Diversity in The Grammys: The Absence of African-American WinnersAbstractThe Grammys are an awardshow that was created by The Recording Academy, which is a U.S. organization ofmusicians, producers, recording engineers, and other recording professionals.The awards provide a Grammy, or originally called Gramophone Award thatrecognizes outstanding achievement in mainly English-language music industry.The very first Grammys held its first ceremony on May 4, 1959. The annualpresentation features live performances by some of the most noticeable artists,and the presenting of the awards that have even more of a popular interest. TheGrammys shares recognition of the music industry alongside other performanceaward shows such as the Academy Awards, the Tony Awards, and the Emmy Awards.The representation of minorities in The Grammys, mainly African-Americans has stayed at a certain level of portrayal since the Award show’s debut in 1959. The Grammys have attempted to add some diversity to them by adding more minorities to their nominations lists and giving awards to artist that deserve them. The purpose of this study is to discuss whether or not the representation of minorities is being undermined by The Grammys trying to feed into the masses and upkeep their reputation. The time span of this focus is from 2014 to 2017, but I will also include background research to further support my findings. Previous winners of Grammy awards will be quoted in order to show the disconnection from what people think a Grammy is and what actual artists see them as.In 1958, rock ‘n’ rollmade a big explosion onto the scene of music, alarming a group of executivesalong the way. The executives were conflicted as to whether to recognize “good”music or to recognize rock ‘n’ roll for its eruption into the music industry.The higher ups took it upon themselves to set a standard in the music industry.Since the very beginning, The Grammys have been at a difference with not onlyrock but almost every other genre of music. From R&B to street-bred music,and rap. The first ever award for rock music was not given out until 1961. Someof the best recordings have often failed to win a Grammy in the first fortyyears of Grammy history.Over the years, TheGrammys have been criticized by many artists and music journalists because themusicians feel that the Grammys generally award or nominate more commercializedalbums rather than those that are critically successful. In 1996, when Americanrock band Pearl Jam won a Grammy for “Best Hard Rock Performance”, the band’slead singer Eddie Vedder went on stage to say “I don’t know what this means. Idon’t think it means anything.” (Vedder, 2008). This goes to show how littlesome artist think of being awarded a Grammy for their accomplishments. GlenHansard, leader of the Irish rock group The Frames, commented in 2008 that hebelieves the Grammys represent nothing inside of the real world of music (Hansard,2008). Instead, it is completely industry based. Another quotable statementthat can be applied to this situation comes from lead singer of metal band“Tool”, James Keenan. He says “I think the Grammys are nothing more than somegigantic promotional machine for the music industry. They cater to a lowintellect and they feed the masses. They don’t honor the arts or the artist forwhat he created. It’s the music business celebrating itself. That’s basicallywhat it’s all about (Maynard, 2012).Artists such as FrankOcean, Drake and Kanye West spoke out about skipping this year’s Grammy Awardsto protest their lack of diversity amongst it’s nominees. Drake was reportedsaying The Grammys do not fairly represent black or younger artists. From lessof a statistical side, Kanye West has received 21 Grammys but has never won onewhile up against a white singer. American singer and songwriter Frank Ocean didnot even bother to submit his albums from the following year because to him “It[The Grammys] just doesn’t seem to be representing very well for people whocome from where I come from, and hold down what I hold down (Ocean, 2017).Another case of adiversity issue with The Grammys concerns the likes of Macklemore. In 2014,Macklemore swept a Grammy from Hip-Hop artist Kendrick Lamar. Rolling Stonebelieves the music industry went as far to recruit Kidz Bop to boost Macklemoreexposure to as a plan to dethrone Hip-Hop artist of the year, Kendrick Lamar.Both “The Heist” and “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City” were nominatedfor Best Album of the Year in 2014. Both albums received positive reviews fromcritics, but Kendrick Lamar received a 91 on Metacritic whereas Macklemore onlyreceived a 74. Once again, both albums debuted at number two on the Billboard200 chart, with Macklemore selling seventy-eight thousand copies and KendrickLamar selling two hundred and forty-two thousand copies. By the RIAA’sstandards “The Heist” was recognizedas reaching Gold status, with over five hundred thousand copies sold on April3, 2013. On August 21, 2013, “Good Kid,M.A.A.D City” was