DO THE BRIT AWARDS IGNORE URBAN MUSIC?
As the music industry prepares for a night of self congratulations and outright debauchery, 247 Magazine’s Sammy Maine looks at whether the Brit awards deliberately neglect urban music…
The Brits take place tonight and once more, the nominees were as predictable as ever. Big seller Adele received two three nominations, with the undeniable bore that is Ed Sheeran receiving four. Classed as the biggest music award ceremony in Britain, the lack of diversity within the nominations is hugely apparent. Have the Brit awards turned their backs on the likes of grime and UK urban or is it simply a case of mainstream success?
Looking at the list of nominee’s, the only stand out British urban artist is Professor Green in the Best Male category. Sure, Jay Z, Kanye West and Nicki Minaj all get a mention in the international categories but the lack of home grown urban artists is unsettling. In the wake of the riots, The Guardian published an article highlighting the supposed involvement of grime and rap, which had been accused of ‘promoting a culture of entitlement.’
It may be that it’s a promotional grey area when it comes to praising the genre, with the Brits and its sponsors afraid of giving a gong to the music that causes our kids to knick flat screens and laptops. However, the Brits did once have an actual British Urban category, which was abolished in 2006. The latter winners were Lemar and Joss Stone which suggests that the award had lost its substance anyway.
At a time when underground music is firmly closing in on commercial offerings, where are the likes of Wiley, Devlin and Rinse FM’s/Mercury
Music darling Katy B? All three of these examples have had a taste of mainstream success and impressive album sales. The Brit Awards continue to focus on a handful of genres when there’s exceptional talent in all parts of the musical spectrum; only aiding the ceremony’s accused insignificance.
Yes, we do have the MOBOs and yes, once this year’s awards are given, it’ll be a matter of days before they’re forgotten but shouldn’t a prestigious ceremony hung up on celebrating British music actually celebrate all of British music? There was a glimpse of hope when in 2010, Dizzee Rascal walked away with the Best Male gong. However, this came only after the commercial success of the less-grimey more-dancey album ‘Tongue n’ Cheek.’ When ‘Boy in da corner’ won the Mercury Music prize in 2003 and has been hailed as one of the best British debut album’s ever, Dizzee didn’t even get a look in.
The same goes for Plan B, who won the very same award last year. Starting out in 2005 with numerous grime collaborations and debut album ‘Who Needs Actions When You Got Words?’ Plan B was only noticed by those that really cared for the urban genre. It wasn’t until his much more chart friendly offering of ‘The Defamation of Strickland Banks’ that the Brit panel decided to sit up and notice. It’s obvious that both of these MC’s were awarded for their huge commercial success in the latter part of their careers and rightly so. However, does this mean that other grime and urban artists will have to tone down their musical offerings just to get noticed?
Grime and urban are a huge part of British culture and continue to intrigue and impress consumers and critics alike. So, what is it that the Brits are afraid of?
