Every year, the debate finds renewed life. Do The Grammys matter? Music criticism has evolved and opened the field to the point where the once-mighty ceremony no longer feels like the gold standard for quality. Case in point, the Grammy's clockwork reticence to nominate hip-hop for Album Of The Year (annual reminder that OutKast was the last winner back in 2003), despite making sure to invite all of the rap game's biggest providers and innovators. That's not to invalidate those nominated, nor their accomplishments. Look no further than YBN Cordae and DaBaby, who secured their first nominations and reacted with pure jubilation. Yet not everybody is quite so rosy.
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For Noname, who dropped off one of the game's most poetic and acclaimed albums in last year's Room 25, the Grammys stand as an antagonistic force. Opting for brevity, she fired off a heated stance following the latest batch of nominations: "Fuck The Grammys." She also included a tweet from journalist Charles Preston, who broke down the Grammy's problems in depth. Citing the evolution of music consumption, he argues that the act of narrowing down such a wide pool to one arbitrary "best" is a Herculean task.
Naturally, the sentiment may be read as a response to snubbery; it wouldn't be the first time an artist has openly voiced their displeasure and it certainly won't be the last. But given the Grammys fractured and mostly tenuous relationship with hip-hop, it's likely that Noname's critique packs far more nuance than a surface glance invites.
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