The 61st Grammy has come and gone and just like a heavy frontal rain fall in the tropical region of Africa has left different topics of discussion. In a series of articles; cillacritic.com will be publishing exclusive articles on issues ar regards the annual event titled Grammy criticism. I have always been of the opinion that accolades are good but often a time, people who in them don’t really deserve them. This is because the world has limitless criteria and such criteria always don’t look good on every artist even if they have good sounds. With much emphasis put on the way people buy musical materials online, most artist with bigger fan base tend to have a large downloads on different online platform. But the question is: are these number the true representation of a good music? The answer is “No”. In same vain people who have more open life to share on social media and their fan base tend to have more influence on the rate at which their music sells but that can never be the true representation of a good music.
In Rap music in 2018; one can argue that there are many songs which sounded better with good messages in them but never got recognized by the Grammy stage because of the lack of fan base. This article those not mean to negatively criticize the exploits and wins of Drake and Cardi B at the Grammy but to state categorically that there were better album made by good Rappers in 2018 that had better stories, rhyme and Beats and did not win the Grammy because of the large fan base of Cardi and Drake. God’s plan was a great record but is it the greatest rap song of 2018? The answer is “No”. Invasion of Privacy was a great album but was it the greatest Rap album of 2018? The answer is “No”.
Drake’s God’s plan would have seemed a better win for me if it won record of the year because it really went viral. It was featured on the then valxx.com which was the birth place of cillacritic. It was an anthem in Nigeria and people even used it in conversations. Winning the Best Rap song of the year was just not it. I believe for an album which must win the best Rap song of the year; there are criteria that it should possess. Criteria one is the story of the song: Rap is all about story telling in Rhymes and should be done creating a link up from the first verse to the last. God’s plan had a story but was just delivered by Drake beating around the bush. The second criteria is the Rhythm which can also be called the rhyme. This is the ability of the Rapper to have a very good sense of word play, punchlines and word twisting. God’s plan was made with the laziest type of rhyming which is steady rhymes. The Final criteria I will talk about is “the production”. God’s plan production was good but not epic because it was a basic trap beat with no real mad transition or sequencing. It was kept basic. Many people might argue that basic is okay for any good song which I agree to. But the truth is basic for the best Rap album is not just okay.
The females in the Rap music scene had one of the best wins because Cardi B won the best Rap album which for me is only true because she is a female and she made some real good sound in 2018. Cardi is a hard worker and she deserves some accolades but what I really don’t really buy is the win that “invasion of privacy” got. I know feminist may come after me but the truth is: Rap music is a culture and it has to be taken seriously. Last year had albums like “Scorpion”, “Astro World” “YSIV” “Championship” “Invasion of privacy”, “Kamikaze” and many more lit up the Rap music scene and all the Grammy list makers could give album of the year was Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy. No disrespect to her hustle last year but if we are to go song for song from her album and other Rap Aritist who released records last year; I don’t think she would have made that podium.
Finally I believe that Rap culture is dying because if pop song like “God plan” is winning best Rap song of then that is a punch to the face of Rappers who take their time to write out descent lyrics of punchlines. And if “Invasion of Privacy” is all the Rappers in America can bring to the table then we should just call all the Rappers in America “Jokers”.
