One-on-One: The Grammy Nominations
- Chris Harrison, Andrew Ryan
- Dec 4, 2017
- 6 min read
After the Grammys nominees were revealed last week, Narrativity's resident audiophiles, Chris Harrison and Andrew Ryan, had a lot to talk about.
Chris Harrison: The full list of Grammy nominees was just released and, the Grammys being the Grammys and all, there were few surprises. If you're a big hip-hop fan especially, you're probably aware that the Grammys ain't shit—The Heist by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and THREE post-2010 Eminem albums winning Best Rap Album is a testament to that. Still, there's been some progress and the academy did an okay job with the nominees this year, but I definitely think some great releases flew way under their radar. What stood out to you on this year's list?
Andrew Ryan: When looking over Grammy nominations, I always keep in mind what the Grammys are and what they are not. They are a reflection of what the music industry insiders are collectively aware of; they are not a representation of the best music of the past year. I know that talking about "bubbles" is very 2016 post-election talk, but the music industry certainly has a bubble of its own. Just like the Oscars, artists and their teams campaign to get noticed by the Recording Academy during nomination season. Artists take out ads in Billboard magazine, record labels buy email lists of Grammy voters and spam their inboxes, bands fight for their chance to play at Recording Academy sponsored events and so on. You can't get nominated or win if the RIAA doesn't see you, and there's a whole lot the RIAA doesn't see. So when I look over the noms, I expect to see a list of people who are the most famous and get the biggest spotlights, not necessarily (not usually) the best. I'm so conditioned with low expectations that I get disproportionately impressed when they get something right, or even close to right. Here are the things that jumped out at me immediately:
Surprised to see this much love for Jay Z’s 4:44. I shouldn’t be, because I just said so much of this is about fame and clearly Jay is at the top of that pile, plus he already has 20+ Grammys to his name, but 4:44 was one of his least commercial releases ever.
The Suburbs by Arcade Fire deserved Grammy love. Everything Now does not, and yet there it is.
Run the Jewels is overlooked once again for their album, but seeing them as Grammy nominees by way of Danger Mouse is pretty cool. The big curveball on Album of the Year is definitely Childish Gambino, but I hope Kendrick gets the win.
Which means Lorde probably will. What jumped out at you?
Harrison: With Jay-Z nominated for Album of the Year, I guess this means there are way more Tidal subscribers at the RIAA than I expected. Also, Neil Degrasse Tyson has a nomination?
I'm always a little annoyed by the time window for nominations (the cutoff is somehow on fucking September 30th). I do really wish these things would span just one calendar year. Childish Gambino's album, releaased in 2016, got a deserving nomination, but I wonder if timing hurt A Tribe Called Quest's candidacy.
Generally, though, I feel like the Grammys took a step in the right direction this year. "Sassy," by Rapsody, is one of my favorite songs of the year and it managed to grab a Best Rap Song nomination. Run the Jewels managed to get in there, but for a track from the Baby Driver soundtrack, rather than anything off of the excellent Run the Jewels 3, unfortunately. Maybe Killer Mike was right that "the Grammy committees got told that we spit it too vicious and will never see victory."
Looking at the Best Music Video category, Missy Elliott not being nominated for "I'm Better" (even though the song is mediocre) is an absolute crime.
What categories would you change?
Ryan: I’m going to change some of the categories to include artists that I would personally nominate, and remove the ones who actually were nominated. I love a lot of the artists, albums, and songs the RIAA selected this year: Kendrick, Jay Z, LCD Soundsystem, Father John Misty, Queens of the Stone Age, and others would all be on my list, so I think my Grammy alternative list would be more interesting if I omitted them. As an additional curveball in my own alt Grammys universe, I won’t include any artist in more than one category here.
So here’s my take on a few of the categories comprised only of artists who weren’t nominated, limited to one category per artist, based on their October 2016-September 2017 criteria:
Album Of The Year
Semper Femina, Laura Marling
Run the Jewels 3, Run the Jewels
Thank You 4 Your Service, A Tribe Called Quest
Life Without Sound, Cloud Nothings
A Crow Looked At Me, Mount Erie
Song Of The Year
"Underside of Power," Algiers
"Come Meh Way, Sudan Archives
"Little Fictions," Elbow
"Pa’Lante," Hooray for the Riff Raff
"Bourgeois King," Andrew Combs
Best Rock Album
A Fever Dream, Everything Everything
A Black Mile to the Surface, Manchester Orchestra
Head Carrier, Pixies
How Did We Get So Dark, Royal Blood
How Dare You, Electric Six
Best Alternative Album
The Wild, Rural Alberta Advantage
Moh Lhean, WHY?
