2012 Grammy Recap

As usual, the Grammy’s highlighted this past year’s events and paid tribute to music.  You would have to be blind and incapable of decoding information if you could not understand the profound impact of death and its LARGE toll on the Recording Academy. They’ve adopted a slogan that is some variation of “we do this together” that encourages artists to work together and support one another, while simultaneously encouraging fans and consumers to support artists’ work with their resources (money). Although it meant well,  I think that this slogan is a little LATE… but at least they acknowledge the downward spiral.  I think they optimistic about the future of music -- but I am certainly unsure if they know the real effects in the outside world. 

OK -- so my commentary for the performances!!! I know you all have been waiting on it! (They're not in order... so if you wanna read certain parts look for the BOLD and UNDERLINED headings)

First – the way LL Cool J opened the show with the prayer… I was impressed. I know that was something that he personally HAD to advocate for. The Recording Academy was probably a little loose because they considered Whitney’s background, the mood of the audience, and because LL is generally a good guy – they knew that they were not going to get any foolishness. But I believe that they made him write that prayer DOWN. LOL! Recording Academy don’t play that!

I also have to give respect for the Recording Academy allowing a RAPPER to host this one. They normally don’t take chances… it doesn’t matter what form of RAP the performer engages, RAP makes people nervous. Behind a mic, controlling the pace of the show – a rapper could be a loose cannon… and you probably have to pray that they can read. Fortunately, LL did his thing and kept to the script. So there is HOPE for other rappers.

HIGHLIGHTS of the EVENING:

ADELE. That is a complete sentence. She CLEANED up! In the words of contemporary music producer-giant, Aaron Lindsey – “she won Grammys with not one riff, gyration, or nakedness #NUFFsaid.” I totally think the aforementioned comment wraps her up quite accurately. The girl has an amazing voice, she’s incredibly transparent and she doesn’t have to “WOW” you with theatrics… her voice does it for you. I believe that Adele will usher in the era of the REAL SINGER COMEBACK. Mark my words – you will see that the American critical public enjoys the entertainment piece, but especially after the deaths of such music giants in the past few years – WE WANNA HEAR PEOPLE SING AGAIN. No disrespect to any entertainer, but in the VERY NEAR FUTURE - the most successful artists will EMPLOY public relations that focus on their voices, the purity of their creations and transparency. As much as we like a train-wrecked pop star, it’s being overdone and we tired!

“The Whitney Tribute(s)” – Let me say this NOW so people get it. The Recording Academy is made up of some of the most brilliant music minds and marketing minds of 3 generations. Reason being: you cannot get a group of successful multi-millionaires to believe in a small brass and wood structure – being dumb or inefficient with marketing resources. They have successfully marketed the award – Grammy – and the show to be “the biggest night in music” and “the highest honor bestowed on an artist” … as such – they were NOT going to do a Tribute to Whitney with 26 hours of prep time HALF ASS. I’m sorry – you were not going to get much more than a LL Cool J prayer, a harmonica blip of Stevie Wonder, and a 90-second Jennifer Hudson number. In fact, I think that they left the responsibility of giving a tribute to Viacom. Now THIS is where fans need to be concerned. As you know , Viacom TRIED to do a tribute with both MTV and BET to Michael Jackson – and we ALL had commentary about that. The Grammy’s cannot afford to tarnish their name with a poor tribute or a snub to all the other artists that have died. They highlighted Whitney, while respecting the rest of the artists who have gone on. That, ladies and gentleman, is THE SAFEST ROUTE. I don’t knock ‘em. I would’ve done the SAME thing. Now, I would NOT have chosen that particular song (or that person) to do a tribute. I’d much rather hear her sing “I Have Nothing”, Tamia sing “I Will Always Love You, or one of these individuals come and do SOMETHING: Kim Burrell, Patti LaBelle, Stevie Wonder, Kelly Price, Ledisi, etc. (SIDENOTE: Tamia sang “I Will Always Love You” and Quincy Jones signed her on the spot – and we know he KNOWS music.) WE KNEW Jennifer was gonna do it – she is Clive’s new girl. And Whitney was Clive’s girl period. And Clive Davis has a LOT of power in the Recording Academy… the man knows star talent. Unfortunately, we were subjected to what we got – watching Jennifer and her lace front do the best that she could.

Bonnie Raitt and Alicia Keys…. Alicia should’ve just sat there and looked good. That’s my 2nd wife and all… but WHEN Bonnie opened her mouth – I knew it was curtains for Alicia. Bonnie Raitt is the originator of sooo many songs, and SHE SINGS. I know you all think that Tank wrote “I Can’t Make You Love Me”… nope, he didn’t! That was Bonnie – YEARS ago!! She is the definition of blue-eyed soul. Ole girl GOES!!! As an artist – you have to know your lane… and there is no way I would have tried to do ANYTHING other than keep the melody line when I’m sitting next to a great like Bonnie.

Another simple sentence for you: Tony Bennett got swag. (And I hate the word swag) … his performance and his stee-lo is off the charts.

Katy Perry and her Magnum rapper inspired outfit was good. I’m not gonna lie, she does it for me. She does what I think Rhianna and Lady Gaga attempt to do – but she does it well. She does it without making it feel ultra weird for her audience. I liked her performance!

