It just so happens that one sound happens to sound like pretty much every other pop record to come out in the past few years. Had he been there this year, he would have had a much stronger case to make.ġ989 was Taylor Swift's attempt at a ' blatant pop record.' She wanted to find the one, pristine sound, unlike anything she'd ever done before, and wear it proudly. Kanye West raised a fit about it, later calling out the Grammys for not respecting artists. Last year, the beneficiary of their bias was Beck, snubbing Beyoncé's self-titled album over his good-but-hardly-groundbreaking Morning Phase. The Grammys' decision is yet more proof that, when given the opportunity, the Grammys will always shun hip-hop in favor of awarding the most marketable, accessible - and yes, the whitest - artist possible. Now all of them connected in another way: They were all snubbed at the Grammys for albums most people no longer care about. It already feels distant kin to so many of to music's immortal albums: Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, John Coltrane's A Love Supreme and Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. To Pimp a Butterfly is easily one of the most ambitious, emotionally and politically resonant musical offerings ever attempted.

He took home five trophies, but fell short in the night's biggest categories, losing song of the year to Ed Sheeran's for his nearly two-years-old single 'Thinking Out Loud' and album of the year to Taylor Swift's monolithic 1989. Monday night, the Grammys reaffirmed that narrow view of what defines a success in that genre.Ĭompton, California's own Kendrick Lamar came into the 58th Annual Grammy Awards as the biggest storyline of the night, with 11 nominations to his name for his critically acclaimed To Pimp a Butterfly. Historically, the only way for an MC to win album of the year has been to couch their raps in a ton of pop or R&B. A rap song has never won song or record of the year.

Kendrick lamar albums 2016