Grammys

I’m watching the PBS series “Fight The Power: How Hip Hop Changed The World” and they are using DJ Kool Herc as the starting point, but also highlighting the socially conscious 70s songs as part of origin. That and the racists policies of the time..  Only one episode in and it’s well done, for good or bad Chuck D is heavily featured and apparently there are some flaws in it especially regarding the current state of the genre

Back to The Grammy’s… When I heard in passing a jazz singer had been nominated for best new artist I was curious so I gave Samara Joy a listen.  And wow is she talented and on par with the greats of the past as a vocalist.  And kudos to her for actually winning the award

Space wrote:

Sidehaaatch wrote:

Space wrote: But I much prefer the hop hop of the last 10 years over the hip hop of the  early 70's- early 90's. S

now I understand the stance your wife and your kid have with you…you have really bad taste in music

I'm talking about bands and artists like Sault, Ezra Collective, Theo Croker, Afro Mist, Nubya Garcia, etc that infuse elements of afro-beat, hip-hop, soul and jazz into their sounds. To me, much more interesting than some guy scratching a record and his buddy rapping over it.

At least my family can all agree that Frank Turner is garbage.

Ok, I will give you a pass as you named 5 acts
I grew up in NY in the 70s and 80s and Rap at that time was just like Punk, was so new and different, unlike anything that came before it and so against what the mainstream labels were putting out.  Started out very Fun, funky and just about a good time, but then it got very serious, dark, and political
While the acts you list are of a high caliber, I doubt in 20 years anyone will be talking about them like they talk about Chuck D, Tribe, Run DMC, NWA, Sugarhill Gang and so many others.

You can have your opnion, but I don't have a problem telling you that it is incorrect

Also, just so you know, Frank Turner is not a Hip Hop act, so I can see why you thought he sucked at that

Sidehaaatch wrote:

Space wrote:

Sidehaaatch wrote:

Space wrote: But I much prefer the hop hop of the last 10 years over the hip hop of the  early 70's- early 90's. S

now I understand the stance your wife and your kid have with you…you have really bad taste in music

I'm talking about bands and artists like Sault, Ezra Collective, Theo Croker, Afro Mist, Nubya Garcia, etc that infuse elements of afro-beat, hip-hop, soul and jazz into their sounds. To me, much more interesting than some guy scratching a record and his buddy rapping over it.

At least my family can all agree that Frank Turner is garbage.

Ok, I will give you a pass as you named 5 acts
I grew up in NY in the 70s and 80s and Rap at that time was just like Punk, was so new and different, unlike anything that came before it and so against what the mainstream labels were putting out.  Started out very Fun, funky and just about a good time, but then it got very serious, dark, and political
While the acts you list are of a high caliber, I doubt in 20 years anyone will be talking about them like they talk about Chuck D, Tribe, Run DMC, NWA, Sugarhill Gang and so many others.

You can have your opnion, but I don't have a problem telling you that it is incorrect

Also, just so you know, Frank Turner is not a Hip Hop act, so I can see why you thought he sucked at that

Well the problem with early rap (and punk too) was that it was all about a good time or in the case of punk, an attitude. And I can appreciate that for what it was. But the kind of stuff I'm talking about it far more interesting, musically.

And of course people are always going to talk more about the pioneers or a genre than niche acts 50 years later. That's why most people have heard of the Clash, and most haven't heard of Frank Turner (regardless of if he's any good.) Or most have heard of the Beatles, and most haven't heard of Dr. Dog.

Space wrote:
And of course people are always going to talk more about the pioneers or a genre than niche acts 50 years later. That's why most people have heard of the Clash, and most haven't heard of Frank Turner (regardless of if he's any good.) Or most have heard of the Beatles, and most haven't heard of Dr. Dog.

and also those two choices are limp comparisons of the people who influenced them…and in 20 years no one will be talking about them

I love early hip hop which I knew as rap… To me Sugarhill Gang’s Rappers Delight never gets old…same with Kurtis Blow’s Christmas Rapping, the Breaks…Grandmaster Flash, all that early rap on Sugarhill, Profile and Def Jam…Bambaata, Run DMC, ATCQ, De la Soul, and all the rest of the daisyheads, Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Slick Rick and some early Ice T… the early rap and breakdancing movies…the graffiti

Unfortunately in the early 90s west coast rap takes over and just loses me…. I much prefer rap about having a good time, wanting girls and positive messages to rap about blunts, $, hoes and guns (violence). Not saying rap when it becomes known as hip hop and an entire commerce culture develops and explodes and exploits around it isn’t valid…it most certainly is just as valid and relevant (maybe more so) but I just can’t appreciate it…

I do wish there was still room for retro-rap music…don’t understand why acts like Public Enemy were suddenly consigned to the dustbin of history… there doesn’t seem to be much respect for the original rappers…

So I highly recommend anyone who uses evil streaming services to check out the "Soul Jazz Records presents BOOMBOX: Early Independent Hip Hop, Electro and Disco Rap 1979-82" series of compilations.  There are physical releases of these but as imports they are likely expensive.