Rhianna – Her performance wasn’t bad. But sweetie, rolling around on the ground, attempting to prove that you can sing and your head looks like a wet mop – it just isn’t sexy. I got what she was going for. She was trying to capture the industrial look with group dance. Like she was attempting to edge and sexiness on a Janet Jackson inspired Rhythm Nation mode. I got it! And it wasn’t that Rhianna did horrible, it was that she went too far with it. And the bed-head look was distracting. Although I’m not a fan of Rhi Rhi, I respect what she does. Ole girl keeps her writing team busy, because she’s hot right now. And some of these hits she churns out are actually pretty catchy. Rhianna fans – WORD OF LIFE FOR YOU: the sooner you realize that she is not a singer, the quicker you will understand that real musicians ain’t hating on her, we just state the obvious. Her sex appeal has nothing to her ability. She is an entertainer… nothing more, nothing less.

Sir Paul McCartney – that dude has a catalogue of music!!! And he was fly. That white jacket… I need to have that one in my arsenal. LOL! Another classic performance by a class act. His guitarist was SICK!!! I love when acoustic instruments master the art of accompaniment.

The Beach Boys with Maroon 5 – first off, BIG SHOUTOUT to my boy P.J. Morton on keys. I always like to people do unexpected things. And PJ has definitely done some different things in 2011-2012. However, the harmonies that the Beach Boys have at this age #EPIC. Other than the fact that some of them look like they are knocking at death’s door, they have an excellent chemistry and their harmonies are extremely rich. People don’t THINK in harmony like that. If you sing with any group or do tracks on your own that employ complex harmonies – you need to research people like The Beach Boys and the Carpenters…

Chris Brown – there’s MUCH I have to say about him and the Grammy’s. First, his performance was a little lackluster as far as the music is concerned. He didn’t do a song that had been pumped into the airwaves and OVERPLAYED, so some felt disconnected with the song. But the boy can DANCE. Like Chris was killing it – dancing on them Legos. Now – he did win an award that I saw quite a few people perturbed about: Best R&B album. And then he was nominated for “Best Rap Collaboration”. Let me take the time and explain this to you:

There is a marketing scheme behind genre categorization. We as consumers are more strategic about how we differentiate musical genres. The Recording Academy is not as discriminatory. The lines are very blurred between R&B and Pop in many cases. Too much soul in a pop album swings one over into the R&B category. And the truth is that F.A.M.E. is a mixture of both Pop and R&B. When you don’t know what to do with it – let R&B have it. In that respect, I don’t see how anyone else in that category could have won. Kelly Price and DeBarge had good albums but they weren’t spectacular. Really – R&B didn’t do much in 2011. We kinda took a break. We released songs here and there, but there wasn’t really a stand-out project by any mainstream artists. The same thing that worked FOR Chris in that category – worked against him in the rap collaboration category.

Now personally, “Otis” did NOT bang to me the way that “Look At Me Now”. That song just went. The truth: Busta MADE that song slap. Chris played a very little part. Marketing-wise: Weezy could release some BS and it would smack. So bringing him in on the track was a marketing move… and then Busta adds the stank on anything he’s in. Busta doesn’t have to TRY to be relevant like MOST artists do on features. Between T.I., Ludacris, and Busta – I don’t know any other rappers that can come out of NOWHERE and do a feature on a single and it be hot! Unfortunately, the Recording Academy does not recognize “Hip Hop” as a category; it just subsumes into rap.

Bruno Mars and his Jackie Wilson nouveau is okay. I see what he does, give him a nod and move on. I need to see some more depth from him. His performance was high energy that was needed at the time.

Taylor Swift… before I go IN… let me say that I enjoy the lyricism of country music. I love Lady Antebellum, Dixie Chicks, Rascall Flats and Kenny Chesney. They bring HEAT! I just don’t get the hype behind Taylor Swift – and I secretly HOPED that Kanye would come out of the back and do something ignorant during her performance. But one reason why I didn’t like the song is because I HATE the banjo. Ugh… I feel the same way about a banjo as I do the abundance of tambourines in a COGIC church all playing TOGETHER during a praise break. UGHHHHHH!!! The banjo is just irritates my soul. But her voice has no spectacular value to me and she sounds average. Plus all her Beverly Hillbillies inspired fit needed was some mud on her face – and the image would’ve been complete.

All and All – it was the Night of Adele. I think that no one will ever replace Whitney, however – we have an acceptable form in Adele. I can’t wait til she comes out with more stuff. No major mishaps … WELL I guess you want me to say something about Nicki…

Well - I like how the Grammy’s just CUT when she got done and tried to make us forget that it happened. But I know we were all in a state of shock wondering what happened. I didn’t know whether to call the psych hospital or go find Bishop Jakes or the Pope. I think that the performance may hurt her fan base because it was just TOO out there. We weren’t prepared for that. Too much religious symbolism mixed with illumaniti conspiracy theorists made this performance something that we didn’t want to comment to heavily upon. I mean, we expect Nicki to do different things but I knew we were set up for the okie-doke when she came in looking like Little Red Riding Hoodrat. SMH… (by the way… thanks for the 85 retweets off of that comment. LOL!) Ahh well… I just have one question, “What in the hell were you thinkin Nicki?”