MASSEDUCTION, St. Vincent
Hot Thoughts, Spoon
Seekers and Finders, Gogol Bordello
Best Rap Song
"Two in the Chest," Czarface
"Wearing a Bear," POS
"Ayup," Spose
"NNGE," Oddisee feat. Toine
"Freedom Form Flowing," Gift of Gab
Best Rap Album
All the Beauty in this Whole Life, Brother Ali
The Saga Continues, Wu Tang Clan
Big Fish Theory, Vince Staples
Resolution, Mr Lif and Akrobatik (The Perceptionists)
All Amerikkkan Bada$$, Joey Bada$$
How about you? How would you change the Grammy nominations?
Harrison: Well, the first correction I'd make is giving a Best Rap Album nomination to Thank You 4 Your Service by A Tribe Called Quest. There are just too many standout tracks for it to ignore. Any group that manages to combine dancehall style with "Benny and the Jets" (on "Solid Wall of Sound") deserves praise. Run the Jewels 3, one of the strongest albums of the year, was equally deserving. For those in the US who are aware of Stormzy, I know it's early in his career, but it's an understatement to say he's one of the best rappers in the UK. He's one of the illest dudes out there, period. Aside from one track, Gang Signs and Prayer was excellent from top to bottom, from the hard-hitting "First Things First" to the emotional "Lay Me Bare." Vince Staples raps his ass off, as per usual, on Big Fish Theory, and "Big Fish" is the song of the goddamn summer. Every club that didn't play it should be closed down.
There was a lot of great stuff this year. Somehow, I've left Jay-Z (uhhh, I don't have Tidal); Jonwayne; Big Boi; Joey Bada$$; Oddisee; Tyler, the Creator; and Brother Ali off my list. Damn. Over in R&B, Sampha and Thundercat absolutely need some kind of recognition. "Them Changes" on the album Drunk is my favorite song on any album this year...but that song originally came out in 2015.
My Best Rap Album field looks like this:
DAMN., Kendrick Lamar
Big Fish Theory, Vince Staples
Thank You 4 Your Service, A Tribe Called Quest
Gang Signs and Prayer, Stormzy
Laila's Wisdom, Rapsody
And my Best Rap Song selections go a little something like this (remember, Best Rap Song is the songwriter's award and Best Rap Performance is for the overall song):
"Paper," Jonwayne
"The Story of O.J.," Jay-Z
"Thursday in the Danger Room," Run the Jewels
"Lay Me Bare," Stormzy
"NNGE," Oddisee feat. Toine
Best Rap Performance
"Big Fish," Vince Staples
"DNA," Kendrick Lamar
"Panther Like a Panther," Run the Jewels
"GPS," Saba feat. Twista
"Sassy," Rapsody
I'll make one change to Song of the Year, swapping "Issues" by Julia Michaels for "(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano" by Sampha.
Was there anything that took you completely by surprise this year? I definitely wasn't expecting to get into Tyler, the Creator's album and, while I've had respect for Rapsody as a rapper, I had no idea I'd like Laila's Wisdom this much. And "Bodak Yellow" and "XO Tour Lif3" (there's a pool party story behind the latter) wound up being catchy as hell for me.
Ryan: The Father John Misty album was a surprise for me. With the exception of one or two songs, I never understood the hype around that guy's music, but I listened to Pure Comedy for a few weeks straight when it released this year. And there were certainly surprise releases—I wasn't expecting a new Wu Tang record in 2017 at all, but was kind of let down that it ended up being a good-not-great part of their discography. The sound of 4:44 was also a pleasant surprise. After Jay released the album through Sprint promos and Tidal exclusives, I didn't expect such a raw, stripped down sound. He said, "Truthfully I want to rhyme like Common Sense," back in 2003, and 14 years later, he came pretty close to fulfilling his own wish, artistically. It'll be interesting to see how many Grammys he takes home out of his eight noms this year, especially with such strong competition from DAMN. At least there are no Macklemore or Eminem nominations this year to screw things up.
Are there any acts you're hoping to see perform this year? It'll be hard to top Kendrick's 2016 performance of "Blacker the Berry"/"Alright" or Bruno's Prince tribute from last year.
Harrison: I'd love to see Sampha and Jay-Z to show off their sensitive sides. And considering how dope Kendrick's "HUMBLE." video is and how theatrical his live performances have been, I want to see what he can do to top his previous performance. And really, the Grammys should get the finale they deserve: Cardi B showing up to tear the fucking house down.
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