By: Alex Yuan
Lil Nas X was enraged when he found out that he wasn’t nominated for any of the awards at BET. He tweeted, “I just feel like black gay ppl have to fight to be seen in this world and even when we make it to the top mfs try to pretend we are invisible.” Not only has he been a victim of unfair bias in award shows such as BET, but he’s also received hateful comments from other rappers and denounced by other members of the LGBTQ+ community. They said that he was too “in your face” about his sexuality. Other rappers, including Boosie Badazz, tweeted many hateful comments about him and his sexuality, even going as far as telling him to kill himself. Boosie Badazz wrote, “YOU WOULD DO THIS WORLD A HUGE FAVOR NOBODY WANTS U HERE.”
Ever since the establishment of the Grammys in 1957, there has always been subtle racism throughout the years. Not just in the Grammys and the award shows including BET, but in the entire music industry. We have seen countless examples where POC artists have lost to white artists in Grammy competitions, despite having a stunning performances and record-breaking statistics. The advantage that white people have in the music industry is undeniable. In a quote from Eminem’s song, “White America,” he said, “look at these eyes, baby blue, baby just like yourself. If they were brown, Shady'd lose, Shady sits on the shelf. But Shady's cute, Shady knew Shady's dimples would help. Make ladies swoon, baby (Ooh, baby!) — Look at my sales! Let's do the math: If I was black, I would've sold half” Eminem has been nominated for the Grammys 7 times, and has won 6 of those.
In 2020, Eminem dropped an album, “Music to be Murdered by,” and it wasn’t met with many great reviews. In fact, people were disappointed about his performance. Yet, because he had the support of “White America” behind him, his album was soon the highest rated of all time.
One of the biggest disasters of a Grammy win ever was in 2014, the Grammys best rap album competition. The nominees were: “The Heist” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, “Yeezus” by Kanye West, “good kid, m.A.A.d city” by Kendrick Lamar, “Nothing Was The Same” by Drake, and “Magna Carta Holy Grail” by Jay Z. Ask anyone who listens to rap who they think should have won and they would say any of the five albums not by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Yet, guess who won? The only white rapper there, Macklemore.
81% of Billboard’s Top 10 best-selling albums are made by non-white artists, yet musicians of color only received 26.7% of Grammy nominations from 2012 to 2020. “I'm apparently a rapper, even though 'Hotline Bling' is not a rap song," Drake said during a 2017 interview. "The only category that they can manage to fit me in is in a rap category, maybe because I've rapped in the past or because I'm Black."