The 2010 Grammy Preview: The Re-Up

This Sunday night we will have the Grammy Awards, the music industry's annual self-indulgent orgy, unleashed upon us, and although I broke down the nominations when they were first announced, I thought it'd be a good idea to make sure we're all adequately prepared and deliver a re-up, along with some extra Grammy-related goodies. enjoy.

The Awards
This Year: Other than Beyonce, who I think it's safe to say has crossed over into the mainsteam, urban artists have been shut out of the biggest awards (Best Album, Best Artist, etc.), so we'll just skip the the specifics. The Grammys are as much about politics and public relations as they are about good music, so if you're trying to accurately guess the committee's choices you've got to weigh some political considerations as well. With that in mind, I'm seeing Common or Q-Tip picking up Best Rap Album, (there's no way they're giving it to "Relapse"), Jay-Z sweeping Best Rap Performance x Best Rap Song x Best Rap/Sung collaboration for "D.O.A." and "Run This Town" (since "Empire State of Mind" America loves Jay-Z), and, using some process of elimination strategy, the Beastie Boys & Nas winning for Best Rap Collabo (there's no way Kanye's winning anything this year after Swiftgate).

All Time Best Worst: The Grammys get things horribly, horribly wrong much more often than they get it right, here are some of the biggest travesties:
Best Rap Album (1998) – Puff Daddy & the Family "No Way Out"
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (2003) - Nelly & Kelly Rowland "Dilemma"
Best Rap Group Performance (2004) - P. Diddy, Murphy Lee & Nelly "Shake Ya Tailfeather"
Best Rap Solo Performance (1999) - Will Smith"Gettin' Jiggy Wit It"

The Performances
This Year: On this year's performance slate we're in store for a Michael Jackson tribute (of course), along with sets from Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, Jamie Foxx & T-Pain ("Blame It") and Lil Wayne, who if there is a god won't do anything off his atrocious "The Rebirth" album.

All-Time Best: I'm usually cynical here, but last year's Kanye x T.I. x Jay-Z x Lil Wayne x a nine-month pregnant M.I.A. "Swagger Like Us" was one of the best performances I've ever seen, on any show. You know what's really crazy about that show though? At the time these were the four biggest rappers on the planet, but a year later T.I.'s in jail, Wayne's headed to jail and Kanye had a horrible '09 after Swiftgate. Hova's really the only one on that stage who had anything better than a not-terrible year.

The Acceptance Speeches:
This Year: Get ready to watch Taylor Swift talk at every possible moment while mainstream white America applauds widely and curses Kanye's name. Sorry, this is happening.

All-Time Best: Ok, so it's not technically an acceptance speech, but it doesn't get any better than when ODB ran onstage - justifiably pissed that Wu-Tang lost to Puffy for rap Album of the Year (see above) - and proceeded to spit his own informal acceptance speech which included classic lines like, "I spent a lot of money on this outfit" and "Wu-Tang is for the children!" God I miss ODB.


For those that are interested, I'll close with a completely list of nominees (urban music only). Who you got?

Best Rap Album
Common – Universal Mind Control
Eminem – Relapse
Flo Rida – R.O.O.T.S.
Mos Def – The Ecstatic
Q-Tip – The Renaissance

Best Rap Solo Performance
Drake – “Best I Ever Had”
Eminem – “Beautiful”
Jay-Z – “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)”
Kid Cudi – “Day ‘N’ Nite”
Mos Def – “Casa Bey”

Best Rap Song
Drake – “Best I Ever Had”
Kid Cudi – “Day ‘N’ Nite”
T.I. & Justin Timberlake – “Dead And Gone”
Jay-Z – “D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)”
Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West – “Run This Town”

Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group
Beastie Boys & Nas – “Too Many Rappers”
Eminem, Dr. Dre & 50 Cent – “Crack A Bottle”
Fabolous & Jay-Z – “Money Goes, Honey Stay”
Kid Cudi, Kanye West & Common – “Make Her Say”
Kanye West & Young Jeezy – “Amazing”

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
Beyoncé & Kanye West – “Ego”
Keri Hilson, Kanye West & Ne-Yo – “Knock You Down”
Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West – “Run This Town”
The Lonely Island & T-Pain – “I’m On A Boat”
T.I. & Justin Timberlake – “Dead And Gone”