Yesterday's Grammy Awards saw Tyler, the Creator collect his first-ever golden gramophone, with last year's IGOR capturing the award for Best Rap Album. While grateful for the win, he had some thoughts about the awards show's "Urban Contemporary" category and how his pop- and soul-leaning effort was categorized.
Speaking with press backstage after winning the award, Tyler criticized the Recording Academy for consistently placing "guys that look like me" in rap and urban categories, and called the aforementioned Urban Contemporary category "a politically correct way to say the n-word."
"On the one side, I am very grateful that what I made can be acknowledged in a world like this," Tyler said. "But it sucks that whenever we — and I mean guys that look like me — do anything that's genre-bending or anything, they always put it in a rap or urban category."
He continued, "And I don't like that 'urban' word. It's just a politically correct way to say the n-word, to me. So when I hear that, I'm just like, why can't we just be in pop? So I felt like — half of me feels like the rap nomination was a backhanded compliment."
Speaking with press backstage after winning the award, Tyler criticized the Recording Academy for consistently placing "guys that look like me" in rap and urban categories, and called the aforementioned Urban Contemporary category "a politically correct way to say the n-word."
"On the one side, I am very grateful that what I made can be acknowledged in a world like this," Tyler said. "But it sucks that whenever we — and I mean guys that look like me — do anything that's genre-bending or anything, they always put it in a rap or urban category."
He continued, "And I don't like that 'urban' word. It's just a politically correct way to say the n-word, to me. So when I hear that, I'm just like, why can't we just be in pop? So I felt like — half of me feels like the rap nomination was a backhanded compliment."
Tyler joins a number of artists who have spoken out about the Recording Academy's categorizing in recent years. In 2017, Sufjan Stevens asked "WTF is 'Urban Contemporary'?" before reminding the Academy, "don't be racist."
That same year saw Frank Ocean grill the awards show not long after choosing to not submit his work for award recognition.
Of course, the Grammy Awards allegedly have plenty of their own internal problems, according to their recently ousted CEO.
That same year saw Frank Ocean grill the awards show not long after choosing to not submit his work for award recognition.
Of course, the Grammy Awards allegedly have plenty of their own internal problems, according to their recently ousted CEO.
