It’s not surprise that the Grammys have a wide felt reputation of not being in touch with the hip-hop genre. Well Saturday (Feb 7), Rozay sat down with the Associated Press and shared his thoughts.
“The rap community doesn’t feel like the rap Grammy is in touch. Not at all,” he said of the award (which Eminem won this year). “This is music that powers from the streets up… If anything, in the rap categories, that’s what should most definitely get recognized. Going to the root of it and not just certain artists, the Iggy Azaleas. I want to congratulate her on all her success, but that doesn’t represent the community at large.”
Rozay spoke to The Associated Press on Saturday before appearing at BMI’s “How I Wrote That Song” panel at 1Oak nightclub, where he discussed songwriting with Mannie Fresh (who has written with Ross and Lil Wayne), Ester Dean (Katy Perry, Rihanna), David Hodges (Miranda Lambert, Kelly Clarkson) and Natalie Hemby (Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town).
“I respect the Grammys, being a writer,” he said. “But me being an artist representing hip hop? No.”
Now Mannie actually had an interesting thought about the hip-hop Grammy curse.
“What it means is: If you get a Grammy, people kind of downplay you. Not (like you) really sold out, but it means your music is kind of watered down,” he said. “And I’ve been nominated for Grammys. And believe me, if I would have won, I would have took it!”
On the flip side …
“If you get a Grammy, people kind of think you’re out of reach, so it kind of hurts you in a way,” Fresh said. “It’s like, oh now he has a Grammy, he won’t be coming back to this (small venue) again.”
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