By now we have all heard of Kanye West's affront to the music industry. But those mad at Kanye are not actually mad at Kanye. Instead, they are lamenting the loss of the myth of the Grammys, and they are grasping onto racist explanations to explain the loss.
Let's remember Kanye's words:
"I just know that the Grammys, if they want real artists, to keep coming back, they need to stop playing with us. We ain't gonna play with them no more," he said, upset that Beck beat Beyoncé in the category. "And Beck needs to respect artistry and he should've given his award to Beyoncé." He went on to say he and other artists were "tired" of being disrespected by the Grammys."
It's hard for me to politely weigh in on this because I don't care about The Grammys. But I do care about racism, which is the phenomenon that Kanye is challenging and which is the smoke screen that obscures this entire conversation. The ones supporting Kanye see the smoke in the room, the ones denying and denouncing his act of civil disobedience dismiss his actions because they can't hold smoke in their hand.
For those denouncing Kanye, they hold him accountable for being disrespectful of Beck. That may be true. There is no denying that Beck is an artist more talented than anyone reading this. But they missed the most important part of Kanye's critique:
"Who designed these mics that you see? I took the E! off my mic. Okay we know, it's gonna be E! already! It's gonna be E! at the bottom of the screen right here," he said, pointing into the camera.
Again, those mad at Kanye are not actually mad at Kanye. Instead, they're taking issue with his critique of the music industry, and they are grasping onto racist explanations. Kanye is just being "rude," or "uppity," which are the same words that have been used to describe black men who sit at the wrong lunch counter and at the wrong end of the bus. The fact that people look down at black people when "they don't behave" is the reason that unarmed black folk are killed with impunity by police. But more than that, those who denounce Kayne subconsciously believe that white men possess inherent talent while a black women, Beyoncé in this case, must have made her musical achievement through some form of affirmative action. Consider the conversations happening on social media:
"Kanye West told someone who plays like 14 instruments that he needs to respect the artistry of a woman who needs to 4 writers for 1 song"
This narrative is pervasive in media arm of the music industry.
Pitchfork praises Beck for his personal return to a forthright, emotive style. Rolling Stone tells the story of Beck's
many recording failures which culminated piecemeal into the success of Morning Phase. All of the acclaim for Beck's
Morning Phase focuses on the artist rather than the project. But Rolling Stone still remarks that the album "is not, as rumored, a solo acoustic record." So let's address the comparison itself. Indeed. The
credits for the album account for 64 other musicians that helped collaborate on the project. By contrast,
Beyonce credits 52. So if the number of collaborators is the metric by which we measure individual achievement? Then objectively Beyonce should have won. If the number of instruments an artist can play matters? Well lets look at the history of Grammy award winners and see how that holds up. No one has mentioned vocals as a measure?
Beyonce has a 3.6 octave range. Statistics on Beck"s vocal range are not available.
So while the comparison makes no objective sense, racism fills in the gaps. Beck's album deserves to win a Grammy because Beck is an inherently talented artist who pulled himself up by his bootstraps and completed a crowning achievement worthy of the award. Beyoncé didn't do this, according to the critique. She had help, which is the only reason she was able to share the nomination with someone like Beck. Where is Kanye in this narrative? He is the one asking for something for nothing. This is the same logic used to cut social programs for the poor, dismiss affirmative action, repeal Obamacare, and curtail voting rights, all while supporting other initiatives which disproportionately benefit rich white men at the expense of black Americans. When white men are successful, they earned it because of their talent and hard work. Black men and women are just asking for handouts unless the establishment subjectively deems otherwise.
Now there is no way to objectively measure musical achievement. The point that we need to understand about Kanye's words is that the music industry never appreciates affronts to its authority for the same reason that any institution works to silence civil disobedience: it openly challenges the myth of the meritocracy, which exposes the lies at the core of white supremacy and capitalism. No one receives a Grammy award on merit alone. This is impossible because art is subjective and truth is in the eye of the beholder. The Grammys in particular gathers an auditorium of the most talented people on the planet under the auspices that one is greater than them all --at least according to their reviewers and a list of categories. And this is why Kanye frequently gives away his awards to other artists, because he does not respect that machine. He would rather recognize the work of an up-and-coming stars than participate in a circle jerk of spectacular talent that is not coincidentally compose of mostly white males. Race and gender literally color who is let into this exclusive club of fervent masturbators. Who, again, are very very talented. The heroism here is that Kanye is fighting for recognition on behalf of Queen Bey and those who may follow her. Tell me, dissenters, how might one accomplish this politely?
Maybe more carefully. When given the moment to reflect, Kanye recanted his assessment of Beck's talent. Beck, cordially and suitably to his likable and praiseworthy personality, has professed his admiration for Kanye and Beyoncé both. Meanwhile, sales for Beck's little-know-album before the controversy have risen 1342 percent as white folks scramble to buy their reality and stick it to Kanye. That's how the white-supremacist-capitalist-patriarchy works, folks.
The Grammys are a joke, says Kanye. But racism makes it a hard joke to laugh at.
10:52 AM PT: Thank you to my dear friend KK Bracken for pointing out "people cried "album sales and popularity!" when Macklemore beat Kendrick Lamar for Best Rap Album last year, whereas this year the argument for Beck vs Bey is the opposite."