grammys
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Lemonade Didn't Win Album Of The Year Because White People Don't Know How To Not Be White People
I chose not to watch the Grammys last night. Not because of any type of protest or performative apathy, but because my wife had a work-ish commitment that left me with my daughter all weekend, and it’s impossible to get any writing done when the Feminist Octopus is around. Sunday evening from 8pm to 2am…
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Solange Wins 1st Grammy and Shares Frank Ocean’s Grammy Diss
Solange won her first Grammy Sunday night, but unless you were tuned into the Recording Academy’s Twitter account or social media, you probably wouldn’t have known that because the win wasn’t aired. Solange won the Grammy for Best R&B Performance for her song “Cranes in the Sky” from her 2016 album A Seat at the…
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Adele Showed Exactly What Solidarity Looks Like: Of Course Beyoncé Was Robbed at Grammys
I can’t really pinpoint exactly when Adele realized that Beyoncé was robbed of a couple of Grammys, but as she took the stage during Sunday night’s award show to accept the Grammy for Album of the Year, she showed that solidarity was more important than a gold award. Adele swept the categories in which both…
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The Black Viewer’s Guide to the Grammys
Stuck between the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards, the Grammys have always seemed like the red-headed stepchild of the awards season. But I always look forward to the Grammys because the show always seems less uptight than awards shows that focus on movies and TV, and it’s also a chance to see some of…
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The Greatest Love of All: Remembering Whitney
I can’t exactly remember what I was doing at 8:22 p.m. on Feb. 11, 2012, but according to Facebook, that’s the exact time I found out Whitney Houston died. As a girl growing up in New Jersey, not too far from where Houston grew up, we took pride in her being one of Jersey’s own.…
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Beyoncé Should Win All the Grammys This Weekend, but It Won’t Make Up for How This Show Treats Black Women and Black Art
On its surface, when news hit of Beyoncé leading the 2017 Grammy Awards with nine nominations, it read as nothing short of a win for the behemoth pop star. The Houston native has scored nods in the three big categories: Album of the Year, for her sixth studio offering, Lemonade; and Song of the Year…
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Kendrick Confirms It: February 2016 Is The Blackest Black History Month Ever
February is the month designated to be Black History Month. It is also the shortest month of the calendar year. This happens to be a coincidence — today’s Black History Month is the evolution of Carter G. Woodson’s “Negro History Week,” created in 1926 and intended to be recognized the second week of February — but I…
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Why Awards Like The Oscars Matter To Black Artists, Explained
Who is Janet Hubert? Janet Hubert is a veteran actress best known for her role as Vivian Banks on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” In season four of the show, Hubert was replaced by Daphne Maxwell Reid; an act that upset so many Black people that an professed affinity for the “First Aunt Viv” has become…
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Yes, The Grammys Suck (And Have Sucked For Some Time), But Why?
The Grammys suck. This is neither a new nor a particularly provocative statement. It’s not even an opinion. We all know the Grammys suck. We continue to watch, talk, and write about them — hoping with each year that they might suck a bit less — but the slow burn of shitty continues. There is…