How Kendrick Lamar Didn't Get Robbed at the Grammys

Last year, I posted an in-depth summary of the 55th Grammy Awards.  Yeah...totally not going on and on about Pharrell's faux pas with those ranger hats; Jay-Z's "I wanna thank God, but only a little bit" statement taken way out of proportion; or Katy Perry becoming the newest member of the Illuminati.  In the illustrious words of Chester Cheetah, "Yasss, we know."  However, a bigger topic that jumped out at me is the whole issue of Kendrick Lamar getting shut out of winning any awards.  Many people have turned this into a "battle" between him and Macklemore--which is silly because the two artists are actually in contact with and respect each other.  Now I can't speak too much on the Seattle rap artist or proclaim to be a fan of his because I've only heard like three of his songs--I do like "Same Love" a lot--but I do plan on listening toThe Heist to make a more sound judgment and, if necessary, comparison.  Nevertheless, I've come to four major conclusions about this whole situation--none of which lean toward Kendrick getting "robbed".

First, at least Kendrick got nominated, particularly for Album of the Year.  Neither Jay-Z, Drake nor Kanye West were even up for that award.  Heck, J. Cole didn't even get a Best Rap Album nomination, and IMHO, Born Sinner was better than Magna Carta Holy Grail, Nothing Was the Same and Yeezus.  J. Cole's Grammy snub in the Best Rap Album category is the perfect segue for this question: do y'all know how hard it is to get nominated for a Grammy PERIOD?  Kendrick Lamar, a young Black man representing a coast that hasn't had as much widespread success in hip-hop as in the 90s, got nominated for seven.  That's a win in and of itself.  In the most coveted of all, he was up against Taylor Swift, Sara Bareilles, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and Daft Punk.  When you have those odds against you, sometimes the win isn't always the sum and substance of the recognition.

Second, Kendrick Lamar performed at the Grammys--which is even harder to accomplish for an artist of ANY genre than being nominated for an award.  Not only did he perform, but he arguably had THE best performance of the night with Imagine Dragons.  (Shame on me for not knowing about these guys sooner, but best believe, that's going to change.)  Granted, Taylor Swift is ALWAYS turned up at awards shows, but she and her mother were by far the most hype participants in the entire audience.  Yeah...that means you're really rockin' the ish in this one, bro.  He took his moment--a moment that is extremely hard to come by as a hip-hop artist--and absolutely shined on one of the greatest musical stages.  In the process, he and Imagine Dragons made another poignant statement: "We are the new age.  Deal with it."  Sounds like another win to me.

Third, Kendrick Lamar was humbled by not winning any tangible awards and perhaps inspired to go harder and not rest on his laurels--maybe in the same way that many other emcees in rap & hip-hop were inspired when he was named MTV's "Hottest MC in the Game" last year.  The look on his face said one thing to me: "No, I didn't win one damn award and it sucks.  However, don't think for a second that you won't see me here again.  I'm not here for THIS, but I do belong HERE."  He will continue to make HIS music HIS way.  He will be persistent in his "King Kendrick" campaign because he wholeheartedly believes that he is the ruler by which his contemporaries should be measured and is the best thing smoking--as any rapper worth his or her salt SHOULD believe, no matter what his or her definition of "best" is.  With that said, even he knows that the best must strive for better, and he will be a better artist because of this entire experience.

Finally, this is the most pressing question that needs to be asked: don't you have to legitimately possess something first before it's considered "robbery"?  Customer A at an authorized T-Mobile dealer can't claim that they were "robbed" of the last Samsung Galaxy Note III in stock just because they wanted it so bad if Customer B had the financial "appeal" to purchase it.  As much as I love good kid, m.A.A.d city, I knew it wasn't gonna win because I knew that the Grammy community had no intention of putting the award in his possession.  Conversely, the common knocks on Macklemore "of course Macklebore (as I saw one person affectionately refer to him) would win Best Rap Album because he's white and white people like him more" or (my personal favorite) "he's not even real hip-hop".  Let's take the Black and white, real vs. fake out of it and bust it down to the white meat (darn, I put the white right back in it): Kendrick may have had the BETTER album, but Macklemore had the BIGGER album.  Kendrick's biggest pop song was "Swimming Pools (Drank)", whereas Macklemore had bigger pop hits with "Thrift Shop" and "Same Love"--the latter speaking to homosexuality and homophobia.  (No shade, but that's DEFINITELY gonna win you some cool points as an artist in this day and age.)  To bolster this point, here's an analogy that many women may not like because I'm getting at their life: they'll often make more concessions for a guy with a BIGGER penis, a BIGGER bank account and a BIGGER personality than they will for a man with perhaps a BETTER stroke game, a BETTER career (in terms of longevity, benefits and job security) and a BETTER personality.  Guess who else are size queens?  You got it...the Grammys.

Would I have liked to see my favorite new school hip-hop artist win at least ONE Grammy?  Of course.  However, I know what's up and all of y'all should, too.  The Grammys have always leaned toward pop music, and "pop" is merely a shortened version of "popular".  Kendrick Lamar was popular enough to get nominated, but not popular enough to win.  Although Macklemore sent Kendrick a text to the effect of "I wanted you to win" and "it sucks that I robbed you", the former was more popular than the latter--despite the former knowing that the latter had arguably the better album.  (It is ironic that Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' album was titled The Heist.)  Nevertheless, more of America knows who Kendrick Lamar is now, and that's often the point of the Grammys: exposing the best of all worlds.  Call it looking at a glass half full of moral victories, but at least that signifies something moving upward or the expectation of upward movement.  Unless he puts out a complete dud of a sophomore major-label commercial release, Kendrick's cup will be overflowing soon enough.