tweets:
This tweet by @lionofbedstuy speaks to the fact that many rap fans don’t really consider him a rap act per se.
Meanwhile @TotalMusicSnobs got this great jab in regarding the irony in Macklemore’s album title and his taking the best rap album trophy home.
Popular tweeter @denisehuxtable quoted a classic Phife line from A Tribe Called Quest’s “Award Tour” that pretty much sums up how Kendrick could/should view the night.
And lastly this sobering tweet by @ShaneandShawn should put things in perspective for fans.
