i originally called this “not about the Grammys,” but it’s about the fucking Grammys, so there’s that.

The pop music industry is such that the Grammys are even more a corporate industry circle-jerk than the Oscars are (which is saying something), so I can say without irony or pride or anything other than indifference that there is absolutely nothing significant about Beck winning Album of the Year over Beyoncé.

Race might have had something to do with it, but probably not.

Gender might have had something to do with it, but probably not.

Kanye West is a corporate shill keeping his name in the news because he makes certain white people a whole lot of money and he can make a little off of them.  I can and do ignore him for the most part, even when he says something egregiously stupid, but I actually like Beck, and Morning Phase, while far from the most interesting Beck album, was not, by any means, any worse than Beyoncé.

I’m not going to shit-talk Kanye’s music here because, although I absolutely fucking hate it and have very strong opinions about it, it’s well-crafted pop music, and to suggest that there’s any lack-of-artistry there would be inaccurate.

But Ye’s imagined persecutions are getting really fucking old, and the fact that people keep thinking he’s anything other than a cooning charlatan is further proof that Black musicians can only be mega-stars if they shuck-and-jive.


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