You know that the Grammy board stays trippin’. So in honor of their consistently leaky coverage of the country’s best music, we’ve decided to dedicate a week to the good, bad and ugly of the Grammys over the last decade. Whether it’s our list of their best performances or the worst outfits, better believe it’ll be worth your attention.
What’s worse than losing? Losing when everyone thinks you are suppose to win. These artists were, dare we say it, robbed. You know when their name wasn’t called you said “Who the hell votes on these things?” Here are our five most unacceptable Grammy snubs. Let us know if we missed any.
India Arie
Year: 2002
Category: Pick one!
Seven Grammy nods. Four in the top four categories. Zero victories?! Was India too granola for the Grammy board? Alicia too talented or marketable? Those questions may never be answered but the fact remains, the 2002 Grammy shutout of Ralph Sampson’s daughter is the award show’s worst snub ever. Rashid Lynn concurs.
Lil’ Wayne
Year: 2009
Category: Album of The Year
With the rap game already in the palm of his hands, Lil’ Carter gifts the entire record industry a one-man bailout by scoring one million sales of his Carter III in its first week of availability. Despite such a feat he loses the biggest Grammy award to Alison Krauss and Robert Plant? Wait. Who is Alison Krauss and Robert Plant??!
Year: 2001
Snub Category: Best New Artist, Best R&B Album
Ok we’ll let Toni Braxton slide for beating Jill out of the Best Female R&B Performance slot (only because the board chose the wrong Jill song to compete. Should’ve been “A Long Walk”) but Best R&B Album going to D’Angelo’s Voo Doo and Best New Artist to country singer Shelby Lynn were big blunders. D’Angelo’s award was a makeup for the world sleeping on the brilliant Brown Sugar. And how does Lynn get a new artist victory when she’s released six studio albums prior?
Year: 2009
Snub Category: Best New Artist
The fact that Santigold met her goal to “help break down boundaries and genre classifications” in music obviously didn’t impress the Grammy board. Touring with acts like Bjork, even opening for Coldplay on their Viva La Vida tour, clearly didn’t either. Perhaps her accusing critics of being racist because they compared her sound to R&B frightened the board. Whatever the issues was, the eccentric songwriter didn’t get as much as a nom last year. Didn’t matter–– she went hard (She go hard).
M.I.A
Year: 2009
Snub Category: Record of the Year
Still haven’t figured out who Alison Krauss and Robert Plant are, huh? Well they’re also the duo that stole Record of the Year from the much deserving M.I.A for their global banger “Paper Planes.” M.I.A’s joint, a creative fusion of 80’s rock and 90’s rap, transformed into an international darling in clubs (peep “Swagga Like Us”) and movie theatres (peep Slum Dog Millionaire). The Krauss and Plant folk number “Please Read the Letter” that stole the Grammy isn’t even an original tune; it was recorded in 1998. That’s a straight up rehash! WTF?! – Bonsu Thompson