Do the Grammys really like Travis Scott? I feel that the Grammys as a whole misrepresents artists and albums as a whole. The Grammys haven’t recognized traditional rap albums as the year’s best album. I say this because they always go for safer bets, such as for significant pop artists like Taylor Swift. But an excellent example of this claim can be the 2018 Grammys for Best Rap Album of the Year. The nominees were Victory Lap by Nipsey Hussle, Daytona by Pusha T, Swimming by Mac Miller, Invasion of Privacy by Cardi B, and ASTROWORLD by Travis Scott. Travis Scott’s album, which wasn’t the top seller, won Best Album of the Year despite many other talented artists being nominated. They gave it to Cardi B. They gave the best rap album of the year to a project that’s just Cardi B talking about her looks and belittling others. These elementary school lyrics got a Grammy over the psychedelic experience of ASTROWORLD. I believe 2018 opened fans and critics to the fact that the best rap album category is not there to honor or respect the artist’s work. Still, it’s to appease the viewership of the Grammys without them honoring or respecting the culture of hip-hop as a genre. I feel like they needed big names to bring in the broader audience of fans to see if their favorite albums could win an award just for them to get snubbed by Invasion of Privacy by Cardi B.
Ok, now, let’s jump to 2024 with the Grammys. I was looking at the nominations for this year’s rap album of the year. I thought, “No one is topping Utopia; it’s probably the best and the fan favorite of the rest of the albums to win a Grammy.” Guess who got snubbed again? Jacques Bermon Webster II, also known as Travis Scott being, robbed again for album of the year. I listened to Killer Mike’s album Michael. It is a good album, but Utopia is a better album. Choosing Killer Mike over Travis Scott will possibly destroy the Grammys.
I say this because the overall goal of the award is to appease hip-hop fans from throwing slander or causing a riot online on the award show, but I think they took it too far by not giving Travis that award. The community portrays killer Mike as a villain and disrespected because of the Grammys. After the show, Killer Mike was arrested, which was ironic given that memes were being made about him robbing Travis of the best rap album of the year. Why Travis Scott? Though I’m not entirely sure why, I have a theory that if it were one of the greats getting done dirty like Travis has, it would be a more considerable outrage. It would be the Grammys making a mockery of the hip-hop culture. So they’re just out here toying with Travis and his fans to gain more views at the award show and have a glimpse of hope of seeing their favorite artist win an award. While performing at the awards show, Travis said, “They slept on me ten times.” He was nominated for ten awards that night and didn’t win one. I like Travis Scott as an artist. He needs more respect from the Grammys because stream-wise and commercial-wise, Utopia did so much better than Michael being number one on the top 100 for four weeks straight. I hope the Grammys can get their act together because they’re single-handedly killing their viewer count every year. Also, please give him that award the next time Travis is nominated. He deserves it, and for the haters that say Killer Mike deserved it, or what if he drops a bad album? Those statements are false, and Travis would never drop a lousy album.
