BY: Denver Sean
Published 5 years ago
Diddy received the Industry Icon award at Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and took the opportunity to speak his mind about the Grammys’ treatment of hip-hop and Black artists.
His 50-minute acceptance speech included direct criticism of the recording academy.
Some of his words included:
“There’s something that I need to say to the Grammys, and I say this with love. Every year, y’all be killing us, man. I’m speaking for all the artists here, the producers, the executives. The amount of time that it takes to make these records, to pour your heart out into it. And we just want an even playing field. In the great words of Erykah Badu, ‘We are artists and we are sensitive about our s**t.’ We are passionate. For most of us, this is all we’ve got. This is our only hope.”
“Truth be told, hip-hop has never been respected by the Grammys. Black music has never been respected by the Grammys.”
“So right now, with this current situation, it’s not a revelation. This thing been going on, and it’s not just going on in music. It’s going on in films, it’s going on in sports, it’s going on around the world. And for years we’ve allowed institutions that have never had our best interests at heart to judge us, and that stops right now. I’m officially starting the clock: you’ve got 365 days to get this s**t together.”
Check out the clip below.
Props to diddy for calling out the Grammys!! He couldn’t have said it any better ???? pic.twitter.com/aU2qnne48z
— Spring ???? (@lovelyjimin53) January 26, 2020