Grammy Awards for renaming controversial ‘urban’ category
Recrysting – one of nine key changes in the award and nomination process – “aims to highlight albums that incorporate more advanced elements of R&B and may include samples and elements of hip-hop, rap, dance and music electronics” said the academy.
“It can also contain production elements found in pop, euro-pop, country, rock, folk and alternative.”
Harvey Mason Jr., president and interim CEO of Recording Record, said in a statement that the main rules and guidelines for the 63rd Grammy Awards were introduced “to ensure that Grammy Awards are inclusive and reflect the current state of the music industry.”
“It’s stupid whenever – and I mean guys who look like me – we do anything that’s genre-wise or that’s all that always puts them in the tail or the urban category,” the 29-year-old producer and vocalist told reporters after being on January ceremony won the best rap album.
“I don’t like that‘ urban ’word – it’s just a politically correct way to say n-word to me,” he added.
“Too often, our industry and the Academy have alienated some of our own artists, especially the lack of diversity that, in many cases, results in a culture that tends toward exclusion rather than inclusion,” Mason said at the time.
Among the latest changes are updates for the best category of new artists, the Latin area, R&D and rap areas, and a nomination committee for review.
The category of best performance / singing is now being changed to best melodic rap performance to “represent the inclusiveness of growing hybrid performance trends” within the genre.
Republic Records, a division of Universal, recently announced that it will no longer use “urban” to describe its departments or artists.
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