Anyways, most of these tracks pre-date "The Message" which is where the PBS Hip Hop series ends the first episode.  Not sure why this part of the development of Hip Hop gets glossed over as these tracks are almost always done with actual musicians and rappers.  The tracks tend to be a boasting and partying  theme, but that makes sense as prior to "The Message" this was the norm.  Even the Smithsonian Hip-Hop boxset only includes a couple of these early jams…. 

I also enjoy Joey Negro's Electro compilations of the early Rap/Hip-Hop as well..

Yeah I always try to pick up those early independent rap releases…. Sugarhill wasn’t the first….stuff like on Enjoy.

I will keep an eye out for these Soul Jazz comps…

Thanks K

Wet leg… next stop, the Anthem!

Never seen as much post Grammy Banter as seen for this year…

some news outlet called Bonnie Raitt an unknown blues artist as if her win was a shocker against Adele, etc

the BBC had to apologize for showing an image of Viola Davis (newest EGOT winner) during a segment on Beyonce

oh and the MAGA outage over the "demonic" performance by Sam Smith coupled with that Pfiser sponsored the award show..  THINK OF THE CHILDREN

there were also a couple minor skirmishes

kosmo wrote:
Never seen as much post Grammy Banter as seen for this year…

some news outlet called Bonnie Raitt an unknown blues artist as if her win was a shocker against Adele, etc

the BBC had to apologize for showing an image of Viola Davis (newest EGOT winner) during a segment on Beyonce

oh and the MAGA outage over the "demonic" performance by Sam Smith coupled with that Pfiser sponsored the award show..  THINK OF THE CHILDREN

there were also a couple minor skirmishes

Beyonce fan's ungraciousness toward Harry Styles. Taylor Swift standing up for Harry Styles.

I didn’t know anyone still listened to Bonnie. Love her so am glad to see her win but feels like way out of touch.

Starsky wrote:
her win but feels like way out of touch.

"Grammys out of touch," reports everyone for decades.

True…reminds me of Steely Dan winning with Two Against Nature… or Herbie Hancock also for best album

But record of the year usually is a more plugged in category

I was looking at the nominees for "Song Of The Year" and one does have wonder if the votes just got real split between all nominated and Bonnie as Justin pointed out was a name a certain segment of the voter recognized.  Seeing as Bonnie's  album was released independently by her, I can't believe there was a huge PR/label push to get the votes on this one.  There are numerous huge artists on that list on different labels…

and wow the category Wet Leg won in "Best Alternative Music Album" had some serious weak sauce nominees… Big Thief, Arcade Fire, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Bjork.  The Bjork album was a good for a couple of listens but nothing to get overly excited about…

For the big four awards, the Grammy's historically reward "people who play instruments" over "people who do not play instruments" (with a priority on instruments that existed 50 years ago); "people who play rock/pop" over "people who preform R&B/rap;" and to a lesser extent "women" over "men". This Bonnie Raitt victory isn't even surprising to me.

If Beyonce simply picked up a guitar, learned three chords, and pretended to play in rhythm guitar on her next LP, she'd win a Record/Song/Album of the Year easily.

Why do you think Steely Dan and Dylan won over Radiohead (Kid A and OKC, respectively)? They played "real instruments" not a beep and boop machine. Why did Herbie Hancock or Arcade Fire win? Why does Lauren Hill have an LP of the Year but not Kendrick Lamar? Norah Jones or Shawn Colvin over their male analogue, Frank Turner? This code is not hard to crack.

"Other big wins and moments from the evening included Molly Tuttle’s first Grammy, in which she was given the Best Bluegrass Album Grammy for her album Crooked Tree with Golden Highway"

Julian, wrote:
They played "real instruments" not a beep and boop machine.

Get your grubby little hands off my beep boop machine!

kosmo wrote:
I was looking at the nominees for "Song Of The Year" and one does have wonder if the votes just got real split between all nominated and Bonnie as Justin pointed out was a name a certain segment of the voter recognized.  Seeing as Bonnie's  album was released independently by her, I can't believe there was a huge PR/label push to get the votes on this one.  There are numerous huge artists on that list on different labels…

and wow the category Wet Leg won in "Best Alternative Music Album" had some serious weak sauce nominees… Big Thief, Arcade Fire, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Bjork.  The Bjork album was a good for a couple of listens but nothing to get overly excited about…

Kind of disagree.. KEXP listeners had Wet Leg at #1, Yeah Yeah Yeah's at #2, and Big Thief at #4. And Big Thief was also a critic's favorite.

https://www.kexp.org/countdowns/top-903-albums-of-2022/
https://www.metacritic.com/browse/albums/score/metascore/year/filtered?year_selected=2022&distribution=&sort=desc&view=detailed

Julian, wrote:
If Beyonce simply picked up a guitar, learned three chords, and pretended to play in rhythm guitar on her next LP, she'd win a Record/Song/Album of the Year easily.

Why do you think Steely Dan and Dylan won over Radiohead (Kid A and OKC, respectively)? They played "real instruments" not a beep and boop machine. Why did Herbie Hancock or Arcade Fire win? Why does Lauren Hill have an LP of the Year but not Kendrick Lamar? Norah Jones or Shawn Colvin over their male analogue, Frank Turner? This code is not hard to crack.

Outkast and Whitney Houston both won album of the year, and i'm pretty sure that none of them played an instrument.