Drake’s boycott this year doesn’t bode well for the future of the Grammy Awards.
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Here are this year’s nominees for the Rap Album of the Year Grammy Award:
Jay-Z –- 4:44
Kendrick Lamar -– DAMN.
Migos -– Culture
Rapsody — Laila’s Wisdom
Tyler, The Creator –- Flower Boy
And here are the nominees for the more prestigious Album Of The Year category
Kendrick Lamar –- DAMN.
Lorde –- Melodrama
Jay-Z –- 4:44
Childish Gambino -– Awaken, My Love!
Bruno Mars –- 24K Magic
Notice something amiss? Despite releasing one of the most commercially lucrative — two million copies sold — and culturally viable projects of 2017, More Life, Drake will be a non-factor at this year’s Grammy ceremony. No, the big man Drizzy wasn’t snubbed by the nominating committee. He simply decided he was tired of playing along with their games, took his ball and went home.
While some may try and paint a portrait of Drake as an artist fueled by sour grapes, choosing to sit out the ceremony rather than potentially lose to two cold war-esque nemesis’ in Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar, his absence speaks to far larger issues facing “Music’s Biggest Night” in the years to come. Put plainly, in 2018 the Grammys need Drake a whole lot more than Drake needs the Grammys and his decision — along with an increasing number of black superstar performers — to go further than simply not showing up is putting the future of the prestigious television show in a very precarious position.