certified Platinum by shipping and selling one millioncopies in the United States.On December 9th,2014, American rapper J. Cole released his third studio album “2014 Forest Hills Drive”. On this album,he has a song called “Fire Squad” where he talks about the popularity ormainstream music and white privilege. On the record, J. Cole says “History repeats itself and that’s just how it goesSame way that these rappers always bite each others flowsSame thing that my n**** Elvis dd=id with Rock ‘n’ RollJustin Timberlake, Eminem and thenMacklemoreWhile silly n**** argue over who gon’ snatch the crownLook around, my n****, white people have snatched the soundThis year I’ll prolly go to the awards dappered downWatch Iggy win a Grammy as I try to crack a smile”This song is his attempt to restore the balance inHip-Hop as he talks about white privilege and white appropriation of theculture. More specifically the Macklemore-Kendrick Lamar Grammy snub and IggyAzalea’s new found popularity.The longstanding exclusion of black talent from award shows such as the Oscars and the Grammys forces the age-old question: Why? Both of these organizations are handled on a voting system made up of a certain team of members. Knowing this information makes the average person interested in music or even the Grammys want to know who the real culprit is pulling all the strings. With ongoing backlash, the Grammys have attempted to straighten up their acts with “dramatic steps” to diversify its nominations and present a more accurate reflection of the industry itself.Earlier this year, at the59th Grammy Awards there was an outcry concerning who should havewon Album of the year. This outcry sparked the big debacle as to if The Grammyshave an issue in diversity with the winners of their awards. The nominees listconsisted of Adele, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Drake, and Sturgill Simpson. Thewinner of the award turned out to be Adele for her album “25”. This was a shockto everyone, including Adele herself. This rubbed some of the fans the wrongway considering this was the eighth year since a non-white artist took home theevent’s biggest award. The very next day the new hashtag on Twitter was titled“#grammyssowhite”. At soon as this hashtag got out, storied were popping upquestioning the diversity of the voters for the awards.In 2017, Adele winningover Beyoncé was not the only Grammy snub. It was just the biggest one of thenight. Barbadian singer Rihanna was nominated for eight awards off of thestrength of her eighth album “ANTI”. “ANTI” at the time was certified 2xplatinum by the RIAA, it peaked at number 1 on the Billboard 200 and spent 33weeks in the top 10.  Sadly, she walkedaway not winning a single one out of eight nominations. Rihanna’s biggest upsetwas not winning the award for Best Pop Duo/group with their smash hit “Work”,which sold more than 1.7 million copies in the United States alone. She lostout to 21 Pilots for their song “Stressed Out”. Fuse wrote an article sayingthat they believe The Committee for The Grammys are just continuing to useblack women in pop to raise their own ratings without giving them therecognitions or respect they deserve within the mainly white categories.Works Cited(n.d.). Retrieved September 08, 2017, from https://web.archive.org/web/20070123082736/http://www.nyrock.com/interviews/2002/tool_int.aspTravers, P. (2008, February 08). Grammy & TheMovies. Retrieved September 08, 2017, fromhttps://www.rollingstone.com/movies/videos/grammy-the-movies-20080208Times, L. A. (2008, February 06). Glen Hansard, EddieVedder crash Grammy Awards. Retrieved September 08, 2017, from https://web.archive.org/web.20130221000127/http://theenvelope.latimes.com/columnists/contenderqa/env-en-songs6feb06%2C0%2C4879961.storyHistory of Grammy Awards. (n.d.). Retrieved September08, 2017, from http://www.awardsandshows.com/features/history-of-grammy-awards-247.htmlLlopis, G. (2017, February 21). 3 Uncomfortable TruthsFrom The Grammys About Diversity And Inclusion. Retrieved September 08, 2017,from https://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2017/02/21/3-uncomfortable-truths-from-the-grammys-about-diversity-and-inclusion/#1cba45f939c7Geslani, M., Kaye, B., Colburn, R., Fu, E., Farley,D., Young, A., . . . Weiss, D. (2017, January 30). Kanye West, Frank Ocean,Drake to protest Grammy Awards over lack of diversity. Retrieved September 09,2017, from https://consequenceofsound.net/2017/01/kanye-west-frank-ocean-drake-to-protest-grammy-awards-over-lack-of-diversity/Cepeda, R. (2015, February 05). Do the Grammys Have aRace Problem? Retrieved September 10, 2017, fromhttps://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/do-the-grammys-have-a-race-problem-20150205GRAMMYs 2017: Rihanna & ‘ANTI’ Suffered theBiggest Snubs of the Night. (2017, February 13.). Retrieved September 10, 2017,from http://www.fuse.tv/2017/02/rihanna -anti-grammys-2017-snubsGet Help With Your EssayIf you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!Find out more